Louis Vuitton’s new Monterey watch pays tribute to its LV 1988 wristwatch

Louis Vuitton is paying tribute to its first-ever wristwatches with two new – and permanent – additions to its Monterey collection. The new Louis Vuitton Monterey watches come in white or green, and have a fun crown placement that make them look like mini pocket watches.

Louis Vuitton’s LV I and LV II marked the first time the luxury fashion house made wristwatches. Dating back to 1988, the watches were created in collaboration with Italian designer and architect, Gae Aulenti, and many of the features that made them unusual at the time – like the use of ceramic – have been brought back for the new Louis Vuitton Monterey watches.

The Louis Vuitton Monterey watches are the WOCR11 and WOCR21, which have the same case size, movement and dial designs, but come in different colours. Both cases measure 37mm and have a thickness of 11mm. The crown is located at 12 o’clock, giving it the appearance of a pocket watch.

The thickness of the Monterey cases are 2mm thicker than the 1988 watches to accommodate the new movement. Instead of using the original quartz movement, the Louis Vuitton Monterey watches are powered by the in-house automatic LFTMA01.02 calibre movement which is made of 174 components and delivers 28,800 vibrations per hour.

Despite being ‘hidden’ by the closed caseback, the LFTMA01.02 movement is extremely intricate. The movement has a 750/1000 rose gold rotor, colourless sapphires on the calibre, a circular grain patterned mainplate and an LV monogram – it’s a shame you can’t see it, really! The movement also gives the watches 45 hours of power reserve.

Onto the specifics of each watch, the Louis Vuitton Monterey WOCR11 has a black ceramic case and a lacquered white dial. It has brass hours and minutes hands which are crafted from red lacquer. Red is also displayed on the railtrack, and the stitching on its black leather strap. The seconds hand is covered with blue lacquer.

The second version – and my personal favourite – is the Louis Vuitton Monterey WOCR21 which has a green ceramic case and lacquered green dial. The dial has white minute and railway tracks, as well as its hour numerals, but its hours and minutes hands are displayed in yellow lacquer with a blue lacquer seconds hand.

I haven’t been able to find pricing on the new Louis Vuitton Monterey watches, and they don’t appear on the Louis Vuitton website just yet. The 2025 limited edition revival of the Monterey cost £50,000, but it was made of yellow gold rather than ceramic, so I imagine the new models will be less expensive than that.