This year, the cycle that began in 2007 leads to the circle.

While geometrical reality, as Franco Cologni reminds us in his preface, makes the circle “a flat shape, marked out by a line called the circumference, all points of which are situated equidistance from the central point”, the symbolism is simultaneously both far greater and more profound.

When cycles and circles merge into one, life, nature and time become a round of changing seasons and changing hours, on a spherical earth spinning around the sun in endless circumvolutions. Is not infinity itself represented by the symbol of a double circle?

While the round shape is dominant in watchmaking, notably featured on cases, bezels, dials, crowns and gearwheels, in 2013, Jaeger-LeCoultre has decided to entrust its Yearbook with the mission of exploring all the facets of the circle in art, and above all, in the world around us.

Turn of the dial
The circle is first expressed through a portfoliode dicated to pocket watches from yesteryear, with their delightfully refined round shapes that were so pleasing to hold in the palm of the hand, as much to revel in their softness as to view the time. These horological curves are matched by other circles born of magnetic, physical and electrical phenomena photographed by Berenice Abbott.

Turning around the circus ring
The circle is also an artistic, fun expression in a universe in which this geometrical shape makes perfect sense: the circus. A thousand talents and graceful gestures, tirelessly repeated during long hours of training, enter the ring to make heads turn in wonderment.

Turning wheels
The circle is the wheel that makes China go round and allows bicycles to populate the lives of billions of Chinese, both in towns and in the countryside. An overview in black and white, by day or night, between shadows and light, through the lens of Wang Wenlan.

Turning to the Tour de France
The circle is the eye of photographer, Joachim Bonnemaison. To paint a picture of women, men and passions, he has created a special piece of equipment. Breaking free of the customary confines of traditional photography, he opens new – round – windows on fragments of life.

Turning a trick
The circle is time reinvented by Jaeger-LeCoultre and photographed in an exceptional manner: in performing a three-dimensional rotation, the tourbillon in the Duomètre Sphérotourbillon release this exceptional watch from the effects of gravity in order to achieve peaks of precision.

Turn of a handle
The circle is the aesthetic choice regularly staged during the 1930s both on Broadway and in Hollywood, through films, musical comedies, shows and dance performances resembling enchanted round dances

Turning all eyes
The circle is of course embodied through one of its mots symbolic expressions: the eye. Close-up views of fascinating, moving and entrancing animal gazes…

Turning to new horizons
The circle is also a long journey to Shanghai and its Film Festival sponsored by Jaeger-LeCoultre. In the glow of the city and its nightlights, the eye of the camera offers us a Rendez-Vous with a magnificent woman ... and a new watch.

Turning on the charm
The circle is at last the shape of everyday objects that make the world go round and punctuate the hours of our daily lives. Metaphors or flashes of humour, geometrical chemistry and the final take in a roundly applauded photo shoot by Chema Madoz…

The publication will be available soon at Jaeger-LeCoultre’s e-Library as well as at Jaeger-LeCoultre boutiques all over the world.