With the LVDB-03 Louis Varius Project, Louis Vuitton and De Bethune transform high watchmaking into a shared meditation on mechanical poetry.

With the LVDB-03 Louis Varius Project, Louis Vuitton and De Bethune push their partnership into its most ambitious territory yet. The limited-edition watch is a dual creation that bridges independent horology and the maison&rsquo;s travel heritage, where extreme engineering meets something far less measurable: the romance of time.
Conceived with Denis Flageollet, co-founder and master watchmaker of De Bethune, the Louis Varius project unfolds in two acts. A contemporary GMT wristwatch designed for modern travel. And a monumental reinterpretation of the historic Sympathique clock, the almost mythical mechanism capable of automatically regulating and winding a companion watch.

For Louis Vuitton, collaborations of this scale aren&rsquo;t decorative. As Jean Arnault, Director of Watches, has said, the watchmaker is given carte blanche to define their own vision of time, and of Louis Vuitton. It&rsquo;s the same philosophy that underpins the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives. Trust first. Then craft.
Denis Flageollet is known for choosing his projects carefully. An engineer and inventor with a taste for horological history, he shares with Arnault a fascination for the golden age of French watchmaking and figures like Abraham-Louis Breguet. From that dialogue came the decision to revisit the Sympathique. More than a technical feat, the original 18th-century mechanism symbolized harmony between objects, a master clock and its portable counterpart, perfectly synchronized. Two centuries later, this is its most advanced reinterpretation yet.
The LVDB-03 GMT Louis Varius embodies time in motion. Housed in a polished Tambour Taiko case in titanium, thermally blued using De Bethune&rsquo;s proprietary oxidation process, it shifts tone as it catches the light. Platinum lugs, a crown engraved with the Monogram Flower, discreet caseback signatures.
Inside beats the DB2507LV calibre, offering five days of power reserve. Built for travelers, it features a second time zone, a spherical day-night indication, and a jumping date. Its defining element, however, is the sympathetic function. Place the watch into its companion clock, and it automatically winds and adjusts itself. The gesture looks simple, but the mechanics behind it are anything but.

The dial leans into De Bethune&rsquo;s cosmic language. A miniature Milky Way, set with white gold pins, 24-carat gold leaf applied by hand, and subtle LV initials hidden among the stars. The night sky becomes both signature and metaphor.
Opposite the wristwatch stands the LVDB-03 Sympathique Louis Varius clock, a kinetic sculpture in its own right. Inspired by marine chronometers and mounted on a titanium base set with meteorite, it tilts on a gyroscopic system, recalling historical navigation instruments. Its movement, composed of 763 components with twin barrels and a remontoir d&rsquo;&eacute;galit&eacute;, delivers an eleven-day power reserve. Stability and precision, elevated to theatre.
The clock is also narrative. Three hand-engraved rings encircle the mechanism, depicting dreamlike travel scenes imagined by Fran&ccedil;ois Schuiten: steam trains, hot air balloons, distant expeditions. Time here is no longer linear. It revolves. It journeys.
To complete the project, Louis Vuitton&rsquo;s ateliers in Asni&egrave;res created two bespoke titanium trunks. One houses the monumental clock. The other protects the GMT watch, ready for departure. Polished titanium, blued corners, leather and Alcantara interiors. Even the cases become part of the story.

Courtesy of Louis Vuitton.

The LVDB-03 Louis Varius Is Louis Vuitton’s Most Ambitious Watch Yet

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