We had a brief hands on encounter with the new Louis Vuitton Monterey at the recent Savoir Rever event in Singapore. Here is our impressions of the watch with live photographs.
Hands on: the new Louis Vuitton Monterey
The Louis Vuitton Monteray has a retail price set at EUR 56,000. Limited edition run of 188 pieces for 2025. The watch is delivered in a Louis Vuitton trunk.
The history of the watch
This was the watch which started it. In 1988, Louis Vuitton made their first wristwatches – the Montre LV1 and LV2. Perhaps it is a transliteration of the French Montre, that American collectors started calling the watch Monterey, and the nickname stuck. Louis Vuitton decided on a release of a new collection, which they now christen Monterey. And we managed to sneak a peek at it during the Savoir Rever event in Singapore recently. The event was a showcase of Louis Vuitton savoir faire, and was very impressive with the collection of many beautiful LV objects in several rooms at the soon to be opened Hotel Mett.
The LV1 and LV2 were designed by Gae Aulenti, the Italian architect and designer best known for transforming Paris’s Gare d’Orsay into the Musée d’Orsay. The watches were her first attempt at designing watches. It was a unique design. It had a pebble-shaped case and no lugs and had a crown at 12 o’clock. Basically, a Lepine style pocket watch on a strap…though of course, the design had much more. The dial, the typography, the colours chosen, the hands were unique. These watches were manufactured by IWC under Günter Blümlein.
Both the LV1 and LV2 had quartz movements. The LV1 was a 40mm worldtimer with moonphase, date and alarm. This was executed in yellow gold and was a limited edition of 100 pieces. LV2 had a ceramic case measuring 37mm, and featured an alarm, with a small production run of 4,000 pieces.
Louis Vuitton Monterey
The present watch was just released. And follows the same design theme as the earlier LV1 and LV2. I have not seen the LV2, but I can see the elements of the LV1 being carried over.
The case, dial and hands
The case retained the round, pebble shape. No lugs check. Crown at 12 check. The case is now 39mm, and executed in 18k yellow gold. The case is given a full high polish finish, and feels very smooth to the touch…like a pebble which is well worn by the ravages of flowing water.
The dial is grand feu enamel, and has a set of red railway tracks for the seconds markers. This railway track is a hint at the travel roots of Louis Vuitton. The dial is made in the Geneva workshops of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton.
A set of Arabic numerals indicate the hours, and another set of railway tracks, now in blue serve as minute markers. The hands for the hours and minutes are skeletonised losange shape and the seconds hand is a long slender number with a circle on the counter weight. The hands appear to be the same as in the original.
The case is attached to the strap which is a single piece of black calf, which runs through a slot made for it on the case back. This is in keeping with the original design as well. The aesthetics are on point with the luxury, elegant looks one would associate with Louis Vuitton. Very attractive with a nice feel on the wrist.
The movement
As the strap runs through the entire case back, the movement is not displayed through a sapphire back. But is completely enclosed by the gold case.
The movement is a self-winding movement, also manufactured in-house by La Fabrique du Temp. This is the Caliber LFT MA01.02. Physically, it measures 23mm in diameter with a thickness of 5.4mm. The movement carries a full rotor in 18k pink gold. Power reserve is 45 hours running at 28,000 bph.
As we did not have the opportunity to examine the movement, we could only access the finishing from the high resolution photographs LV provided. And needless to say, the finishing looked to have achieved the top grade haute horlogerie levels.
Concluding thoughts
This is a very beautiful watch. At the asking price of EUR 56k, it seems to be a bit on the high side. But in comparison to independent watches of the same level of design, finishing and construction, especially with the artisanal grand feu enamel dial, the ransom seems more reasonable.
Photo Notes
Photographs which carry the Deployant watermark as well as those on the Savoir Rever event are shot with our usual Leica SL3-S with Summicron-SL 35. Macro shots were made with an extension tube, and under available lighting conditions. The other unmarked photographs are from the Louis Vuitton Press release.
