Chinese New Year falls on January 25th 2025 and Jaeger-LeCoultre is starting the celebrations early.
It will be the year of the snake, and JLC has produced a snake-themed watch that shows off some of its finest métiers d’art skills.
The Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Snake’ is the third in the Chinese Zodiac series.
Previous years have already seen both a tiger and a dragon-themed Reverso.
The new piece is made to order in limited numbers.
It pays tribute to an animal that in Chinese tradition represents longevity, wisdom and mystery.
Flipping the famous case over shows a hand-engraved snake emerging from golden clouds against a background of glossy black grand feu enamel.
The polished surfaces of the snake’s body are hand-drawn with black rhodium.
Using a range of differently sized chisels to sculpt the metal step by step, the engraving alone takes 80 hours.
It has an 18k pink gold case that measures 45.5mm x 27.4mm x 9.73mm.
The movement is JLC’s manually wound Calibre 822, with 42 hours of power reserve.
It comes on a black alligator leather strap and is water resistant to 30m.
£POA jaeger-lecoultre.com