Louis Vuitton & De Bethune Created a $4.5 Million Clock That Winds This GMT Watch Overnight

When it comes to the most challenging watch complications to make, some may argue it’s perhaps the grande sonnerie, or the multi-axis tourbillon, or even the minute repeater. But even still, we see these types of movements made by top-tier watchmakers each year.

The last time anyone made a Sympathetique clock for production was 35 years ago, when Breguet commissioned T.H.A. to create the mechanism that its founder invented more than 200 years prior. Simply put, Sympathetique clocks are among the most difficult objects in horology to design, build, and debug. Today, however, Louis Vuitton and De Bethune have met the challenge head-on, teaming up for a brand-new Sympathetique, along with a stunning new watch that’s inspired by it.

Explaining the Sympathetique

Back in 1795, Abraham-Louis Breguet came up with something that sounds too good to be true: a precision clock that would automatically wind, set, and regulate a companion pocket watch while you slept. Place your watch in a little cradle on the clock before bed, and wake up with it fully corrected and ready to go. Only a handful were ever made during his lifetime, and they were reserved for royalty. Fast forward to 1991, and Denis Flageollet (working at the complications atelier T.H.A.) created a modern version for Breguet that adapted the concept to a wristwatch. That piece recently sold at auction for $5.51 million, purchased by none other than François-Paul Journe, Flageollet’s former T.H.A. partner. Now, three decades later, Flageollet has done it again with Louis Vuitton.

The LVDB-03 GMT Louis Varius

This collaboration marks the third in Louis Vuitton’s five-part series spotlighting independent watchmakers, following pieces with Rexhep Rexhepi and Kari Voutilainen. The watch itself is a 45mm Tambour Taiko case rendered in De Bethune’s signature thermally blued titanium, with platinum lugs and crown. The dial blends both houses beautifully — LV’s bold Tambour numerals circle the perimeter while a starry De Bethune center features white gold pins forming the “LV” constellation. A spherical GMT indicator (rose gold for day, blued steel for night) rotates twice daily, and there’s a jumping date complication tucked in as well.

Inside is the manually wound DB2507LV caliber, a derivative of the movement found in De Bethune’s DB25 GMT Starry Varius. It runs at 4Hz with a five-day power reserve via double self-regulating barrels, plus De Bethune’s triple shock-absorbing system and silicon escapement. All 12 watches include the Sympathetique docking functionality built into the movement, even though only two clocks will be made.

The Clock Itself

If the watch impresses, the LVDB-03 Sympathetique Louis Varius clock is the true showstopper. Weighing about 22lbs and measuring roughly a foot in every direction, this marine chronometer-style clock is built from titanium with meteorite marquetry. The 763-component movement beats at 2.5Hz and offers an 11-day power reserve, wound via a titanium key. When you dock the watch in its cradle beneath the rose gold dome (hand-engraved with the constellation Hercules), the clock takes over. Over 10 hours, it continuously winds the watch, and every two hours, it resets the hands to within seven minutes of the master time — all through the watch’s crown, mechanically.

Belgian artist François Schuiten created three panoramic landscapes that encircle the clock face on rotating rose gold rings, engraved entirely by hand by Michèle Rothen. Steam trains, hot air balloons over Africa, mountain climbers — the scenes change as the rings spin at different speeds throughout the day. It’s part timekeeping instrument, part kinetic sculpture.

Spec Sheet

Pricing & Availability

Ten standalone LVDB-03 GMT watches are priced at €375,000 each (~$441,806). The two complete sets — watch plus Sympathetique clock, both delivered in custom titanium trunks — will set you back €4,000,000 (~$4,712,600).

Recap

Louis Vuitton x De Bethune LVDB-03 GMT

Louis Vuitton and De Bethune just teamed up to create something wild: a limited run of 12 travel watches paired with two incredibly rare Sympathetique clocks that can automatically wind and set the watch while it sits in a cradle overnight. It’s the first mechanical Sympathetique made in 35 years, and with only two clocks being produced at nearly $5 million each, this is easily one of the most ambitious watch collaborations we’ve seen.

Learn More: Louis Vuitton