BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
It wasn’t that long ago I was talking about Louis Vuitton’s at the time latest creation here and thinking about how meteoric their rise over the past year has been. Although Louis Vuitton’s drive to become a serious watchmaker has been going on for several years now. Their ascension to horological stardom has been rapid for some time now. It’s what happens if you have virtually unlimited amounts of money behind you; I guess it’s quite different from the usual slow build-up a watch brand has.
To signify their newfound reputation, Louis Vuitton has teamed up with legendary watchmaker Kari Voutilainen for a unique watch called the LVKV-02 GMR 6. The name makes it sound like there have been other watches from this duo before, but I don’t think they have.
The watch is a unique and beautiful thing, housed in a 40.50mm x 12.54mm case, which is shaped like Louis Vuitton’s Escale model, which is their travel piece. The central caseband is made of tantalum, a rare metal used by several watchmakers at Kari Voutilainen’s level. Meanwhile, the case front, back, crown, lugs and the buckle on the available straps are made of 950 platinum. The case is 30m water resistant.
The dial is a work of art, a mixture of hand-worked guilloché surrounded by hand-painted colours from Louis Vuitton. With this being a travel-inspired piece, it has a GMT indicator at 6 O’clock where the small seconds are also located. A day/night indicator is there, too, and it’s finished using coloured enamel applied by hand.
So far, most of the watch seems to have been Louis Vuitton’s work, especially the case where they’re eager to tell us about the lugs and other details which are inspired by their iconic suitcases. Around the back is where Kari Voutilainen’s work is most evident. The large balance wheel is characteristic of his watches, it beats at a slow 2.5Hz and is suspended from a beautifully polished bridge.
All of the hand decoration is exquisite from the Côtes de Genéve striping on the movement’s plates to the anglage finishing off the edges and everything else. It’s a sight to behold, amplified by the hand-painting of the mainspring barrel which stands out in the best way possible. 27 different colours and five sessions in the kiln go into making that. The power reserve is around 65 hours.
Unsurprisingly, being a watch by Louis Vuitton, the new LVKV-02 GMR 6 comes with a bespoke Louis Vuitton travel case inspired by their luggage and adorned with the same colours as the watch.
Unsurprisingly, it’s also partly why this watch costs as much as it does, €550,000 to be exact. An awful lot of work has gone into this piece, and they’re only making five of them which have probably all sold by now. Oh well, it’s nice to dream eh?
