Louis Vuitton’s first co-branded car didn’t start with a car. It began with a watch. Or more accurately a request for a watch, or a dashboard clock. A very simple request.
It came from Californian customisation kings Singer – renowned for reimagining classic Porsche 911s. They approached Louis Vuitton with a very simple request. Could La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton create a mechanical dashboard clock for one of their 911’s? The question was seemingly simple enough but the answer snowballed.
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The best collaborations often do. One idea led to another until Louis Vuitton wasn’t simply designing a clock, but helping reimagine and customise not just an entire car but two.
The final result as presented today in Monterey are two Porsche 911s reimagined by Singer for Louis Vuitton. But the real story isn’t about the cars. It’s the watch that started them. At the centre of both sits a mechanical timepiece inspired by the Tambour. The clock borrows the watch’s distinctive case profile, complete with the twelve engraved letters spelling Louis Vuitton around the bezel. Better still, it’s detachable. Remove it from the dashboard and it becomes a desk clock.
But once the Tambour had found its way into the Porsche, the rest of the dashboard suddenly looked out of place. So guess what? Louis Vuitton had to redesign the rest of their car to create the perfect setting for their watch.
Louis Vuitton redesigned the speedometer, the rev counter and gauges around Tambour design codes, reworked the hands, typography, indices and colours to match the watch. The company says redesigning the instruments took a year to develop.
The watchmaking influence extends beyond the dials. Metal controls throughout the cabin are finished using techniques more familiar to haute horlogerie than automotive production, with polished, satin-brushed and anodised finishes replacing standard automotive trim, all with small Louis Vuitton flourishes, the damier pattern subtly heralding those chrome touches,
Jean Arnault, Louis Vuitton Watch Director said today, “This unique and remarkable adventure began with a request for a dashboard clock for a car reimagined by Singer. It quickly became apparent that this collaboration with Singer could extend to the personalisation of every functional element of the vehicle.”
The first car is a Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer – Classic, finished in Louis Vuitton saffron and cobalt blue. But the second collaboration is off the charts and takes things in an even more interesting direction.
Designed with Nicolas Ghesquière, Louis Vuitton’s Artistic Director of Women’s Collections, the Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer – Classic Turbo is a cabriolet finished in Calcaire Lutétien white, with gold detailing and varnished timber inspired by the decks of classic Riva motor boats.
Here, the dashboard clock takes centre stage, sitting proudly in the centre console rather than behind the steering wheel. Its dial is colour-matched to the bodywork, while warm gold instruments and a matching ignition key reinforce the link between the interior and exterior. This time, the dashboard clock is joined by a wristwatch.
Ghesquière’s accompanying capsule includes a 40mm Tambour Automatic in ceramic and yellow gold, designed to echo the clock inside the car. When not in use, both can be stored in matching Coffret Trésor cases, themselves based on a Louis Vuitton design first introduced in 1896.
There’s an interesting sense of history repeating itself here. Louis Vuitton was producing luggage for automobiles as early as 1897 and Louis Vuitton’s grandsons even designed a car in 1909 on a Stabilia sports chassis to showcase the House’s automobile designs.
More than a century later, it isn’t luggage that has brought Louis Vuitton back into the automotive world. It’s a watch.
There are two remarkable Porsche 911s at the end of it. But that’s almost beside the point. This story began with a watch. Without it, neither car would exist.
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