Celebrating femininity, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s new ‘Walk into the Dawn’ campaign features Anya Taylor-Joy in a dreamlike ode to the Rendez-Vous Dazzling Shooting Star. Walking into the dawn elicits the steps that bring us closer to realising our dreams – the dreams that we may wish upon a shooting star.
In an evocative new video and series of photographs, Anya tells a story without words, in a dance sequence of lightness, elegance and swirling movement that echoes the flight path of the shooting star across the dial of the watch.
Dancing comes naturally to Anya, who trained as a ballerina and has danced in several of her film roles, as in Last Night in Soho and The Queen’s Gambit. Much more than a professional skill, dancing is an essential part of her life, she says: “The first thing I do every morning is dance – crazy dancing in my bedroom or kitchen. It makes my spirits soar and sets me up for the day. When I’m dancing is when I feel most alive to all of life’s possibilities.”
‘Walk into the Dawn’ evokes these possibilities. Fluid and strong, Anya’s movements reflect her personal aesthetic – sleek and sophisticated, characterful and versatile, reminiscent of the timepiece that she wraps around her wrist.
“The Rendez-Vous Dazzling Shooting Star is a miniature work of art for the wrist,” says Anya. “The shooting star on the dial is incredibly romantic and the sparkling blue dial and circles of diamonds make it very glamorous – and yet I see it as a watch that could be a genuine ally for my daily life, from morning until evening, counting out the beats of the day.”
Introduced at Watches and Wonders in 2022, the Rendez-Vous Dazzling Shooting Star was inspired by the wonders of the night sky. Intrigued by the ephemeral beauty of shooting stars, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s watchmakers decided to capture this rare celestial phenomenon in a timepiece. Harnessing their unwavering commitment to creativity – a value shared with our brand ambassador in her acting career – they invented an entirely new mechanism that makes a star shoot across the dial at random intervals, just as real shooting stars streak across the heavens. Enhancing the effect, a sparkling blue aventurine dial is surrounded by a ring of claw-set diamonds – the signature of the Rendez-Vous Dazzling line.
About Anya Taylor-Joy
Born in Miami when her British-Argentine parents were visiting the city in 1996, Anya Taylor-Joy was raised in Buenos Aires and London, speaking Spanish as her first language. Trained in ballet until the age of 15, she turned to acting and won rave reviews for her breakout performance in Robert Egger’s The Witch in 2015. A series of critically acclaimed roles followed, including Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho (in which she revealed a captivating singing voice). In 2020, the Netflix hit The Queen’s Gambit shot her star into the stratosphere; her mesmerising portrayal of chess prodigy Beth Harmon won a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors’ Guild award and a Critics’ Choice award. This was followed by a starring role in Robert Eggers’ The Northman. During 2022, Anya was seen in David O. Russell’s Amsterdam with Christian Bale and Margot Robbie, and Mark Mylod’s comedy-horror The Menu with Ralph Fiennes and Nicholas Hoult, winning a Golden Globe nomination for the latter. Anya recently completed filming the title role in Furiosa, the Mad Max prequel, which is due for release in May 2024.
About the Rendez-Vous Shooting Star
Introduced in 2022, the Rendez-Vous Shooting Star succeeds in the unprecedented feat of capturing a random cosmic phenomenon in a watchmaking complication. Inspired by the rarity and ephemeral beauty of shooting stars, the watchmakers of Jaeger-LeCoultre invented a new mechanism, Calibre 734, that sends a star shooting across the watch dial at random moments, several times each hour. The dial comprises three layers, the first of which conceals the shooting star when it is inactive. Beneath it is a circular disc with a cut-out of the shooting star that streaks across the dial when activated by movements of the wrist. As the star passes, the cut-out reveals a disc of glowing golden metal that accentuates the sense of movement. This beautiful complication lends itself to many different aesthetic interpretations, providing an ideal canvas for the decorative crafts of the Manufacture’s Métiers Rares® atelier.
