The new Louis Vuitton Monterey is the latest high-fashion hype revival timepiece

The Louis Vuitton Monterey has returned, and it's paying homage to its best characteristics from the past. Many of you may recognise this watch from the idiosyncratic Monterey that Louis Vuitton produced back in 1988, the LV1 and the LV2. Today, the luxury house has decided to bring it back and has combined the best of both models into this, the new Monterey. We saw vintage models of this watch being used in a Louis Vuitton fashion show earlier this year, which teased to a lot of the community that this release was on the way. And its design is unmistakable, the brainchild of an Italian architect and designer, Ghei most famous for transforming a train station into the Musee d'Orsay. The case is perhaps the most standout element here, and has been ever since the design was invented. The smooth, round, lugless design has always given this watch a unique look, and just like in the LV1, the case is made from 18 carat yellow gold, however it has been sized down slightly to 39mm, and sits 12.2mm thick without the sapphire crystal. The knurled crown is now less prominent, but still sits proudly at 12, giving it the antiquated feel of a pocket watch on the wrist. The black calf leather strap is held to the watch using an ingenious quick release system which recalls the 1988 version, and is completely hidden by this highly polished, solid caseback. This leaves the silhouette of the case extremely clean with its entirely polished surface flowing effortlessly around the white dial. Tucked underneath the strap is a small engraving marking this out as a limited edition, as one of just 188 that have been made. This number echoes the year of the Monterey's conception, back in 1988. Next, we have to talk about this dial, an elevated version of what we saw in the LV2. This is a white Grand Fou enamel dial that does away with all the additional functions we found in the two previous models, and allows the beauty of the craftsmanship to shine through. With the blue inner railroad track and the red outer one continuing the colour scheme we saw in the LV1, and in between the two are the large Arabic numerals. Those railroad colours are also carried over to the thin handset, the red minute and hour skeletonised syringe hands, and a blue seconds hand with a large circular counterweight. Everything on this dial has been kept thin, almost delicate in its line weight. This helps the dial feel more elegant and refined. Even the Louis Vuitton Paris logo hugs the inner curve of the blue track, tucking itself out of the way, not trying to shout at you from the dial. This really does feel like the distillation of Gay's original design into a modernised, yet still recognisable format. Inside this watch is the LFT MA01.02 automatic movement that is made by La Fabrique du Temps, and appears to be a continuation of the calibre we saw inside the Tambor Convergence released earlier this year. While the movement is hidden away from the world, I can try my best to describe it to you. Wound by a solid rose gold rotor that has the LV monogram embossed into it and the V pattern etched around its rim, the finishing on the rest of the movement can only be described as modern. Instead of bevelled and polished edges, the edges of all the bridges are raised and given a matte texture. Inside these raised perimeters is a rough sandblasted texture. Moving even further away from tradition, the synthetic rubies in this movement are all clear, so you won't see those familiar pops of red we're used to in movements. The calibre can deliver 45 hours of power reserve whilst maintaining a 4Hz beat rate. While we were teased this watch earlier in the year on the catwalk, it's great to see it back in the catalogue. It would have been easy for Jean Arnaud and his team to take one of the original designs and copy it, but as we have seen with the reimagining of the Tambor series, the Louis Vuitton watch department is not one for cutting corners. And this attitude shines through again here. Excellent overall dimensions, with that lugless case sitting on the wrist probably slightly smaller than the 39mm measurement might suggest, and what I consider a totally upgraded dial to the originals, making this watch worthy of its place in an extremely strong modern Louis Vuitton line-up.