Smooth as a river stone and nearly four decades in the making, the Monterey is back in the material that once made it unusual. Louis Vuitton has returned its very first wristwatch to glossy black and deep green ceramic, with an automatic movement from its own Geneva workshop and a price well below last year’s gold revival.
At a glance
- The watch: Louis Vuitton Monterey Ceramic, references W0CR11 (black) and W0CR21 (green), as reported by SJX Watches.
- Case: 37 mm by 11 mm in zirconium oxide ceramic, crown at twelve o’clock, water resistant to 30 metres.
- Movement: in-house automatic calibre LFT MA01.02, 4 Hz, about 45 hours of power reserve.
- Price: about $22,900 in the US and €23,000 in Europe at the time of writing.
- Availability: permanent collection, not a limited edition, presented on September 28, 2026.
What is the Louis Vuitton Monterey Ceramic?
It is a faithful return of the LV II, the smaller of the two watches with which Louis Vuitton entered watchmaking in 1988. The new pair keeps the original proportions: a 37 mm pebble-shaped case with no conventional lugs, a crown placed at twelve o’clock like a pocket watch, and dials ringed by double railway-style minute tracks. Monochrome Watches, which published details on September 28, describes the steel crown as finished with a Clous de Paris texture.
Two versions make up the collection. The glossy black ceramic model carries a white lacquered dial with red hour and minute hands and a blue seconds hand. The green model pairs a deep green case with a matching green dial, yellow hands and the same blue seconds hand. Both are delivered on calfskin straps, black or green, with a steel pin buckle, and A Timely Perspective reports that each ships in a Louis Vuitton watch trunk.
A playful detail survives from the original design. SJX Watches notes a loop on the case back that accepts a pass-through strap, and the watches were first glimpsed in June, styled as charms on the house’s Spring/Summer 2027 menswear runway, according to Haute Time.
How is a ceramic watch case made?
Ceramic is what gives this watch its character, and it is far from a simple material. Zirconium oxide powder is blended with pigments and compressed into solid blanks, which are machined and then fired at more than 1,000°C, as Haute Time explains. The firing shrinks and hardens the part, so every dimension must be planned in advance. Artisans then grind and polish each case by hand to reach its soft, liquid finish.
The reward is a surface that resists scratches far better than steel or gold and keeps its colour for years. The difficulty lies in the shape: a rounded pebble with no flat faces is among the harder forms to render cleanly in ceramic, which helps explain why so few watches of the late 1980s attempted it.
What movement powers the new Monterey?
Inside is the calibre LFT MA01.02, made by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the maison’s Geneva manufacture. Monochrome lists it at 174 components and 26 jewels, beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour with about 45 hours of reserve. Haute Time adds that it carries an 18k rose gold oscillating weight engraved with the LV Monogram and the Poinçon LFT quality seal. The functions are deliberately simple: hours, minutes and seconds.
That is a notable step from 1988, when the originals ran on quartz movements developed with IWC. The case back is closed on the new model, so the finishing is a private pleasure for the owner rather than a display.
A short history of the Monterey and Gae Aulenti
In 1988, Louis Vuitton asked the Italian architect and designer Gae Aulenti to imagine its first wristwatches. Aulenti was already celebrated for her conversion of a Paris railway station into the Musée d’Orsay and for lighting such as her Pipistrello lamp. She produced two models. The LV I was a 40 mm gold travel watch with, according to Monochrome, functions including retrograde date, moon phase, world time and an alarm. The LV II was the smaller, simpler 37 mm model in black or green ceramic.
Their shared codes, a smooth pebble case, the crown at twelve and railway tracks that nod to travel timetables, made them unlike anything else of the period. The nickname came later. Monochrome recounts that American clients, stumbling over the French word montre, began calling the watches “Monterey”, and the name stayed.
The revival began in 2025 with an 18k yellow gold Monterey of 39 mm, limited to 188 pieces with a grand feu enamel dial, priced at €56,000, as reported by Monochrome. The ceramic pair now brings the design back to its original size and material. As Louis Vuitton’s Matthieu Hegi told Haute Time, “The codes revisiting the spirit of the watch designed by Gae Aulenti are identical.”
A pebble of colour with the crown at noon: the design that began Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking returns exactly as Gae Aulenti drew it.
How much does the Louis Vuitton Monterey Ceramic cost?
A Timely Perspective lists the price at $22,900, while Monochrome gives €23,000 and SJX cites €19,000 before taxes. SJX observes that this is about a third of the cost of last year’s gold edition. Prices vary by market and tax, so confirm the current figure with Louis Vuitton before planning a purchase.
In our view, the ceramic Monterey is the more convincing of the two revivals. The gold edition was a collector’s object; this one restores the colour, lightness and wit that made the 1988 design memorable, and it sits in a category, the design-led dress watch with an in-house movement, where there are few true alternatives. It joins a wider return of shaped designs we have followed this season, including the Cartier Roadster revival and several of the best new watches from Geneva Watch Days 2026.
For the Collector
- Price: about $22,900 or €23,000 at the time of writing; confirm with Louis Vuitton for your market.
- Where to buy: Louis Vuitton boutiques and the maison’s Monterey collection page; both versions are permanent references rather than numbered editions.
- What drives interest: the 1988 Aulenti design, the original 37 mm size, true ceramic in two historic colours and an in-house LFT calibre.
- What to note: water resistance is a modest 30 metres, the dial is lacquered rather than enamel, and the case back is closed.
- The vintage originals: 1988 LV II watches in ceramic appear occasionally on the pre-owned market; condition of the ceramic case matters most. Past prices do not predict future value.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the Louis Vuitton Monterey Ceramic?
It is priced at about $22,900 in the US and €23,000 in Europe at the time of writing. Confirm local pricing with Louis Vuitton.
Is the Monterey Ceramic a limited edition?
No. Both the black and the green versions join Louis Vuitton’s permanent collection.
Who designed the original Louis Vuitton Monterey?
The Italian architect Gae Aulenti designed Louis Vuitton’s first two wristwatches, the LV I and LV II, in 1988. The ceramic LV II is the model revived today.
Why is the crown at twelve o’clock?
Aulenti placed it there as a nod to the pocket watch, one of the design codes the new ceramic models keep unchanged.
Sources: Monochrome Watches · SJX Watches · Haute Time · A Timely Perspective · Worldtempus · Monochrome Watches, 2025 Monterey · Louis Vuitton
