Louis Vuitton added ‘watch designer’ to the already impressive list of accomplishments by renowned architect Frank Gehry.
The new Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève Sapphire Frank Gehry is the result of a collaboration with Gehry and Louis Vuitton, which adds the watch to its High Watchmaking collection.
The stunning 48.3mm flying tourbillon watch is made with a clear sapphire case, dial, crown, lugs and hands. With its transparent architecture, the wearer has an uninterrupted view of the flying tourbillon caliber, produced and assembled at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton.
Gehry was inspired by his own work at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris and the Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul when creating the new watch. For example, the dial echoes Gehry’s rippling glass structure atop the Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul. Like that structure, which appears to float over the roof of the building, the dial on the watch also is meant to recall the airiness of the nautical world.
“My inspiration comes from the sea, fish, boats, the nautical world, because they embody the notion of movement, mobility, speed,” said Gehry.“I like to express movement, inject this energy and dynamic into static materials.”
Louis Vuitton explains the its artisans crafted the crystalline face of the watch from a single 200-kilo block of sapphire. With 250-hours of work required to complete just the dial, the project was one of the most ever made by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton.
The watchmaker’s dial artisans used medical tools to create the asymmetric forms and curves to echo many of Gehry’s architectural projects.
The Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève Sapphire, which is the first watch with a sapphire dial and case to bear the Poinçon de Genève seal, is fitted with manufacture flying tourbillon LFT MM05.01. The rose-gold-bridged movement is entirely visible thanks to the full sapphire case and dial. (See below for full technical specifications).
Price: $935,000.
Specifications: Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève Sapphire Frank Gehry
(Limited edition of five pieces)
Case:
• Case, lugs and crown in sapphire
• Frank Gehry’s signature engraved on the case-back • 43.8 mm diameter
• 11.27 mm thickness
• Anti-reflection sapphire crystal
• Water-resistant to 30 meters
Dial:
• Sapphire, polished and mattified by hand, inspired by Frank Gehry’s architectural works
• Sapphire hands, outline in HyCeram Luminex (luminescent pigments)
Movement:
• Caliber LFTMM05.01: mechanical movement with manual winding developed and assembled by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton
- “Poinçon de Genève” certification, visible on the central bridge
- Functions: skeleton flying tourbillon, hours and minutes, Monogram flower tourbillon cage rotating in one minute
- 160 components
- 80 hours of power reserve
- 21,600 vibrations per hour
- 17 jewels
Strap: White taurillon leather strap with a rose gold folding buckle.
Price: $935,000.
The elegant Clous de Paris pattern is set with a brown hue that gradually darkens toward the edges. Thin stick indexes in gold also set a more sartorial tone to the watch, as do the gold hands.
