Louis Vuitton Monterey
Louis Vuitton
Of the many, many vintage watch designs that have been revived and reissued over the past five years, Louis Vuitton’s Monterey is one of the most intriguing. It was Louis Vuitton’s first watch and, since it hails from 1988, the height of the quartz era, the movement was unremarkable. The design, however, was distinctive. A collaboration with Italian architect and designer Gae Aulenti, it had a pebble-shaped case with no lugs, and a crown at 12 o’clock to commemorate early pocket watch design. Those features are preserved in the new model, which is upgraded with an automatic movement and grand feu dial.
The Louis Vuitton Monterey has a distinct, pebble-shaped case design.
Louis Vuitton
The name Monterey reflects the fun fact that Americans mispronounced the watch’s original French moniker, the Montre (French for wristwatch): the LV I and LV II were originally referred to as Montre 1 (39mm in a white or yellow gold case) and Montre 2 (37mm in black or green ceramic). The revival retains Aulenti’s original avant-garde design: the pebble-shaped, lugless design with 12-o’clock crown position, in a 39mm, 18k yellow gold case. The two most distinctive upgrades – the automatic movement and the lush, grand feu enamel dial, a process that involves applying several layers fired over a 20 hour period – elevate the design to the level of high watchmaking. Another nice touch is the revised crown, which was enlarged and notched with a Clous de Paris (hobnail) texture.
Louis Vuitton Monterey
Louis Vuitton
The in-house movement, with a 45-hour power reserve, is decorated and branded. It has a circular grained main plate, sandblasted bridges and micro-sandblasted edges. The 18k rose gold rotor is trimmed with V-notches, recalling the LV Monogram, and hidden beneath the barrel lies the poinçon LFT, a seal of excellence based on in-house testing at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Colorless sapphires (rather than ruby bearings) add a contemporary look to the caliber. It is a numbered limited edition of 188 pieces, priced at $59,000.
Revisiting this particular model reminds us that the quartz era, which is all but ignored by Swiss makers today (it was an unhappy time for the mechanical watch industry) produced some great designs, no doubt to compensate for the unremarkable movements. Some of those designs are worth revisiting today.
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