Art, Audacity & Exclusivity

With Louis Vuitton approaching its 20th anniversary in watchmaking, we take a journey through time with michel navas and the iconic tambour

- Jonathan Ho

It is historical irony that some of the watchmaking industry's greatest achievements were born in Paris, not Geneva. In 17th century Paris, Place Dauphine was home to the workshops of Ferdinand Berthoud, Jean-Antoine Lépine, and a young AbrahamLouis Breguet. Each man shaped watchmaking destiny in their own way. Echoing his respected French peers, Louis Vuitton, born on August 4, 1821, in Anchay, a small hamlet in eastern France's mountainous Jura region, he too made the industry in his image. Hence, it is historical symmetry that today, La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, sits only an hour twenty minutes by car away from its namesake's birthplace. I was tempted by the prospect of a return to the birthplace of watchmaking as it once was but Michel Navas was adamant, "Louis Vuitton is a French maison, but our watchmaking division is based in Geneva, the centre of Swiss watchmaking. If you want to make the best watches, you will have to be based there to work with the watchmakers and materials. We have weekly meetings with our team in Paris, so you have the high traditions of Switzerland and the modern French touch of Louis Vuitton. Truly the best item you can have on the wrist."

Though Louis Vuitton has firmly established artisanal bonafides for trunks, travel accessories, and fashion, the brand's watchmaking ascent is nascent, having only released its first timepiece in 2002. Watchmaking is similar in that it is also a realm that trades on provenance and legacy; Since it did not have a dedicated facility at the time and watchmaking is an industry which trades on decades if not centuries of legacy, it would take an act of time travel to build horological legitimacy. Since defying the laws of physics is the study of science rather than horology, Louis Vuitton's ambitions had to be supported by another means - acquiring the know-how and wisdom of already respected watchmakers like La Fabrique du Temps.