Andrew McUtchen
Anyone that’s attended a major watch fair – Baselworld, SIHH, Watches and Wonders, less so Geneva Watch Days – knows that the scale and grandeur of these shindigs pushes the bounds of belief. Impossible is nothing when it comes to the extravagant architecture and wild scope of vision that brands unveil to help get their brand message across. This year, for Jaeger-LeCoultre it was all about astronomy. The booth was designed to be a near life-size observatory, with a high domed roof, and all the accoutrements an astronomer could wish for.It stood out amongst the more traditional luxury trappings and trimmings of all the booths around it. And our team couldn’t get enough of the space. Jeremy, in our team video, said he wanted to unroll a sleeping bag in the raised central platform that you could ascend to via a twisting staircase so that he could “sleep under the stars”. Marcus, the man behind our camera, wanted to join him, agreeing it was a space of dreams. There’s a lot of love between that pair, so you can read that bromance any number of ways, but the bottom line is, you could legitimately consider it camping. It’s that evocative. That immersive.So when it came time to choose a setting for our interview with the driving force behind Jaeger-LeCoultre, CEO Catherine Renier, we had a request. Could we please do it there? Could we share this space with you, our readers and viewers? Would it be possible to have a personal tour with the delightful leader of a brand you can’t help but constantly fall back into. Because, if we’re honest, we all do. ?JLC is one of the spots that never comes off for true horology fans. The expertise, the creativity is just unquestionable, even IF they are still to deliver that knockout steel sports watch blow we KNOW is in them.We’ll save that fantasy for another day, because today we have a real-life one to look forward to. A private tour of the Jaeger-LeCoultre booth at Watches and Wonders 2022 – which so perfectly evokes the mind-stretching technical and creative scope of their watches, clocks and general capabilities. We hope you enjoy the show, and would like to thank Catherine Renier for showing us around!
07.05.22