Louis Vuitton Voyager Skeleton has made a plethora of headlines in this early half of spring as it dropped its second batch of products alongside artist Yayoi Kusama, unveiled a luxe golf trunk and announced its latest Archlight 2.0 sneaker. And now to keep its momentum pushing forward, the luxury label has just announced its latest Voyager Skeleton watch.
The new and limited-edition timepiece is designed with a mechanical and minimalistic build that can resist up to 50mm of water. Its crafted with a 41mm platinum case and sapphire glass, the former of which houses the LV60 — a skeleton-ized movement that references the architecture of some of Louis Vuitton’s flagship stores and the Fondation Louis Vuitton. The calibre is equipped with a tungsten micro-rotor ornamented with a white gold rhodium plated plate. It’s been intentionally positioned off center to maximize the visibility of the LV-shaped bridges and the mechanics inside. The rear end of the watch features an engraved case-back that spells out “Limited edition,” and the piece comes packaged with a navy blue alligator leather trap as well as a taurillon leather strap that are locked in place by a platinum ardillon buckle.
Tambour may be the name that is rightfully associated with Louis Vuitton watches, as the drum-shaped case dominates in the luxury giant’s watches catalogue. Still, Tambour, with its variations like Tambour Curve and Tambour Moon, is not the only shape that constitutes the offer. A few years back, the Voyager case, house to the Louis Vuitton Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève, was chosen to represent the GMT models and now seems reserved for special occasions only. Like the launch of the new Voyager Skeleton, which is here to highlight Louis Vuitton’s expertise in openworked movements. The Voyager case is a beautiful creation, with an attractive round shape that seems oval and sometimes even square. It has a monobloc construction, so the middle part and the bezel are one piece. The curves and different finishes on its surfaces, mirror-polished and brushed, provide a perfect and luxurious (Pt 950) frame to enjoy the functional beauty of the open-worked calibre. The new skeletonised movement LV60 fits perfectly into the distinctive 41mm Voyager case as it was created for this particular model. The Calibre LV60’s architecture is designed within the stylistic codes of the Maison to remind nothing less than the exceptional forms of the Fondation Louis Vuitton building by Frank Gehry. And the movement spells Louis Vuitton, like the brand’s most leather goods, with LV-shaped bridges, LV-decorated tungsten micro-rotor and a “Louis Vuitton” cut-out ratchet wheel. But it somehow remains quite discreet. This movement is the brand’s first automatic time-only skeleton calibre; it beats at a frequency of 28,800vph and has 48 hours of power reserve. Designed and developed by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, an in-house, Geneva-based specialist atelier, this calibre was manufactured in partnership with Le Cercle des Horlogers out of Neuchâtel – LV must be praised for communicating this and not usurping all the laurels. The Voyager Skeleton movement’s decoration aligns with expectations as we remember the exquisite finish done on the openworked Louis Vuitton Poinçon de Genève watches, Louis Vuitton Voyager Skeleton Tambour Curve Flying Tourbillon and Voyager Flying Tourbillon. The LV-shaped bridges show fine linear graining on the top and sandblasted finish on the caseback side, with chamfered edges. The rhodium-plated parts make the watch look very monochromatic. This feeling is enhanced by the contrasting deep blue-coloured minute ring on the dial’s periphery and the pair of semi-skeletonised hands for hours and minutes, with their blue contour. The Louis Vuitton Voyager Skeleton caseback is transparent, and the sight is no less spectacular than the dial, especially if you enjoy viewing the mechanism at work. Still, with the Voyager Skeleton, you can enjoy the dial side equally, if not much more. Louis Vuitton invites you to guess the power left for the watch to properly function by looking at the mainspring coils or paying attention to the arrangement of the coils so as not to miss the moment to wind your Voyager Skeleton.
