Jaeger-LeCoultre x Hermès Coulissante

The Coulissante is one of those wonderfully strange mid-century ideas that probably made perfect sense in Paris during the 1950s. Slide the gold shutter upward and suddenly the watch appears underneath like a tiny secret compartment. Close it back down and it turns into a slim gold object sitting quietly on the wrist, almost impossible to identify unless you know what you’re looking at.

This particular example comes from the long-standing partnership between Jaeger-LeCoultre and Hermès, with Jaeger handling the watchmaking and Hermès retailing some of the most elegant and unusual creations to pass through its boutiques. You rarely see these survive in fully original condition, especially with the untouched signed Hermès dial still intact and the original 18k gold buckle remaining with the watch.

And yes, the buckle deserves its own paragraph.

Mid-century Jaeger hardware was a different world altogether. The buckle is solid 18k yellow gold with French eagle hallmarks and the EJ maker’s mark for Edmond Jaeger. Instead of a conventional spring bar construction, the leather threads through a fixed gold loop. It feels wonderfully overbuilt for something so small, although your strap-changing ambitions may need to be tempered slightly. Old Jaeger giveth and taketh away.

The case itself measures 14 x 22mm with a long, narrow profile that feels very much in line with post-war French decorative arts. The beveled edges and stepped construction give the watch a slightly industrial appearance without losing the elegance that makes these so wearable today. Sliding the shutter upward reveals a compact rectangular dial with oversized numerals and blued steel hands sitting underneath mineral glass. It almost feels theatrical, like opening a miniature stage curtain just to check whether you’re late for dinner.

Inside sits one of the most important calibres in Jaeger-LeCoultre history: the Duoplan. Built on two superimposed planes, the movement allowed Jaeger to produce watches that were dramatically smaller while maintaining reliability and accuracy at a time when miniaturization usually came with compromises. More importantly for the company itself, the Duoplan marked a major turning point where Jaeger transitioned from primarily supplying movements and components to becoming a full-fledged watch manufacturer.

The back-winding construction also helped keep the profile slim and uninterrupted from the front, which is exactly why designs like the Coulissante were possible in the first place. Form and mechanics were working together here in a very thoughtful way.

This is now the third Coulissante we’ve handled in recent months, and they disappear almost immediately every single time. Once you spend a few minutes with one, it becomes pretty obvious why. It’s playful, slightly impractical in the best possible way, and completely unlike anything else sitting in a watch box today.