It’s an unlikely pairing — one an elegant actress in the first flush of fame, the other a seasoned rocker into the fourth decade of his career — but one that, against all the odds, works really quite perfectly. In a stylish, film noir-inspired short, the two A-listers wax lyrical about the road to excellence, and the persistence, dedication and sheer gut-wrenching hard work needed to truly master one’s craft. So what’s brought them together? Their announcement as Jaeger-LeCoultre’s new brand ambassadors, starring in the Maison’s artful The Watchmaker of Watchmakers campaign.
“It’s about focus,” says Anya Taylor-Joy, speaking about both the campaign and her own journey to stardom. Having pursued a career in acting since leaving school at age 16, Taylor-Joy earned young actors’ prize the Trophée Chopard at Cannes Film Festival in 2017 and a Golden Globe nomination for period drama Emma in 2020. But her real burst into the public consciousness was via her starring role in Netflix smash hit The Queen’s Gambit, where a legion of new fans met her as orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon. Touching on themes such as innate genius, addiction and the implications of being a girl in a man’s world, this somewhat unsettling coming-of-age drama was gripping, and an undeniable showcase of Taylor-Joy’s talent for interpreting intense and multifaceted roles. “When you know what you want to do in life, when you have a passion, you don’t give in to distractions. The way I feel about my art — literally, I breathe it. It is this focus that has enabled me to keep learning joyfully,” adds the British-Argentine star.
And it’s not just Taylor-Joy who lives and breathes her trade – when it comes to a life lived to hone excellence and unbridled creativity, the inimitable Lenny Kravitz is surely unique. “In my creative process I want to be as far away from making conscious decisions as I can,” says the Are You Gonna Go My Way rock god, best known for his chart-topping records but also a passionate designer, with his eponymous studio Kravitz Design Inc. celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. His creative juices continue to flow as strongly as ever, and with a new album also coming out in 2023, his legend is well and truly secured. “I want it to flow, so most of the time I’m dreaming my music, my creations. They come, I pick them up and then I work on them, but they’re pretty pure. This wouldn’t be possible without the years of learning and practice before I ever became professional — and the learning that I still do, every day,” continues Kravitz.
So what does all this have to do with Jaeger-LeCoultre? As a watchmaker of note for almost two centuries, this is a Maison that knows a thing or two about dedication to excellence and exceptional achievements. Thanks to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s generations of watchmakers, engineers and craftsmen, the Maison has designed, produced and assembled some of the world’s most noteworthy timepieces over the centuries. And with the further honour of having created movements not just for its own instantly-recognisable watches but also for other equally prestigious Maisons, it earned a catchy epithet: the watchmaker of watchmakers.
It’s with this in mind that Jaeger-LeCoultre turned to its two new ambassadors to represent this aspect of the Maison in The Watchmaker of Watchmakers campaign, recognising in them its own philosophy of turning talent into skill, then excellence, and finally continued creativity, by way of consistency and persistence in their respective fields.
But what would a Jaeger-LeCoultre campaign be without watches? And in the spirit of joyful duality that’s evident throughout this partnership, the iconic Reverso — a Jaeger-LeCoultre standard since 1931 — plays a starring role. Kravitz sports the sophisticated Reverso Tribute Duoface Tourbillon in pink gold, a perfect example of the heights of technical brilliance that Jaeger-LeCoultre can reach. Taylor-Joy, meanwhile, lends her refined features to the art deco purity of the Reverso Duetto Small — displaying the time on two dials, one bright as day and the other subdued for night, it’s an elegant timepiece for every mood.
And so this exciting new partnership is solidified, based on the shared understanding that in order to reach brilliance, there are hours, years or generations of unseen work that goes along with it. It’s a concept that artists such as Taylor-Joy and Kravitz understand only too well — and we look forward to seeing much more of their creativity in concert with Jaeger-LeCoultre in the future. Discover the campaign
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