Monochrome Watches

The Louis Vuitton x De Bethune LVDB-03 Louis Varius Project, A Watch & Sympathetic Clock.

The @louisvuitton x @de_bethune LVDB-03 Louis Varius Project is a full-blown horological event. What begins as a striking Tambour-cased De Bethune wristwatch quickly escalates into something far rarer and far more ambitious: the return of a true mechanical sympathetic clock, a creation so complex and so rare that it has nearly vanished from modern watchmaking. At first, the wristwatch appears to be the headline act. Housed in a 45mm Tambour Taiko case in thermally blued titanium, it blends Louis Vuitton’s design with De Bethune’s apparent aesthetic codes. The dial is classic De Bethune, reinterpreted through an LV lens. A blued titanium centre hosts a star-studded Milky Way rendered in gold pins and leaves, forming the LV initials within the constellation (look on the right). Surrounding this cosmic display is a spherical day/night indicator in rose gold and blued steel, rotating continuously every 24 hours, and there are peripheral date and Tambour-style numerals. The watch is powered by the hand-wound calibre DB2507LV, a five-day GMT movement with De Bethune’s titanium balance, silicon escape wheel and signature triple shock system. But then comes the Sympathique clock, the heart of the LVDB-03 project. Inspired by Breguet’s 18th-century invention, and revisited only once in modern times by THA in the early 1990s, the clock automatically winds and synchronises the wristwatch when docked, without any user intervention. Place the watch in its cradle, walk away, and by morning it’s wound and perfectly set. The clock is monumental. Powered by a bespoke 763-part movement with constant force and an 11-day reserve, it’s housed in a titanium and meteorite-marquetry structure styled like a marine chronometer. Artistic gold engravings by François Schuiten frame the blued titanium dial, turning the whole object into a functional sculpture. Only two complete sets will ever exist, priced at EUR 4 million, with ten watches available individually. More details on MONOCHROME-Watches.com. #watchcollecting #watchfam #watchcollector #MONOCHROMEwatches #louisvuitton