Vendome Jaeger LeCoultre Boutique Visit

On our first day in Paris Vikki and I went for a long walk that ended at Place Vendome.

One of our first destinations to visit was the Jaeger Le Coultre Boutique. Located in one of the corners of Place Vendome, at numbers 7 and 9, it covers 500sq metres over three floors and has an amazing amount of floor space. A watch making workshop is also located within the boutique space so that small repairs and adjustments do not have to make the trip to Le Sentier.

Behind the stone facade lies a boutique that is light and airy, with walls painted in creams and light greys, light and dark woods, wood floors with  rugs in shades of grey and unique wrought iron work, the JLC boutique is an elegant setting for displaying some of Switzerland’s best horological products. Apart from space for the normal display of watches, the boutique also contains space for special exhibitions.

On arriving we were very lucky to be met by Caroline, the Boutique Manager. Caroline quickly realised that we were quite informed about watches and Jaeger LeCoultre. Within two minutes we were whisked upstairs to the salon for high end pieces.

I had a couple of Jaeger LeCoultre watches that I was particularly interested in seeing and Caroline was most helpful in fulfilling my request to view the Spherotourbillon, Gyrotourbillon and the Master Extreme LAB. First up was the Master Extreme LAB, in both titanium and in rose gold. 

Next up Caroline  upped the ante on the Spherotourbillon and the Gyro Tourbillon by showing us the platinum cased versions with diamonds. We were wowed by the beauty of both the Master Gyrotourbillon 1 and the Duometre Spherotourbillon, and if the platinum and diamonds weren't enough dazzle both watches had an amazing blue aventurine dial which really made a statement. The aventurine has a subtle sparkle to it that is hard to capture in photographs.

Another favourite that I got to see was the Reverso GyroTourbillon 2, a stunning watch from any angle.

Vikki and I always love to look at the JLC Atmos clocks, and the Vendome Boutique had two of the most unique and amazing Atmos clocks on display. Both have a marquetery external box with a hidden button to open them. The first was a design of a Klimt pattern, you can see the button when the box is open, but when closed it combines as part of the design.

 The second Atmos marquetry piece was very subtle, being a patch work of thousands of precisely angled slithers of wood. Each piece so well pieced that Vikki at first thought it was heat treated titanium. The technique is known as straw marquetry.

We also got to see some of the enamelling that JLC is renowned for. This example is a reproduction of the famous Klimt painting “The Kiss”. Not only was it an enamel dial but it also has the roll away curtain, meaning you can display the dial when you like.

After a great conversation with Caroline, we were invited to a masterclass which we were happy to say yes to. 

More on the Masterclass in the next post.