[(a very fluffy..) Press Release] Women have a date with time. With their own time. On their wrist is the new Jaeger-LeCoultre: Rendez-Vous. More than a watch, it embodies a free-spirited and spontaneous personality that is constantly reinvented and perpetually surprising. Behind the regular beat of its Manufacture movement lies a concentrated blend of the creativity that has pervaded the history of the Grande Maison. More than a watch, an encounter. A state of mind.

Born at the heart of the Vallée de Joux – the cradle of Swiss Fine Watchmaking, far removed from the frantic pace of the city where time is no longer counted but instead rushes relentlessly by – the Rendez-Vous collection proudly proclaims its roots. It embodies the full range of expertise developed by Jaeger-LeCoultre for over 180 years. Within it blossoms the beauty of authentic horology: that which transcends time, the better to tame it. It epitomises the charm of the most beautiful creations, those that set a date with techniques and aesthetics, uniting them in a disarmingly natural manner.

Its femininity is conveyed through every detail of its graceful silhouette. The perfectly matched case and dial provide the perfect backdrop for the mechanical movement. The automatic calibre entirely developed, crafted and assembled in the Jaeger-LeCoultre workshops stages a day/night indicator amid a hand-guilloché décor reflecting the finest Haute Horlogerie traditions. Time serenely takes its place, bathed in the glow of the diamond-set bezel that illuminates each passing moment.

Echoing the 2009 encounter between Diane Kruger and the Manufacture, the Rendez-Vous collection pays eloquent tribute to the personality of this stellar actress. Her innate grace, her cosmopolitan spirit and her choices inspired the feminine world of Jaeger-LeCoultre. A world with no compromises, in which beauty and refinement are expressed through each beat of the mechanisms driving its creations. Ballerina, fashion model, actress, and quite simply a woman, Diane Kruger has always managed to conduct every moment of her life with self-assured determination, perpetually reinventing herself while losing nothing of her natural finesse and elegance. The same can be said for the feminine creations that continue to forge the legend of Jaeger-LeCoultre and testify to the brand’s amazing creative liberty.

The time of the Rendez-Vous is set. Is the eye drawn to the soft relief of the guilloché pattern, dazzled by the sparkle of the diamonds, or captivated by the slow dance of day and night? Each woman has her own answer… But rather than a single feature, it is the entire set of details of the Rendez-Vous watch that invite women to assume full ownership of an object that matches their character. Clearly influenced by the Art Deco movement from which the House has drawn the stylistic essence in order to exalt the beauty of the passing hours, the collection appears in two diameters – 29 and 34 mm – clothed in pink gold or steel and embellished by the finest manually crafted finishes. The 1930s-inspired hour numerals create a subtle link between the brand’s longstanding expertise and its perpetually renewed creativity. Backstage beats the unfailingly regular mechanical automatic movement, of which the oscillating weight and the exceptional finishes may be admired through the sapphire crystal case-back.

Like women themselves, the Rendez-Vous watch makes light of conventions. An actress with its finger firmly on the beat of time, it grasps each moment with authentic fervour. A loyal daily companion, it sets the scene for everyday life in a fascinatingly masterful and confident style.

Jaeger-LeCoultre has always devoted special attention to feminine timepieces, in terms of both their aesthetics and their mechanism. This tradition particularly dates back to the first round movements featuring an extremely small diameter, such as the LeCoultre Calibre 7HP created in the 1880s and which equipped enamelled, diamond-set and pearl-beaded watches, often worn around the neck. The 19th century witnessed the emergence of the wristwatch. Contrary to common belief, the first wristwatches were worn by women, before being adopted by men who had long clung to their preference for the supposedly masculine elegance of pocket-watches. At that time, the sleeveless dresses of the Directory and Empire periods revealed women’s arms and wrists, thereby encouraging jewellers to adorn them with a wealth of sparkling creations. Some even had the idea of incorporating a watch mechanism inside these exquisite models. And so the first wristwatches were born: individually commissioned, crafted, and exclusively destined to play a resolutely jewellery-oriented role. Today, the Rendez-Vous collection is paying a new, glowingly self-assured and refined tribute to feminine time.