Louis Vuitton has quite the storied history as a fashion label, but it’s first wristwatch came from an unlikely drafting table. Back in 1988, the brand tapped Gae Aulenti, the Italian architect who had just turned a Paris railway station into the Musée d’Orsay. Last year’s 188-piece gold reissue was beautiful to look at, but there’s was no real chance for anyone every buy one based on sheer number of units available. Now the ceramic version is going into regular production as the Louis Vuitton Monterey Ceramic.
Glazed Like a River Stone
Aulenti’s LV II came in black or green ceramic, and the new pair keeps that color split along with the original 37mm footprint. And there are also no lugs on the watch. Instead, the strap threads through a loop on the caseback, so the whole thing feels like a beautifully smooth pebble with a hobnail-textured crown at noon.
Each case is machined from zirconium oxide and pigment, fired past 1,000°C, then ground and polished by hand.
And seeing that the crown is up top, it’s no shock LV’s runway stylists keep clipping these to belt loops like pocket watches.
Alarm Deleted, Rotor Added
Now, the 1988 original ran an IWC-supplied quartz movement with an alarm and date. Its replacement is LV’s in-house LFT MA01.02 automatic, beating at 4Hz with 45 hours of reserve and an 18k rose gold rotor (one you’ll never see though), thanks to a solid steel caseback.
The swap costs 2mm of height (11mm total) and the extra functions, though we doubt anyone’s actually setting alarms on a watch this pricey. Green-on-green gets yellow hands, while the black model runs a white dial with red hands and a hair-thin blue seconds hand.
Spec Sheet
Model: Louis Vuitton Monterey Ceramic
References: W0CR11 (Black) / W0CR21 (Green)
Case Size: 37mm
Case Thickness: 11mm
Lug-to-Lug: Lugless (pass-through strap loop on caseback)
Case Material: Polished black or green ceramic, steel caseback
Crown: Steel with Clous de Paris texture at 12 o’clock
Crystal: Sapphire
Dial: Lacquered white (W0CR11) or green (W0CR21)
Movement: Louis Vuitton LFT MA01.02 automatic
Frequency: 28,800 vph (4Hz)
Power Reserve: 45 hours
Water Resistance: 30m
Strap: Black calfskin with red stitching or green calfskin, steel pin buckle
Limited Edition: No
Pricing & Availability
Unlike last year’s gold edition, the Monterey Ceramic is part of the permanent collection. It’s sold exclusively through Louis Vuitton boutiques for $22,900 (€23,000), and it arrives in a Monogram watch trunk. Head over to Louis Vuitton’s website to learn more.
Recap
Louis Vuitton Monterey Ceramic
Louis Vuitton’s architect-designed 1988 LV II returns in glossy black or green ceramic with an in-house automatic movement, and this time it isn’t limited.
