Louis Vuitton returns to the Monterey – reborn in honour of the 1988 original

‘It’s not possible to define a style in my work,’ architect and designer Gaetana ‘Gae’ Aulenti (1927-2012) told The New York Times in 1987. Yet the recurring themes are undeniable: a refusal to bow to trends, a play between history and modernity, and a curiosity about materials. These qualities carried her from buildings to furniture, interiors and, in 1988, to watchmaking.

That year, fresh from her transformation of Paris’ Gare d’Orsay into the Musée d’Orsay, Aulenti was tapped by Louis Vuitton to design its first-ever watches. The LV I and LV II, quickly nicknamed the Monterey, were unlike anything else: a pebble-shaped, lugless case with an unusual crown position at 12 o’clock, echoing a pocket watch. The LV I came in gold, packed with complications that included a world timer, alarm and moonphase. The LV II pared things back but pushed materials forward with scratch-resistant ceramic cases in black and green.

What began as an eccentric debut for Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking has since become a cult object among collectors. The Monterey’s oddball form, straddling futurism and nostalgia, feels perfectly in sync with today’s appetite for rediscovering vintage design-driven watches. Increasingly visible on TikTok tastemakers’ wrists and even on the brand’s runway, where Nicolas Ghesquière paired them with his Autumn/Winter 2025 womenswear collection, its resurgence has also coincided with a wider recognition of pioneering women in design and watchmaking, putting Aulenti’s name firmly back in the spotlight.

The new Louis Vuitton Monterey, produced in just 188 pieces, honours the 1988 original while upgrading specs. Its 39mm yellow-gold case retains the rounded silhouette and pocket-watch crown, but the quartz movement has been replaced with the automatic calibre LFT MA01.02, developed in-house at La Fabrique du Temps. With its rose-gold rotor, 45-hour power reserve and refined finishing, the movement underscores Vuitton’s horological credibility.

The dial, crafted in white Grand Feu enamel, recalls the graphic, minimalist layout of the original, while demonstrating the level of know-how now possible at LFT’s La Fabrique des Arts. Each dial requires 20 hours of layering and multiple firings at up to 900°C, with white enamel being notoriously difficult to perfect. Red and blue accents on the scales and syringe-style hands inject a jolt of graphic energy, a nod to the 80s DNA. The crown is now winding and is decorated with Clous-de-Paris texture.

For Aulenti, designing a watch was no small challenge. According to her granddaughter, Nina Artioli, she struggled with its proportions and functions, producing far more sketches than usual. But the complexity was part of the appeal: the idea of time itself was what drew her in. That complexity is present in the Monterey – at once historic and futuristic, eccentric and elegant.

Nearly 40 years on, by reviving the Monterey, Louis Vuitton isn’t simply trading on nostalgia. It’s recreating Aulenti’s playful, unconventional watch with the in-house watchmaking resources available to the brand today. The new Monterey respects her codes while reinterpreting them with contemporary savoir-faire – proof that Aulenti’s refusal to define her style is precisely what made her designs timeless.