‘Valley of Inventions’ is Jaeger-LeCoultre’s theme at Watches and Wonders 2026. Keeping alive the spirit of invention, the Manufacture introduced state-of-the-art complications, outstanding Métiers Rares™ timepieces and special novelties in the iconic Reverso line.
The signature Reverso timepieces serve as a perfect canvas for the artisans of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s in-house Métiers Rares™ atelier. In the Reverso Tribute series, the case-back of each piece features a miniature reproduction of famous artworks—showcasing the outstanding miniature painting, enamelling, and guillochage techniques of the craftspeople on a surface roughly 2 cm² in size.
These limited-edition Reverso watches celebrate fine art and cultural heritage—whether it’s a European master, like Claude Monet, Gustave Courbet, Vincent van Gogh, or Gustav Klimt, an Asian print, or a Persian epic.
In 2026, the Maison returns to the Japanese artist, Hokusai—since 2018, Jaeger-LeCoultre has honoured Hokusai’s works of art on limited-edition pieces.
Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Hokusai Waterfalls’ series
Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) was a Japanese ukiyo-e (wood-block print) artist who worked during the late Edo period. He is best known for his ‘Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji’ series of landscape prints, especially the very popular print ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa.’ Over a career that spanned more than six decades, Hokusai produced thousands of works—including prints, paintings, illustrations for books, and sketches—that explored a wide range of subjects: landscapes, flora, and fauna, mythological scenes, everyday life, and even caricatures.
Hokusai is more than a historical ukiyo-e master; he is a cultural touchstone whose visual language, artistic daring, and ethos of perpetual reinvention continue to shape global design, popular media, and scholarly discourse. Many of his works are instantly recognisable worldwide and are reproduced on everything from posters and T-shirts to album covers and even tattoos.
The series is part of ‘A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces‘ collection. The novelties include: the Rōben Waterfall at Ōyama in Sagami Province; the Kiyotaki Kannon Waterfall at Sakanoshita on the Tōkaidō; the Yōrō Waterfall in Mino Province; and The Falls at Aoigaoka in the Eastern Capital. Each watch is limited to 10 pieces and comes with either a black alligator leather strap or an 18k white gold ‘Or Deco’ Milanese bracelet. All four of these timepieces are powered by the manually wound Calibre 822.
The cartouches near the top of each frame feature original Japanese captions handwritten on a microscopic scale, yet they remain perfectly accurate and legible.
The main compositional components of The Falls at Aoigaoka in the Eastern Capital are the artificial waterfall feeding the outer moat, the sloping street and Aoigaoka hill crowned with trees, the resting laborers with baskets, and the modest architectural elements of the urban environment on the outskirts of Edo. The hand-guilloché dial on the front unveils a new herringbone-style pattern, finished with a vibrant cyan-blue enamel. This intricate guilloché is the result of 120 precisely engraved lines, each demanding three distinct passages, amounting to an impressive total of 360 masterful lines.
In Kiyotaki Kannon Waterfall at Sakanoshita on the Tōkaidō, the falling water is depicted as more delicate than in other prints, almost like gentle silken strands. The steep path to the right of the waterfall leads up to a small grotto-temple dedicated to Kannon, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and Mercy. We can see a man kneeling and two others making their way up the mountain slope. The hand-guilloché dial uncovers a captivating wavy pattern, shimmering beneath a translucent, almost emerald-coloured enamel.
On the Yōrō Waterfall in Mino Province artwork, the waterfall is central. The water from the falls was praised for its high quality. According to legend, a devoted son offered the water—which tasted like sake—to his unwell father, who, upon drinking it, was revived. Hokusai underlined the power of the natural cascade, contrasting it with the human figures in the foreground, which seem rather insignificant against the scale and drama of the waterfall. The hand-guilloché dial on the front reveals a captivating new bamboo-style pattern, coated in a rich olive-coloured enamel. This intricate design is brought to life by 48 precisely engraved lines, each requiring three distinct passages, for a total of 144 masterful lines.
The miniaturised Rōben Waterfall at Ōyama in Sagami Province art not only depicts its eponymous waterfall’s rushing, vertical stream, but also the pleasurable way that people experience it: small human figures are gathered in its cleansing pool, dwarfed by the mighty stream of water. The hand-guilloché dial on the front features a barleycorn pattern in a light walnut-brown enamel. The color matches the hues of the artwork – different browns, yellows, and greens.
Reverso La Vallée des Merveilles™
Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces La Vallée des Merveilles™, a new series of limited-edition capsule collections dedicated to Métiers Rares timepieces. The novelties are inspired by nature’s boundless beauty and diversity. The first capsule of La Vallée des Merveilles™ comprises three pink gold or white gold timepieces with the artistic crafts of enamelling, paillonnage, gem-setting and lacquer work. Each are offered in limited editions of 20 pieces.
First, we continue our travel in Japan – the Reverso One ‘Sakura’ celebrates the natural grace of the cherry blossom. ‘Sakura’ is far more than just a beautiful spring flower in Japan—it carries deep cultural, symbolic, and seasonal meanings that have shaped Japanese art, literature, festivals, and even everyday life. It represents spring’s arrival, the beauty of impermanence, renewal, and a bittersweet awareness of life’s fleeting moments.
On the back of the Reverso One ‘Sakura’ a white, red-crowned crane stands at the edge of a lake beneath a branch of cherry blossoms. Complemented by the cool glow of the white gold case, the pink blossoms, the green reeds in the foreground and the red-crowned crane’s head, legs and principal wing feathers are created in Grand Feu champlevé enamel and miniature painting technique, while the crane’s body and upper wing feathers are with diamonds. The Maison’s gem-setter has used the snow-setting technique with coloured gemstones for the first time, mixing two different shades of blue sapphires and brilliant-cut diamonds.
The pink gold Reverso One ‘Hibiscus Syriacus’ depicts two distinctive creatures from Hawaii: a hovering Akialoa sipping nectar from a blue hibiscus flower. Akialoa is an extinct group of Hawaiian honey‑creeper birds that once inhabited the islands of Hawaii. The hibiscus (in yellow) is the official state flower of Hawaii, a symbol of Hawaii’s natural allure and cultural heritage.
The background represents the sky, featuring wavy engraved lines. On the upper level, directly hollowed out of the case metal, the bird and flowers are executed entirely in Grand Feu champlevé enamel. The bird is created through miniature painting using 9 colours of metal oxide pigments (for example purple, blue, green, white or grey for its body) while the foliage is made of multiple layers of opaque and translucent enamel. The gradient effect is the result of the association of 10 different enamel colours. The pistil of the lower hibiscus flower is accentuated with 24k gold-leaf paillonné enamel.
The Reverso One ‘Hibiscus Rosa’ features an Akialoa poised over a vivid red hibiscus flower. The red enamel is a challenge to obtain; the enameller needs to master multiple firings at different temperatures given that metal oxides can quickly turn brown. On this model the bird is more blue toned.
The 18K pink gold bracelet is set with an additional 384 diamonds to create a river of light around the wrist. As an alternative to the High Jewellery look of the fully diamond-set bracelet, the watch can be delivered with a shiny red alligator strap (or a blue one for the ‘Hibiscus Syriacus’)
The novelties have mother-of-pearl dial and are equipped with the in-house Calibre 846.
This is not all! Read more about the Master models unveiled at Watches & Wonders in our companion article on Loupiosity.
Photo credits: Jaeger-LeCoultre. Loupiosity.com
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