Journey Of The Mind: The Louis Vuitton Escale Au Mont Fuji Pocket Watch

Louis Vuitton has explored the creative potential of complicated watchmaking for many years, and, especially in the last three or four, has produced a series of fascinating takes on existing complications (including variants on the World Time complication which are unlike the world timers from any other brand) as well as complications incorporating highly complex automata. While it’s a challenge to single out any one watch as a particular peak in craft and complexity, Louis Vuitton has been producing a series of pocket watches – the Escales Autour du Monde pocket watch collection – which if not the pinnacle of fine watchmaking at Louis Vuitton and La Fabrique du Temps, are at the very least, primus inter pares (first among equals, gotta make those Latin classes work for a living). These watches combine a minute repeater and tourbillon in the caliber LFT AU 14.03 caliber, with animated mechanical figures and scenes, known as “jaquemarts” or “striking jacks” which are executed using a combination of métiers d’art, including engraving, as well as a variety of different grand feu enameling techniques. The first two in the series featured animated scenes set in the Amazon rain forest, and in Paris, and the latest shows a scene drawing on classic Japanese iconography, of the Shinto deity known as the Ebisu, who is the Shinto god associated with luck, and with fisherman.

Ebisu is traditionally depicted wearing a tall hat, and holding a fishing rod, as well as a tai, or sea bream. On the front of the watch, Ebisu’s boat is seen laden with Louis Vuitton trunks, floating at dawn on a river in front of Mount Fuji (a mountain which needs no introduction). Above the scene, in the foreground, cherry blossoms can be seen and the bezel, which forms the frame for the image, is set with color-gradient rainbow baguette cut sapphires, whose colors match the transitions of colors in the image itself (pink sapphires, for instance, are adjacent to the pink sakura, or cherry blossoms).

Ebisu, along with his fishing rod and emblematic sea bream, are finely engraved before being covered with polychromatic grand feu enamel. The sky is done in enamel miniature painting, and very subtly decorated with Louis Vuitton monogram flowers. The entire design was first rendered in gouache (a kind of watercolor which is more opaque than conventional watercolors) and then the watercolor designs were executed with the combination of crafts you see here.

The effect of light shimmering on the river is achieved through an unusual variation on paillonné enameling. Ordinarily, paillonné, which gets its name from the paillons, or spangles, used in its creation. The paillons are usually cut in decorative shapes from gold leaf, and arranged to form patterns on an enamel surface, which is then covered with a layer of fondant – an overlaying clear coat, which holds the paillons in place. In this case, however, rather than forming a repeating geometric pattern, the paillons consist of strips of silver leaf, which are arranged in such a way as to imitate the shimmering of water under the light of the dawn sky. Paillons are typically almost weightless, and extremely fragile and handling them requires great care and dexterity. The enameling for the river’s surface consists of many layers with varying degrees of color saturation and opacity, becoming more and more transparent as you move up the river towards Mt. Fuji.

The nine sakura are first carved from yellow gold, before being covered with enamel which duplicates the delicate shades of pink and white found in actual cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms are of course, welcomed as a sign of spring in Japan. Enameling over three dimensional forms like Ebisu and the sakura presents its own unique challenges, as the forms are especially challenging to heat evenly so that the enamel is fixed properly in position. All enamel surfaces are finished with a final layering of fondant and according to Louis Vuitton, about 300 hours of work go into creating the final scene.

When the repeater is activated, the jaquemarts are activated as well.

The caliber LFT AU14.03 is a work of art in its own right. The position of the hands is inverted from their normal position and they’re on the back of the watch, suspended over the movement itself, which has 561 components. The movement, needless to say, benefits from the same meticulous approach to presenting its beauty as the enameled face of the watch; there are 700 sharp internal angles, and some 500 hours are required to hand finish, assemble, and adjust the movement.

It has become something of a standard trope in discussing fine watchmaking to refer to it as an art, although you sometimes hear pushback about the term from those who point out that while there is much craft in fine watchmaking, it is nonetheless a practical endeavor rather than a fine art per se. I think in this case, though, there is considerable support for arguing that this is indeed a work of art, in miniature, where the mechanism and design are part of a single aesthetic continuum.

The Louis Vuitton Escale Mont Fuji: case, white gold, engraved, and set with color gradient sapphires, 50mm x 19mm, with domed sapphire crystals front and back; water resistance 30M. Movement, caliber LFT AU14.03, with tourbillon, repeater, and jaquemarts, running at 21,600 vph in 68 jewels; 8 day power reserve; four animations. Unique piece.