Way back in 1904, Belgian financer Adolphe Stoclet had commissioned Gustav Klimt to create a piece of art that would build on what his core strength would be; mosaics. Out of that tryst in destiny was born the Kiss, which gave Klimt much of the fame he is now known for. It is also later found, that the artist used 1,200 pieces of wood, each covered individually with gold leaf to create this master piece, especially the marquetry on the exterior. After all these years, it comes alive in this form, where exotic wood varieties such as maple, walnut, Ceylon lemon, pear, madrona burl and ash burl create a cabinet to house this horological masterpiece.
The automatic responsive cabinet open up to show the crystal sapphire covered dial, which is again an example of the Jaeger-LeCoultre brilliance which cleverly hides the very button operating this function. Speaking of the dial, it features generous use of handcrafted mother of pearl on the main dial, where as the built in moon phase indicator uses gold, diamonds and petrified wooden varieties. The interior lining of the cabinet however, is rhodium and crystal glass.
Speaking of the technicals, there is a Jaeger-LeCoultre caliber 582 movement at the center of the watch function. It comprises of 386 handcrafted components, each put together individually. The beating rate for the movement is pegged at 120 vibrations per hour. As for the different functions there is the hour, minutes, 24-hour indicator, month and also the moon phase tracker. As for the official pricing there is none communicated to the public (rumored to be around +$200K) which is very fitting to the limited nature of this masterpiece and the work of art it represents.
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