In 2021, Jean Arnault made a phone call that would take five years to fully realize. As Louis Vuitton's Director of Watches, he reached out to Denis Flageollet with genuine respect and a shared obsession. Both men loved the same thing: the golden age of French watchmaking, specifically an 18th-century mechanism so rare that only five were ever made. That call just resulted in the LVDB-03 Louis Varius Project, a collaboration that's part watch, part clock, and entirely unlike anything else on the market.

How Two Visionaries Found Common Ground

Denis Flageollet doesn't take on projects lightly. The co-founder of De Bethune is known for being selective about collaborations, and each one has to align perfectly with his values around precision and material innovation. When Arnault first visited his workshop in Sainte-Croix, something clicked. Their early conversations weren't about business deals, they were about the watchmakers who came before them, about the Sympathique mechanism that Abraham-Louis Breguet invented in 1795, a system that let a pocket watch automatically synchronize itself with a master clock.

What started as philosophical exchange became concrete. By 2022, Flageollet joined the expert committee for the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize. A few months later, they launched their secret project internally, code-named Phase 3. Five years of development later, the result is two pieces that fundamentally reimagine what a Sympathique watch and clock can be.

The Watch Built for Travel

The LVDB-03 GMT Louis Varius breaks the historical rules of Sympathique design. Traditionally, these watches were meant to be worn briefly, then returned to their clock for winding. This model flips that relationship. Thanks to a five-day power reserve and travel-focused functions like GMT and day/night indication, the watch actually wants to stay on your wrist across timezones and continents.

The case uses blued titanium created through De Bethune's proprietary thermal oxidation process, creating depth and complexity in the metal itself. Platinum lugs cut a sharp contrast, making the blue read even richer. Inside, the DB2507LV calibre combines 404 components into something that displays hours, minutes, GMT, day/night indication, and a jumping date, plus the Sympathique function that automatically winds and synchronizes with the clock every two hours.

The dial is where the collaboration becomes visual. White-gold pins are individually set into micro-perforations of varying sizes, creating actual depth. The letters "LV" are hidden within a Milky Way constellation. An artisan then applies fine gold leaf by hand. Two interchangeable straps come with the watch, one technical blue fabric and one cognac alligator, both secured by a polished blued titanium buckle engraved with both houses' signatures.

The Clock: Mechanism Meets Art

The LVDB-03 Sympathique Louis Varius clock isn't decorative. It's a functioning synchronization system with 763 components that delivers an 11-day power reserve. But what makes it remarkable is the rotating rings of hand-engraved rose gold that surround the mechanism.

Denis Flageollet asked Belgian illustrator François Schuiten to imagine Louis Vuitton's Art of Travel in visual form. Schuiten drew three panoramic landscapes: a steam train crossing a viaduct, hot air balloons above African savanna, sherpas climbing mountains. These scenes rotate slowly throughout the day, making time visual and constantly changing.

Master engraver Michèle Rothen then carved every line by hand using traditional burin and chisel. Over one meter of rose gold surface, each stroke came from Schuiten's original pen drawings. When you place the watch on the clock, its crown engages a hidden docking interface. Over 10 hours, the system winds the watch automatically. Every two hours, a dedicated mechanism resets the watch to match the clock exactly. You just unbuckle the strap and place it in the receptacle.

The Rarity Factor

Two complete sets exist. That's two clocks paired with two wristwatches. An additional ten wristwatches are being sold separately. Twelve pieces total, numbered 01 of 12 through 12 of 12. Each movement carries the engraving "Louis cruises with Denis." Everything arrives in custom titanium trunks crafted by Louis Vuitton's Asnières ateliers, with each compartment organized precisely using Alcantara and grey leather.

Why This Matters

Most luxury watches are designed for collecting, for sitting in cases and gaining value. The LVDB-03 Louis Varius does something different. It asks whether a watch can be both precious and functional, both collectible and wearable, both rooted in history and entirely contemporary. It honors Abraham-Louis Breguet's 1795 invention by completely rethinking it for modern travelers who actually need their watches to work across continents.

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