Born to Dazzle: Jaeger-LeCoultre Unveils a New Rendez-Vous

At the prestigious Watches and Wonders event in Geneva last year, Jaeger-LeCoultre unveiled a wide range of watches, including a new Rendez-Vous Dazzling Star (Ref. Q3642470), that came with a dial made of blue aventurine and a blue alligator strap. This year, the ace timepiece maker has released a new Rendez-Vous Dazzling Night and Day (Ref. Q343247J) watch in green, with a scaled-down power reserve. 

The first Rendez-Vous model came into being in 2012. It was seen as an alternative to the iconic Reverso from the Maison. Signature features included the hand-crafted dial and the diamond-studded bezel — it was almost a perfect interpretation of the night sky on a 34 mm stainless steel case. 

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Jaeger-LeCoultre’s 2022 model comprised three discs, layered over each other. The first layer hid the shooting star when inactive. Beneath it lay a circular disc with a cut-out of the shooting star. This disc, when activated, spinned and sent the star on a curving path across the upper dial. The third layer was the deepest layer of the dial — a fixed disc of metal that made the wearer feel the movement. The shooting star appeared multiple times in an hour through a second mainspring, which was quite similar to a minute repeater, wound by a rotor. 

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The 2023 watch (Ref. Q343247J) is very much identical to its predecessor, albeit with a few significant changes. The watch sports a distinctively feminine look with 108 diamonds forming two concentric rings around the case and 36 stones on the outer ring. 

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The 36 mm watch is made of 18 ct pink gold. The green sunray-brushed dial takes inspiration from the landscape of Vallée de Joux, home to Jaeger-LeCoultre. The case is completed with an inverted diamond set into the winding crown at 3 o’clock and three diamonds that are set on each of the four lugs.

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Coming to the dial, there is an inner circle of 47 diamonds that draws attention to the Night & Day indication with a pink gold crescent moon at 6 o’clock. The watch gets Arabic hour markers in a floral style and polished golden hemispheres with sword-shaped hour, minute hands, surrounding the central display of the timepiece. The outer periphery of the watch consists of 12 pink gold screws, just above the hour markers.

When the wearer turns the watch over, he or she can see a transparent sapphire caseback with blue screws, circular graining on the wheels and Côtes de Genève on the plates and the open-worked pink gold winding rotor. Powering the watch is Calibre 898, an automatic, self-winding mechanical movement developed and produced entirely in-house, providing a power reserve of 38 hours. The watch comes with a green alligator leather strap that matches the colour of the dial.

Even though the watch has a 50-metre water resistance, it is better to not opt for any underwater activity while wearing this timepiece.

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