MEMORY OF LIGHT
A one-of-a-kind pocket watch transforms the arts and crafts into a sensory evocation, a scene tinged with fantasy, depicting a polar night illuminated by the Northern Lights and populated by animated animals.
The Escales Autour du Monde collection is enriched by a new unique piece named Escale en Alaska. Dedicated to the Margerie Glacier, this Louis Vuitton pocket watch (50mm in diameter and 19mm thick) revives a now-rare watchmaking form and transforms it into a true medium for artistic expression. Beneath the green and blue hues of the Northern Lights, a humpback whale, an orca with its jaws open, and, flanking trunks lined with the famous LV Monogram canvas and resting on the pack ice, a group of penguins take their place in a nocturnal landscape where every detail invites contemplation.
Crafted in white gold, the case is paired with a bezel set with baguette-cut stones (colored sapphires, diamonds, and tourmalines). The dial’s decoration draws on several artistic crafts developed within La Fabrique des Arts. The techniques of champlevé, cloisonné, and miniature painting required 32 shades of enamel and more than 30 successive firings to recreate the depth of this polar night. The engraving, meanwhile, lends relief and presence to the animals, the ice, and the various elements of the decoration. This scene is brought to life by the hand-wound LFT AU14.03 caliber, a complex movement developed by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Comprising 751 components and beating at a gentle frequency of 3hz, it combines a tourbillon, a minute repeater, and a jacquemart mechanism orchestrating 9 animations and 17 moving elements, and offers an 8-day power reserve.
