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EVENT: A night at the museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre EVENT: A night at the museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

EVENT: A night at the museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

Nick Kenyon

Night at the Museum didn’t win many awards, despite Ben Stiller’s best efforts to portray a newbie security guard at the Museum of Natural History. It wasn’t a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but it did show that museums can remain truly spectacular places even when the daytime crowds aren’t there. Last night, Jaeger-LeCoultre reinforced that truth with their own night at the museum (well, art gallery, technically), in an event that painted the entire Art Gallery of New South Wales the same blue as the night sky.

museum with Jaeger-LeCoultremuseum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

The space was spectacular both outside and in, with many of the most important artworks in the country hanging from the walls around us. But the night was focused on the watches, with some truly remarkable pieces from Jaeger-LeCoultre dotted throughout the galleries of the building.

museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

Included in the pieces on display was an incredibly rare set of two Master Grande Tradition Grande Complication Minute Repeaters, one in white gold and one in rose gold, with their bezels set with 44 baguette diamonds.

This level of watchmaking from Jaeger-LeCoultre is incredibly unusual to see in the metal, due in part to just how complex and time consuming it is to make a single watch. As a result, it was a real thrill to see two of these horological works of art in one place.

museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

These weren’t the only examples of haute horlogerie in the room however. There was also a Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater with an enamel micro painting of Starry Night on the Rhone by Van Gogh. This was a truly impressive expression of what Jaeger-LeCoultre is capable of, not only on the technical side of high-end watchmaking, but also the fine handcrafts.

Hosting the evening was Justin Devaux, the Jaeger-LeCoultre country manager of Australia and New Zealand, and Patrick Stewart, General Manager at Kennedy Luxury Group.

museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

Also present was John Eales, a friend of the brand and the most successful captain in the history of Australian rugby union.

museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

It was a spectacular evening that focused on what Jaeger-LeCoultre are so well known for as “the watchmaker’s watchmaker”.

museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

museum with Jaeger-LeCoultre

From incredible complications to chiming masterpieces and some Van Gogh in between, this is a manufacture with few peers when it comes to its masterful capabilities.