The new Monterey from Louis Vuitton’s La Fabrique du Temps is both beautiful and smart. It steps into the same rarefied territory as the Cartier Pebble thanks to its tactile, bespoke rounded case design that has become proprietary to the Maison. The Monterey is simultaneously a statement on Louis Vuitton’s current horological ambition and a respectful tribute to the brand’s first watch. If minimalist, time-only watches are your choice (they certainly are mine), then the 2025 Monterey is for you. Don’t walk, run to your nearest LV boutique and put your name on the waiting list, as there are only 188 pieces available worldwide.
The original Louis Vuitton Monterey I in white and yellow gold with the dial showing Aulenti’s modern,
intellectual and accessible approach to the complex number of functions.
The Monterey case was originally designed in 1988 by the renowned Italian architect and designer Gae Aulenti, best known for transforming the Gare d’Orsay into the Musée d’Orsay. A close friend of Gianni Agnelli, she also designed Fiat showrooms across Europe, Agnelli’s ski lodge in St. Moritz and the renovation of Palazzo Grassi in Venice. Her collaborations extended into furniture and design for names like Kartell, Knoll and Zanotta, and her work is described as a dialogue between old and new, intellectual and at the same time, accessible. Louis Vuitton’s choice to commission her for its first watch was inspired, and the Monterey case and dial design has the contemporary yet vintage feel aesthetic.
Gae Aulenti wearing the Louis Vuitton Monterey I, her and overseeing conversion of the former Gare d’Orsay into the Musee d’Orsay.
The original Monterey I was a complex world-time watch with an alarm, date, moonphase and multiple time zones, powered by quartz and housed in a 18kt yellow gold, lugless “pebble” case with the crown at 12 o’clock. Monterey II was a technical collaboration with IWC for a polished ceramic case, but with less complications, retaining just the alarm and date. Only a handful were made and quickly became collectors’ pieces. According to urban legends, the original Louis Vuitton watches were named Montre I and Montre II, but the American mispronunciation of montre (French for watch) became “Monterey”. The name stuck and for this version, Louis Vuitton has formally adopted the name.
Fitting the smoothed caseback over the beautifully designed proprietary LFT MA01.02 free-sprung automatic movement.
The newly relaunched Monterey (2025) is possibly as close to perfection as you can get for a time only watch. It features a peerless grand feu enamel dial, hand-painted numerals and tracks, whilst retaining the same typeface, hands, and numeric layout as Aulenti’s original. The sculpted 18kt yellow gold “pebble” case is carried over – now 39 mm – and the watch is powered by the fully in-house, hand-finished mechanical LFT MA01.02 free-sprung automatic movement, with a 45-hour power reserve. The crown remains at 12 and is now widened with a Clous de Paris texture for grip. The caseback remains closed in keeping with the original design ethos.
This Monterey is a triumph: refined, restrained and cunning in how it honours tradition while raising the artisan craft content. It is, in many respects, a distilled expression of Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking maturity. And yes, don’t forget to take it home in the signature LV watch box, to complete the experience. POA.
Author: Andrew Hildreth
Other time-only watches we think you’d like include, among others: the Laurent Ferrier Classic Tourbillon Teal – Série Atelier VII, the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Lee Ufan and the stone-dial Bovet Récital 12.
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