Louis Vuitton has in the last years waked a clear path. Or shall we say a stairway to horological heaven? It is continually strengthening the capabilities in its manufacture Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, which now employs more than 200 people, it got rid of its quartz segment, and it has updated models like the Tambourine and Escale.
Interestingly, LVs models honours both haute horlogerie and its heritage as a luxury trunk maker, showing that design details can add value when transferred between industries. In March 2025, the Escale also became the canvas of a collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Finnish watchmaker Kari Voutilainen. LVKV-02 GMR 6 is the mouthful name of what is LVs second collaboration with an independent watchmaker, following its 2023 exercise with Atelier Akrivia. But thankfully this new watch is also referred to as Louis cruises with Kari, a clear flirt with the trunk maker’s travelling history. Escale was originally launched in 2014 but came out with a new design in 2024. Today’s 40.5-millimetre case of the LVKV watch is made of tantalum, with bezel, back, lugs and crown in platinum. And coincidence or not, did you know that Finland was paramount in the 1802 discovery of tantalum? The Nordic country was the place of origin of one of the mineral samples containing the blue-grey metal with a melting point of 3’017 °C (Seems like Louis Vuitton watch director Jean Arnault has a thing for Finland, as his Paris office is decked out with Finnish design classics by Eero Saarinen).
Historical Decorations
According to Louis Vuitton the most demanding work on the case is the satin-finishing of the tantalum case side. Thanks to around four hours of meticulous handwork, the natural radiance of tantalum is boosted, which results with a contrasting effect to the polished platinum parts, including the lug-holder, which mimics trunk brackets from Louis Vuitton’s’ trunks.
Mr. Voutilainen is famous for both its exquisitely movements and dials, the latter oftentimes decorated with intricate guilloché patterns. The dial’s central hand guilloché pattern made in Voutilainen’s workshop features curved and straight lines –a nod to Louis Vuitton’s Damier motif. This is the historical name of the square pattern used by LV since 1888. The Voutilainen workshop was also responsible for the enamelled saffron and blue day and night indicator at six, which hides near-concealed shapes of Louis Vuitton’s Monogram flower in use since 1896.
Underneath the exquisite dial beats a manually wound GMR 6 movement designed, built, finished, and assembled in the Voutilainen workshop. Mainplate and bridges made of German silver and a total of 254 components in synchronized unison gives the watch its functions of hours, minutes seconds, power reserve, and GMT second time zone with night and day indicator.
Voutilainen’s exquisite dial work is combined with the expertise of La Fabrique des Arts – the métiers d’art workshop at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. For instance, the diamond-polished hour circle reminiscent of stained-glass windows is enamel miniature painted with enamel 28 different colours by artisan Maryna Bossy. Each dial painting takes her 32 hours, plus eight hours of firing. (These eight hours are divided on several sojourns in the furnace as a miniature painting is made in layers.)
The artisanal effort of the Louis Cruises with Kari, presented in a high watchmaking trunk in Monogram Eclipse canvas, which is hand-painted with a design reflecting the watch dial. This watch is arguably the most intricate and advanced ever seen in a collaboration by two top watchmakers. So, it comes as no surprise that the edition is extremely limited: only five pieces of the LVKV-02 GMR 6 will be made.
