n watchmaking, Louis Vuitton has made a winning choice to side with the independents. Since 2009 it has patiently grown its Fabrique du Temps in Geneva (now extended to include La Fabrique des Boîtiers and La Fabrique des Mouvements), building on the skill, experience and immense ingenuity of master watchmakers Enrico Barbasini and Michel Navas, all the while bringing a broad palette of handcrafts, such as miniature painting, in-house. Then — under the stewardship of Jean Arnault, a seasoned collector even before his appointment as Louis Vuitton director of watches in 2021 — through the inception of a “virtuous circle” with independent creators.

The ecosystem developed with figures from today’s contemporary independent scene includes an ambitious programme of collaborations that began in 2023 with Rexhep Rexhepi, for the LVRR-01 Chronographe à Sonnerie, and continues with Kari Voutilainen and the recently revealed LVKV-02 GMR 6.

Additionally, the brand has launched the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize. Last year’s inaugural edition was won by Raul Pagès (more here). Open to all independent watchmakers, the prize rewards both technical and artistic creativity. The exposure candidates enjoy, together with contacts made through an active mentoring programme, are as valuable, if not more so, than the €150,000 financial support which the winner receives.

Coming full circle, the creation and sale of the collaborative models helps fund the Prize, whose committee of experts includes Kari Voutilainen.

Coming full circle, the creation and sale of the collaborative models helps fund the Prize, whose committee of experts includes Kari Voutilainen.

A union of identities

This brings us back to the LVKV-02 GMR 6: the second collaboration in what will ultimately be five (of five pieces each). This was, insists Jean Arnualt, a “fluid” process with each partner clear about their role from the outset. The movement was conceived by the Finnish watchmaker’s atelier for a model inspired by the latest version of the Escale, unveiled in 2024 in a tantalum case (a notoriously complex material) by the experts at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Cooperation between the two was at its most intense for the dial, which travelled multiple times between the respective workshops in Neuchâtel and Geneva.

Cooperation between the two was at its most intense for the dial, which travelled multiple times between the respective workshops in Neuchâtel and Geneva.

“We agreed on the methodology and set out an order in which to execute operations on a dial with so many distinct elements,” says Angélique Singele, director of operations at Voutilainen (more here). A particular highlight of this dial, which is made from four parts, is the diamond-polished hour circle. Hand-decorated, it echoes stained-glass windows and required the virtuoso skill of miniature-painter Maryna Bossy at La Fabrique des Arts (the Métiers d’Art studio at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton). Her painstaking work makes use of 28 separate colours, instinctively linked to the Parisian house and its association with travel, took 32 hours to paint and required eight hours of firing.

Voutilainen is renowned for the guilloché on its watches and so the centre of the 5N gold dial is, quite naturally, decorated with hand-guilloché by the Voutilainen workshop, in a motif that nods to Louis Vuitton’s signature “damier” pattern. The master watchmaker’s presence is also evidenced by the Roman numerals, the day/night indicator which shows the Sun and the Moon in a subtle enamel gradient, and the hands. Even the logo is a combination of the classic LV monogram with the Voutilainen name.

The complexities of tantalum

Given the eminently “louisvuittonesque” hour circle, with its multitude of colours, the principal dial colour was a particularly crucial element, as Kari Voutilainen explains: “There had to be sufficient contrast for the miniature painting to stand out. We could have gone for white or black but ultimately chose this shade of grey. The same logic led us to choose tantalum for the case. The emphasis is on the whole. No single element takes precedence.”

Aesthetic on the one hand; feasibility on the other: the lugs for the 40.5mm case are too complex to make in tantalum, which is not the easiest of materials to polish, either, hence the decision was taken to make the lugs, as well as the shaped crown (a first for the master watchmaker), from platinum. An artisan spends at least one hour working on each lug, first with sandpaper sticks (cabrons), then polishing and sharpening each angle, entirely by hand.

Applying a satin finish to the tantalum surface of the case poses an additional challenge. Manually executed, it takes close to four hours to draw out the material’s natural sheen and create the desired contrast with the polished platinum components.

The joys of travel

The moment has come to turn the watch over and reveal the 254-part movement. The “GM” in the watch’s name refers to its GMT function, echoing Louis Vuitton’s origins in travel. The letter “R” points to the power-reserve indicator while “6” refers to the position of the subdial for home time.

This GMT subdial makes one full rotation every 24 hours and is designed to be set on home time, while the central hour hand is independently set to local time by pressing the crown. “Traditionally, on our GMT movements it’s the 24-hour subdial that advances whereas on this model, it’s the hour hand that moves in one-hour increments with each press of the crown,” Kari Voutilainen explains.

The balance spring uses a classic Philips terminal curve but the much rarer Grossmann internal curve, for enhanced precision. Another specificity are the two escapement wheels that provide direct impulse to the balance through the jewels. Because it uses less energy, this construction is more efficient than a Swiss lever escapement.

The movement benefits from traditional finishing such as circular-graining and Côtes de Genève, while colourful, kaleidoscopic miniature painting on the barrel cover echoes the dial. The ratchet applique, in white gold, is decorated with 27 individual shades and takes 16 hours to paint.

Continuing the travel theme, each of the five LVKV-02 GMR 6 watches is delivered in a bespoke Louis Vuitton trunk, crafted at the brand’s historic workshops in Asnières. Once the trunk’s structure is complete, its hand-painted decoration reprises the complex patterns and architecture of the dial, along with the “Louis cruises with Kari” signature.

The years of unprecedented expansion may be behind the watch sector as a whole; the brand is, it says, continuing its “full growth” in various guises. This latest creation confirms the unique path Louis Vuitton is taking, accompanied by the best possible travel companions: independent creators.

This latest creation confirms the unique path Louis Vuitton is taking, accompanied by the best possible travel companions: independent creators.