Posted By: Sorbet

The newest Louis Vuitton Monterey timepieces coming out of the Maison’s manufacture La Fabrique du Temps revive the iconic ’80s design.

Courtesy of Louis Vuitton

Courtesy of Louis Vuitton

38 years ago, Louis Vuitton came out with their inaugural wristwatches – the LV I and LV II monumentally breaking traditional watchmaking design codes of the decade. Gae Aulenti, a pioneering Italian architect, collaborated on the project, thinking up its now-iconic pebble shaped design and the quirky crown placement at 12 o’clock like a cap on the watches head. Equally doused in history is the watch’s ‘Monterey’ nickname, originating from Louis Vuitton’s American fanbase that found it hard to pronounce the French word for watch ‘montre’.

Courtesy of Louis Vuitton

Almost four decades later, the Maison relaunched the Monterey with a limited edition 18k yellow gold model which – no surprise there – did so incredibly they made a permanent collection for our beloved. With the same rule-breaking attitude of the ’80s, and courtesy of La Fabrique du Temps manufacture, the LV II pebble case has now materialized in ceramic forest green and glossy black. The latter new colorway holds a matte white dial with red accents, and the green, a matching forest-colored lacquer dial with yellow hands in a nod to the Maisons signature leather goods stitching. The sleek black model is rounded out with its black grained calf leather strap and red stitching, matching its hands and railtrack. Both in 37mm unisex models, the Monterey is the thickness sweet spot at 11mm which allowed for its updated movement.

Courtesy of Louis Vuitton

The design may remain near-identical to the 1988 one but powering it is an ultramodern mechanism. Replacing the original quartz movement of the watch is the Maison’s new in-house automatic LFTMA01.02 caliber. Behind the closed caseback, the bridges are sandblasted, the mainplate crafted expertly with a circular grain pattern, and the caliber fitted with colorless sapphires. Sure, it may not be visible to the wearer, but just know there is an engraved LV Monogram and a subtle seal of excellence with the maker’s mark of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton.

Courtesy of Louis Vuitton

Courtesy of Louis Vuitton

Courtesy of Louis Vuitton

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