Louis Vuitton breathes life into their timekeepers with complex automatons
Dance Party
Horology is a serious business. Or at least, this is what many perceive it to be. All this talk of utmost precision in timekeeping, efficiency in mainspring energy use, or how the fall-off in torque as a mainspring unwinds affects accuracy may make it seem like the world of haute horlogerie is an utterly serious business. However, as much as manufactures take pride in keeping their movements accurate and reliable, there is a whole other side that appeals to emotion rather than specifications. And Louis Vuitton has three fantastic automatons that prove that serious watchmaking can sometimes be quite fun and even downright entertaining.
Automatons have long represented the fun and sometimes cheeky side of mechanical engineering. Long before the time-linked automatons we see in our industry today, these machines have been around as early as the 13th century, cleverly using complex systems of cams and geartrains to give life to artificial humanoids playing musical instruments or even mimicking the behaviour of animals. Eventually, automatons became more closely linked to horology, often appearing in tandem. The best example of this is, no doubt is the cuckoo clock which presents a chirping bird to correspond with the hours of the day. Thinking about this, it seems entirely natural that automatons and mechanical timekeeping go hand in hand, as the basic principles that govern them are entirely the same. Where mechanical timekeepers regulate the release of power from a wound spring to reliably keep time, an automaton uses this same energy to perform a set of actions through the clever use of cams in various shapes and configurations.
Traditionally, it is the brands that come from a strong pedigree of watchmaking tradition that are often associated with wristwatch automatons. However, in recent years, Louis Vuitton has proved itself a tour de force in this category. Starting with 2021 with the Tambour Carpe Diem, this relatively new contender, at least in the watchmaking industry, has been consistently showing its prowess in both mechanical and artistic crafts. So much so that organisations like the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève awarded the brand the “Audacity” prize in 2021 for the Tambour Carpe Diem. Now you might be asking, how a relatively new player in this industry, so predicated on tradition, has managed to consistently create unique complications such as automatons. Because, as far as complications go, automatons are in a category on their own. There is no blueprint for automatons, as is often the case with known complications like a perpetual calendar or minute repeater. Automatons need uniquely crafted parts to match their intended function on the dial of the watch.
The answer to this question is undoubtedly La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Founded by the visionary watchmakers, Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini, this facility that now sits in Meyrin, within the canton of Geneva, Switzerland, houses engineers, designers, and watchmakers under one roof and has been quite inconspicuously affording Louis Vuitton the capabilities to bring their unorthodox visions to life. In this facility, they not only make their own movements, but are also able to produce their own dials and cases, something which not even most brands with centuries of heritage under their belts dare claim. With the ability to truly create most components from scratch, Louis Vuitton is able to unleash their imagination, drawing inspiration from wherever suits their whims to create automatons that leave the wearer with a sense of awe, and perhaps a little chuckle every time it is activated. And because there are masters of various métiers d’art collected within the manufacture as well, each a guardian of ancestral savoir-faire, these automatons are finished and decorated in the most exquisite of ways.
This watch forms a bit of a series as it follows the very first Carpe Diem watch mentioned earlier that won the GPHG prize. After the success of that automaton, Louis Vuitton embarked on a journey to China, creating a watch with a similar mechanism based on the “changing masks” art of Sichuan Opera’s Bian Lian, launched in 2023. For this watch, however, the team at La Fabrique du Temps turned one of the most intrinsic Japanese cultural symbols, the Samurai, into an esteemed tribute that would fit on the dial of a wristwatch.
Combining high-level artisanal techniques like working with red enamel (one of the hardest colours to work with in the craft) and masterful engraving skills, the watch is transformed into a literal work of art that sits on the wrist. Take a loupe to the case of this watch, and it is immediately understandable why it took 140 hours for artisans to do the engraving alone. As for the automata, a push of a button will offer the wearer an on-demand indication of the time. The yokai sitting on the helmet jumps away to reveal the hour, while the miniature katana indicates a retrograde minute. Following this animation, next the eye of the Samurai transforms to showcase its steely resolve while the mouth and its teeth, made from carved mother of pearl, open to reveal the words Bushido in Japanese characters.
The journey continues, this time transcending time and launching the Tambour into space where the astronaut, satellite, and our radiating sun sit on a background of the Earth as viewed from the moon. Here, again, the elements are brought to life through a combination of the maison’s metiers d’art, including grand feu enamel, paillonné enamel, miniature enamel, sculpture, and engraving. What takes this automaton a step further is that it combines the visual spectacle of the automatons with the aural pleasures of a minute repeater.
For anyone who knows watchmaking, the minute repeater is already one of the most complicated functions to achieve in a watch, even more so than the ever-popular tourbillon. Not only is the chiming mechanism complex, but there is an added element of having to design the watch along with the case so that the reverberations from the gongs are sufficiently loud and pleasant. Thus, the Tambour Taiko Galactique utilises 459 components to bring together the melodious cathedral chime with the animation of the automaton. When the minute repeater is activated, a total of 9 elements on the dial smoothly “dance” to the tune of the chime.
We travel back to Earth for what is perhaps the most impressive automaton of the three. And the best part of it all is that it comes in an entirely unique form, a pocket watch. Until now, pocket watches have only been available from Louis Vuitton by special order. However, this automaton timepiece marks the Maison’s first-ever collection of pocket watches - Escales Autour du Monde. As the debut piece in this brand-new collection for the brand, you just know that the brand will pour in everything they have into this piece to make a stunning first impression.
The inspiration for the ‘Escale en Amazonie’, as the name suggests, comes from the Amazon rainforest, combining lush vegetation and wildlife set against a backdrop of waterfalls and rocky terrain. The piece is activated by a slide at the six o’clock position, and immediately long wooden pirogue, stacked with Louis Vuitton trunks, glides through luxuriant verdant foliage. Then the trunks open, revealing golden LV Monogram flowers, which catch the attention of the inquisitive animals. The pocket watch features seven animations with 15 moving elements, giving the viewer a cacophony of wonder with every activation.
As technically sound as the manual winding LFT AU14.03 calibre is, the artisanal craft applied to the dial side of this pocket watch steals the limelight. Hundreds of hours of work went into the production of the dial, combining delicate skills such as bas-relief gold engraving on very thin layers of gold. Like the snake, for example, it is not even a centimetre in length, but has hundreds of scales across its body. The treasure-topped canoe was the hardest element to realise, according to Louis Vuitton, as the artisan had to slowly chisel at the gold at various depths to create the wood bark effect. Then comes the enamelling mastery needed to combine a total of 31 colours on the dial with at least 30 firings in the oven. Just to give you an example of the complexity of enamelling, even the tiny leaves needed five layers of enamel to bring out tiny details like the veins. And after all of this, if you still want to see the time on a piece like this, Louis Vuitton has cleverly hidden this on the back side of the movement where the finely decorated movement is also visible.
You can discover more of Louis Vuitton's exquisite high watchmaking at www.louisvuitton.com or learn more about their automatas here.
