La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the Maison’s watch manufacture, recently emerged from its Swiss facility bearing news of delight for the horological realm. For over two decades, the French luxury fashion house has quested after brilliance in watchmaking, a flair cultivated through passion and ingenuity. The Maison has since only flourished in high watchmaking through a melange of imaginative designs and the inception of divers movements both simple and complex; the great savoir-faire of Louis Vuitton discovered a new facet in watches.
A week ago, the Maison’s high watchmaking novelties of 2024 were unveiled with seven new timepieces making their maiden appearance – the latest compendium shares one common element, watchmaking at its very finest. The mastery of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton shines through these novelties, from dials magnificently adorned to artist affiliations and updated mechanisms, the Maison reasserts its prowess in horology.
Voyager Flying Tourbillon Poinçon De Genève Plique-à-Jour
The space-age touch manifests in this contemporary stained-glass timepiece that displays the pristine flying tourbillon movement crafted at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. The illustrious Poinçon de Genève seal embellishes the blue-stained dial, a confirmation that the watch’s movement meets strict criteria for ornamental finishing and quality timekeeping. Maintaining its signature move of reviving traditional expertise when conceiving novel designs, the Maison revisits the 14th- century technique of plique-à-jour for this timepiece. Following this ancient technique that involves enamel application without a metal backing, the Voyager’s dial is fabricated through the most meticulous plique-à-jour methods: the Western percè.
Using a paintbrush, colour is added to each section, transforming the dial into pocket-sized stained-glass work of art. The Voyager’s graphic case featuring a circle within a square accents the art while a unique skeleton mechanism – the hand-finished LV104 calibre – enhances the watch’s making. With a striking white gold dial that holds interlocking Vs (for Vuitton) amidst a trio of blue tones, the Voyager Flying Tourbilon Poinçon de Genève Plique-à-Jour stands as a luminous reiteration of the aged craft, now bridged with technical mastery.
Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève Sapphire Frank Gehry
Transparent sapphire grounds the composition of this new Louis Vuitton timepiece, created in affiliation with acclaimed architect Frank Gehry. A long-term creative contributor to the Maison who designed the all-iconic Fondation Louis Vuitton and Maison Louis Vuitton Seoul, Gehry awes with this newest article, achieving so by using the very same structures as inspiration. This five-piece limited edition pays homage to the exterior facades of Gehry’s two most lauded works through his hallmark curved glass.
A sense of delicateness graces the Tambour Moon – its case, lugs, crown and dials were all crafted from a single 200-kilo block of sapphire – which is complemented by a skeletonized movement in rose gold developed at La Fabrique du Temps. The flawless rhodium-plated flying tourbillon that rotates once every minute is discernible through the wholly transparent watch; the Poinçon de Genève seal reaffirms the watch’s fineness. For an added touch, Gehry’s signature adorns the case back.
With the nautical world and boat sailing serving as his creative incentives for the watch, Gehry continues his pursuit of injecting dynamic into static materials. A timepiece conceived upon more than 250 hours of manual craftmanship, the Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève Sapphire Frank Gehry is a miniature emblem of architectural splendour.
Louis Vuitton Escale Cabinet of Wonders
Breathing life into an amalgam of artisanal handcraft and the worlds of nature and fantasy, the new trilogy of Louis Vuitton Escale watches comprises three aesthetic horological gems. Drawing inspiration from the rare virtues collection of Gaston-Louis Vuitton who helmed the House for several decades, the limited-edition timepiece trio boast supremely intricate dials featuring three symbolic creatures: the dragon, snake and carp. Entitled Dragon’s Cloud, Snake’s Jungle and Koi’s Garden respectively, the watches employ a plethora of artisanal methods and artistry in forming the vivid dials.
The Dragon’s Cloud piece echoes the Dragon Year sentiment, depicting a glorious gold dragon holding onto a carnelian-set GLV monogram. Seeking a faultless representation of the Asian dragon’s habitat, artisan Fanny Queloz utilised a distinct damascening technique where a decorative inlay with metals of contrasting shades create a layered image of nature-found textures. Yellow-gold Monogram flower paillons gild the dragon’s scales while large rose-gold Monogram flowers are neatly placed on the dial. Incorporating two enamel techniques – champlevé enamel and paillonné enamel – the masters at La Fabrique du Temps hand-engraved the dragon and cloud motifs. As a wonderful finish, a 0.03ct ruby cabochon fills the dragon’s commanding gaze.
The 40mm watch trio feature 18k gold cases with Japanese Seigaiha waves engraved; the watches are all powered by a self-winding mechanical movement of LFT023 Caliber furnished with the same talismanic wave pattern. The embodiment of the Maison’s nonpareil artistic finesse, the Escale Cabinet of Wonders timepieces make for coveted time-telling jewels.
The Maison’s much-adored Vivienne motif embarks on a new adventure with the new pair of Jumping Hours watches. Designed in 2017 as an ode to the signature Monogram Flower, Vivienne has now travelled to two destinations: to Japan amidst cherry blossoms as Sakura Vivienne and to space as Astronaut Vivienne. Hand-painted sakura flowers and shimmering LV monograms ornament the former’s mother-of-pearl dial tinted in a pastel pink colour. As for the latter watch, the Milky Way shines atop the blue aventurine dial where preciously-set diamond stars and planets are found in orbit.
Flaunting its virtuoso in high watchmaking, the Maison opted for the avant-garde jumping hour mechanism which bears comparison to the Spinning Time movement and puts a twist to displaying time. The playful jumping hour complication tells the hour by alternating between the two apertures while the minutes are indicated by a transparent hand which ends either as a comet or a fleeting cherry blossom. Both the 38mm watches come equipped with an automatic-winding movement of LV 180 Caliber in stunning diamond-set 18k white gold cases. The Tambour Slim Vivienne timepiece duo capture La Fabrique du Temps’ expertise which seamlessly spans high watchmaking and crafts, allowing the Maison to contrive these spectacular gems.
Images courtesy of Louis Vuitton.