In autumn 2025, Louis Vuitton brought back its very first wristwatch. The "Louis Vuitton Montre" is a limited edition that reinterprets the 1988 "LV I" and "LV II" through modern watchmaking, produced in just 188 examples and priced at ¥8,503,000 (around $59,000). A quirky design that had quietly built a cult following among collectors is now officially back, nearly four decades on.

1988: A Watch Shaped by an Architect

Louis Vuitton released its first wristwatch in 1988. The design was entrusted to Gae Aulenti, the Italian architect who led the conversion of the former Gare d'Orsay in Paris into the Musée d'Orsay.

What she created broke with watchmaking convention: a pebble-shaped case with soft curves and no lugs, its crown set at 12 o'clock in a nod to pocket watches. Railway-track markings ran across the dial, echoing the travel heritage at the heart of the maison.

The 40mm "LV I" came in yellow or white gold with world time, GMT and moonphase functions. The 37mm "LV II" used scratch-resistant ceramic and added an alarm. Originally called "Montre 1" and "Montre 2," they gave rise to the "Montre" nickname, from the French word for watch.

Commercially, the originals were no runaway hit. Production delays and steep prices held back sales, and some say the design was simply ahead of its time. Yet its unusual form found new admirers in recent years. Tyler, the Creator wore one in 2023, and an original appeared on Louis Vuitton's Fall/Winter 2025 women's runway.

Inside the Reissue

The new "Louis Vuitton Montre Automatic Yellow Gold" stays faithful to the original design codes while thoroughly modernizing what lies beneath.

The 39mm case is 18k yellow gold, its pebble shape hand-finished and its crown textured with a clou de Paris pattern. The dial is white grand feu enamel: several layers fired onto an 18k white gold plate, a traditional process that takes roughly 20 hours. Red hour and minute hands, a blued-steel seconds hand, and red-and-blue twin scales sharpen the white face.

The biggest change sits at the core. In place of the original quartz, the watch now runs an in-house automatic movement, the Cal. LFT MA01.02: 26 jewels, 28,800 vibrations per hour and about 45 hours of power reserve, with an 18k rose gold rotor cut in a V shape that recalls the monogram. The case back reads "1 of 188," a reference to the 1988 debut that also sets the edition size.

Why a Reissue, Not a New Brand

The Montre is not a new watch brand; it is a single limited model. The watch world is awash in vintage reissues, but the Montre sits apart from most of them. The original was never a widely celebrated classic so much as an offbeat piece that captured its moment.

Rather than reviving it in volume, Louis Vuitton capped it at 188 pieces, treating a cult favorite with a measured, deliberate hand.

The In-House Engine at La Fabrique du Temps

The reissue was made by Louis Vuitton's Geneva watchmaking atelier, La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Acquired by Louis Vuitton in 2011, the workshop develops and builds complications such as tourbillons and minute repeaters.

In recent years, Louis Vuitton's watch business has shifted from relying on outside movements toward in-house production. Under Jean Arnault, the engineer-trained head of the watch division and a member of the founding family, that verticalization has advanced across the core Tambour (launched in 2002; "drum" in French) and Escale lines. The Montre reissue is a product of that accumulated expertise.

How do you view serious watchmaking from a fashion maison? And what do you make of brands reviving their past classics through limited reissues? We'd love to hear your take.

References