Talking Watches With Jean Arnault, Director Of Watches At Louis Vuitton

You can see his hand in the LV Watch Prize and the recent announcement that both the Daniel Roth and Gérald Genta brands would be revived via La Fabrique du Temps (the manufacture owned and operated by Louis Vuitton Watches).

That's Arnault's day-to-day. And he's still thinking about watches when he's off the clock – at age 24 he's already a full-fledged, die-hard watch collector with pieces that would make even the most seasoned enthusiast envious. 

And his collection runs the gamut from esoteric LV releases of old to antique Patek and even some very special Lange. See for yourself as we sit down with Arnault and get to the core of his collecting philosophy.

This is Talking Watches with Jean Arnault.

You're looking at the first serially produced watch LV ever made. Arnault got it when he started at the brand, and it's a quartz piece with more than several complications. As he says, it's the watch that got LV to stop making watches (prior to the existence of LVMH). The movement is made by IWC, and it's a cornerstone in his collection that he still wears often.

This Journe is not as it seems. The surprise comes when you flip it over. It's a prototype and only three are known to exist. Arnault had his trepidations about the bona fides of this watch before buying it, but after taking the watch to François-Paul himself, he knew it was legit and special.

This Patek is very important to Arnault. It's from the 1920s and is the only watch that we know about in this configuration with a Patek signature on the dial. We see a lot of Patek here on Hodinkee, but it's not often we get Patek this old.

This was a grail for Arnault, which he calls a "COVID find." He was on the hunt for a specific 3970 and went deep down the online rabbit hole. This watch is special (and platinum) but it also represents the thrill of the hunt, of the chase, and illustrates the true collecting bug that Arnault has.

This is the Lange that truly helped Arnault discover the brand. He calls it the most "whimsical" Lange. And although others try to convince him that this is a cocktail watch, he considers it to be a true daily wear.

Of course, we have an Only Watch to show you today. This Anywhere from Krayon displays the sunset and sunrise time. With a dial inspired by a Monet painting (though the brand won't say which one) this is one of those ultra-special pieces – especially when you consider that it's the only one in the world. 

And we get another piece-unique, this time with an extra personal twist. Enrico Barbasini of La Fabrique du Temps made this iteration of the LV Worldtime, especially for Jean. Whereas the normal version of this watch is hand painted, this one is Geneva enameled with a few mechanical updates made just for the owner.

Last, but not least, we bring you something bigger. A Patek T2 modular timing system. No, it doesn't fit on Arnault's wrist but represents Patek's serious dive into quartz timing devices. It is a modular piece and was used in a German nuclear power plant for decades. Soon it will either adorn Jean's office or home – wherever it will fit.