Louis Vuitton teams up with Kari Voutilainen on an ultra-elevated tantalum take on the Escale
Jamie Weiss- The much-anticipated “LVoutilainen” is here: France’s best-known luxury brand and Finland’s master watchmaker collaborate on a 5-piece limited edition.
- This represents LV’s second collaboration with a renowned independent watchmaker, following the Louis Vuitton x Akrivia LVRR-01 Chronographe à Sonnerie.
- It’s cased in tantalum with platinum elements, has a hand-guilloché gold dial and is powered by a Voutilainen GMT movement.
Louis Vuitton is one of the most interesting brands in watchmaking today. The French luxury Maison isn’t just investing big in its own watchmaking capacities – as typified by the dramatically more horologically mature Tambour – but has also emerged as perhaps the watch industry’s most prominent institutional supporter of independent watchmaking, through initiatives such as the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives as well as its charge to collaborate with prominent independent watchmakers through its “Louis cruises with…” series.
The first watch in that series was the Louis Vuitton x Akrivia LVRR-01 Chronographe à Sonnerie, produced in collaboration with the much-feted Kosovan-Swiss young master Rexhep Rexhepi. Now, LV has followed that up with its second high-profile collaboration, partnering with Finnish maestro Kari Voutilainen – widely considered one of the greatest living watchmakers – on an unexpectedly playful yet masterful riff on one of LV’s signature watch designs.
Voutilainen is no stranger to collaborating with the watch world’s heavy hitters. Some brands he’s penned watches with include Armin Strom, Grönefeld, MB&F and Zenith, with many more brands benefitting from his expertise and creative vision by using dials produced by his dial factory, Comblémine. But Voutilainen’s watch with Louis Vuitton represents one of the most interesting watches either name has produced.
First of all, let’s talk about the case. Essentially an ultra-elevated take on Louis Vuitton’s Escale, it’s called the LVKV-02 GMR 6, and it features a middle portion made from tantalum – notoriously one of the hardest materials to work with in watchmaking – with the Escale’s signature LV trunk-like lugs as well as its bezel, back and crown crafted from platinum. This alone makes it a significant watch, being the first publically-available LV watch in tantalum (Jean Arnault, director of watchmaking for Louis Vuitton, owns a piece unique tantalum Tambour) – but the LVKV-02 GMR 6’s case is arguably its least interesting feature.
What’s far more interesting is its dial, which blends the talents of both brands. Crafted from gold, its centre portion is hand-guillochéd – a signature of Voutilainen’s – contrasted by a multi-coloured hour circle hand-painted by Maryna Bossy at La Fabrique des Arts, the Métiers d’Art workshop at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. The day/night disc at the centre of the watch’s small seconds and dual time zone indicator, imagined in intricate enamel, was a product of the Voutilainen workshops. And then, at 12 o’clock, a plinth within the guilloché features a unique collaborative logo: “LVoutilainen”.
Indeed, the whole watch is a beautiful meld of Voutilainen and LV. The dial design is pure Voutilainen, enhanced by LV’s métiers d’art and filled with nods to LV designs, such as the brand’s flower monogram and Damier prints. The case is more pure LV, yet the use of tantalum evokes Voutilainen once again – and the movement within, the dual-impulse escapement, second time zone-offering Kari Voutilainen GMR 6, is pure Kari. It’s a very cohesive collaboration.
As a quick aside, it’s worth discussing how the GMR 6’s dual-impulse escapement works, and why it’s so significant. In essence (big thanks to our resident engineer Borna for helping me with this explanation by the way), a dual-impulse escapement is kind of halfway between a typical Swiss lever escapement and a co-axial escapement. In a regular Swiss lever, you have the pallet fork interacting with the escape wheel with two indirect impulses – this means that the power goes from the balance wheel to the pallet fork, which locks and unlocks the escape wheel. As the escape wheel swings one way, you get one indirect impulse, and as it swings back, you get the second.
In a dual-impulse escapement, the difference is that you have a direct impulse. This means that on one of the swings of the balance wheel, rather than going through the pallet fork, the balance directly interacts with the escape wheel. Then, on the swing back, it’s an indirect impulse just like with a Swiss lever escapement. The advantage here is that the direct impulse is more efficient as it doesn’t have to go through the pallet fork – it also requires less lubrication. Few watchmakers have commercialised dual-impulse escapements – Grand Seiko’s MEMS-produced solution in its high-beat movements is the most prominent example – that Voutilainen can combine such technology with exceptional movement finishing is emblematic of his mastery.
Speaking of that finishing: there’s the delicious côtes de Genève, perlage and interior angles we’d expect from a Voutilainen creation, with the added joy of a multi-coloured miniature painting on the mainspring barrel cover, adding a playful pop of colour. We also see the LVoutilainen logo return, just in case you needed a reminder of what you were looking at.
Louis Vuitton x Kari Voutilainen LVKV-02 GMR 6 pricing and availability
The LVKV-02 GMR 6 is a limited edition of 5 pieces. Each piece is presented in a unique Louis Vuitton trunk swathed in Monogram Eclipse canvas that’s been adorned with a hand-painted design that matches the watch’s dial. Price: €550,000 (incl. taxes, ~US$600,000)
| Brand | Louis Vuitton x Kari Voutilainen (“LVoutilainen”) |
| Model | LVKV-02 GMR 6 |
| Case Dimensions | 40.5mm (D) x 12.54mm (T) |
| Case Material | Tantalum middle with bezel, back, lugs and crown in platinum |
| Water Resistance | 30 metres |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire front and back |
| Dial | Hand-guilloché gold |
| Lug Width | 20mm |
| Strap | Grey fabric strap, platinum pin buckle Anthracite alligator strap, platinum pin buckle |
| Movement | Kari Voutilainen GMR 6, double-impulse escapement, manual-winding |
| Power Reserve | 65 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, small seconds, power reserve indicator, dual time |
| Availability | Limited edition of 5 pieces |
| Price | €550,000 |