Each year since 2007, Jaeger-LeCoultre has published its Yearbook, a large-format, richly-illustrated book that draws inspiration from the latest activities of the watchmakers from the Vallée de Joux. The fifth opus is dedicated to the Reverso, in honor of the 80th anniversary of the timepiece with the dual personality. Find images from the Yearbook Five and information about availability inside.
The latest Yearbook presents images of some of the rarest, most emblematic Reversos as it highlights the duality inherent in the design. The swivel case was originally invented to protect the timepiece during polo matches, though from the earliest days the two-sided case went beyond its simple protective function. The back of the timepiece has been interpreted in a multitude of ways: personalization, adornment of the mechanism, second time zone, gem-setting, etc.
Past Yearbooks have been produced under the gaze of Italian quick-change artist Arturo Brachetti, the pen of Russian journalist Eduard Dorozhkin, with French art historian Joël Busca and American photographer Mary Ellen Mark. In this fifth edition, Jaeger-LeCoultre publishes the images of Astrid Muñoz.
“My assignment was about Duality. So I did a series of portraits of the young and the old gauchos. There is so much history on the wrinkles of an old face. It obliges you to picture what sort of life this person lived.
I have been taking pictures in Argentina for the past 4 years. I am fascinated with the country life and the tradition of the gauchos : their art, their clothing, their regalia, their customs, even their language. I travel all over Argentina looking for a glimpse into their past, which eventually will disappear, to the computers, supermarket, satellites antenna, 2 floor houses, automobiles and city life.
The old man is Tito Lezano, the most well-known groom in the history of Argentinian polo. He just died in August. He has been working for more than 50 years and has been to All the ‘Abierto’s’ in Palermo and the ‘Cup of America’. He comes from the Pampas.
The traditional clothes of the gauchos are encouraged during the ‘Festival de la tradicion’, which happens in San Antonio de Areco, every November. I have been going for the past 4 years.
Here, whole families ride for days from all over Argentina by horse, and arrive to town dressed up accordingly to the traditions of old days past. Hundreds of families stay the weekend and dance all night and eat their asados, recreating ‘the old days’ and keeping the tradition.
The adult gaucho in action. Doing a jineteada or buck riding. It was done in the authentic corral for buck riding. And again and again, the rider falls and gets back on the horse quickly to ride it again. They do this for hours, having fun and bonding with his fellow mates.
The sunset pictures- at the end of the day in the campo the men get together to round up the cattle.“
The Yearbook FIVE is available at Jaeger-LeCoultre’s e-Library: http://elibrary.jaeger-lecoultre.com/
It will soon be available at Jaeger-LeCoultre Boutiques around the world.
Below, the cover art.
