To celebrate the forthcoming Lunar Year of the Horse, Jaeger-Lecoultre presents a series of three new Reverso Tribute Enamel timepieces in white gold. Honoring the origins of the Reverso in the sport of polo, each caseback features a miniature reproduction of a work by the renowned Chinese artist Xu Beihong capturing the power and beauty of the horse. The dial of each piece is decorated with hand-guillochage and grand feu enamel.
AN HOMAGE TO THE HORSE, BRIDGING TWO CULTURES
Created in 1931, the Reverso was designed to meet the demands of the newly fashionable ‘sporting gentleman.’ Among the most favoured pastimes was polo – a fast-paced, horseback sport. Polo-playing military officers in India during the British Raj challenged watchmakers to create a timepiece that could endure the rigours of the game. The Reverso was the answer: a masterful fusion of form and function. As the design evolved, the Reverso transcended its sporting origins while retaining its swivelling case and Art Deco lines – the hallmarks of one of the world’s most recognisable wristwatches.
While horses are intrinsically linked to the Reverso, in Chinese culture they have been revered for millennia – valued for transport, agriculture, and especially military use. Symbolising courage, strength, integrity, loyalty, grace, and power, the horse naturally became a central figure in Chinese mythology, embodied in creatures like the longma (dragon horse) and Tianma (flying horse). The horse is the seventh sign in the Chinese zodiac, and in February 2026, the Lunar New Year will usher in the Year of the Horse.
INTRICATE CRAFTMANSHIP PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE FATHER OF MODERN CHINESE ART
Xu Beihong (1895–1953), the most influential Chinese artist and art educator of the 20th century, is recognised as the pioneer of modern Chinese painting. He believed that traditional techniques had become stagnant, limiting the ability of Chinese art to convey modernity. Drawing inspiration from the European tradition – particularly through his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and his travels across Europe from 1919 to 1927 – Xu Beihong embraced oil painting and advocated for drawing from real life. Best known for his ink-and-wash depictions of horses and birds, his mastery allowed him to convey vitality and movement with remarkable economy, often embedding symbolic meaning into his brushwork.
The Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Xu Beihong’ series reinterprets the artist’s legacy through three exceptional crafts: enamel miniature painting, grand feu enamelling, and guillochage – all executed by Jaeger-LeCoultre’s in-house Métiers Rares™ atelier.
THREE POWERFUL IMAGES COMPLEMENTED BY DIALS IN EVOCATIVE COLOURS
The first challenge in decorating the casebacks was to miniaturise Xu Beihong’s original ink-and-wash paintings – each over one square metre – onto surfaces just 2 cm² in size. The miniature reproductions had to capture the dynamic energy of the artist’s bold brushstrokes and the subtle detail that so eloquently conveys the spirit of the horses. Each caseback requires 80 hours of enamel painting.
On the dial side, grand feu enamel is applied over hand-guilloché patterns, offering a visual dialogue with the paintings. Each enamel colour complements the background hues of the originals – colours frequently used in Chinese landscape painting for their symbolic resonance. The refined design of the Reverso Tribute highlights the guilloché patterns and the rich enamel tones.
Two of the watches, ‘The Running Horse’and ‘Two Horses’, are inspired by Xu Beihong’s 1942 masterpiece Running Together (Six Horses) – itself an homage to the Six Steeds of the Zhao Mausoleum, a series of 7th-century stone reliefs commemorating the warhorses of the Tang dynasty emperor Taizong. The third model, ‘The Standing Horse’, is based on Xu Beihong’s 1939 work Standing Horse, a portrait of quiet strength and nobility.
‘THE RUNNING HORSE’ – Illustration of majesty and grace
A single galloping horse, exuding majesty and grace, appears almost transcendent. The dial glows with green grand feu enamel – known in Chinese art as Evergreen Pine Green – symbolising the enduring vitality and noble resilience of ancient pines. The enamel overlays a hand-guilloché sunray pattern composed of 120 lines, crafted with precision before the enamelling begins.
‘TWO HORSES’ – Illustration of energy and mutual affinity
This dynamic scene of two galloping horses – one black, one white – evokes energy and mutual affinity. The dial features a barley-seed guilloché pattern, beneath a translucent grand feu enamel in Distant Mountain Blue. This shade recalls the misty silhouettes of far-off peaks, a serene and timeless motif in Chinese painting.
‘THE STANDING HORSE’ – Illustration of nobility and latent power
With bold brushstrokes and a commanding composition, this artwork captures the horse’s nobility and latent power. Even in stillness, it radiates movement. The dial displays a herringbone guilloché pattern of 120 precise lines beneath a layer of soft orange grand feu enamel. The tone – Crimson Dawn Orange –reflects the colours in the original painting’s landscape and evokes the warmth and vitality of sunrise.
Powered by the manually wound Manufacture Calibre 822, the Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Xu Beihong’ series is a fitting homage to the origins of the Reverso, a revered artist, and the upcoming Lunar New Year. Fusing fine watchmaking with decorative arts, these three timepieces are offered in limited editions of 10 pieces each.
