Artist Julião Sarmento Customizes Reverso for Jaeger-LeCoultre

By Seth Semilof June 12, 2012

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Arte Portuguesa collection adds multimedia artist Julião Sarmento to its tradition of art horology. Sarmento has personalized two limited editions of the legendary Reverso, calling it his “personal view of time.”

His take on the Reverso is a representation of the female body, the same icon that has empowered his other works. The Portuguese artist sees the woman as a proponent attached to the concept of perpetual time. “It refers to the space in which the woman moves, the space she fills and the indeterminate time in which she is found. It is not fleeting time, it is perpetual time,” Sarmento told Portuguese watch magazine Espiral do Tempo.

The Sarmento timepieces are versions of Grande Reverso 976, furnished with a mechanical manually-wound movement. The first is in pink gold with a black dial priced at $22,317 for each of the 20 pieces. The second is in steel priced at $12,343, with only 30 pieces. Both watches bear an enamel image of the female silhouette on the case-back, as well as silkscreen print hand-signed by the master: in dark yellow for the gold and black and white for the steel copy.

This will be the sixth edition of the Jaeger-LeCoultre/Art Portugais artistic and cultural project. This endeavor was started in 2000 with the aim to blend art and time with graphic time representations by well-acclaimed Portuguese artists. The iconic Reverso is used for its reversible case is highly apposite for customization.

Pedro Torres, founder of Torres Distribução which represents JLC in Portugal, leads the project to include major artists in turning already fine timepieces into timeless pieces of art. The works under Art Portugais are tagged as the most beautiful Reverso versions, providing watch enthusiasts with choices that parallel closest to their own perceptions of time.

Source and photo credit: JLC

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