Louis Vuitton Unveils Its Most Complex Pocket Watch Yet
Alaskan glacier, a whale, an orca and the Northern Lights and it took over 460 hours to bring to life.
Louis Vuitton has added a new chapter to its Escales Autour du Monde pocket watch collection with the Escale en Alaska, a one-of-a-kind timepiece inspired by the state’s Margerie Glacier. Created by the house’s Geneva-based watchmaking workshop, La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the piece is described as the most “complicated” pocket watch the atelier has ever produced.
The 50mm watch depicts a nocturnal Alaskan scene beneath the Northern Lights, populated by a whale, an orca, and a trio of penguins, all brought to life through 17 moving parts and nine distinct animations powered by a Jacquemart mechanism. A tourbillon and minute repeater are housed within, while the hands sit unusually on the caseback rather than the dial, leaving the miniature scene unobstructed.
The dial took just as much work to bring to life. Craftspeople spent months layering enamel and hand-engraving, using dozens of colours and firing the piece more than 30 times, over 300 hours in all. Engraving added another 160 hours, capturing fine details like the orca’s teeth and the penguins’ feathers. The dial also introduces the smallest LV Monogram Star-cut diamond made to date, rendered as a shooting star descending toward the glacier.
According to Matthieu Hegi, Artistic Director at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the greatest challenge was fitting all these elements into the pocket watch’s existing case and mechanical constraints without altering them. The piece arrives with a custom leather bag designed to display it, continuing the collection’s travel inspired presentation.
More information at louisvuitton.com
Credits:
Images courtesy of Louis Vuitton
Words: Sufiya McNulty @ellasufiya
