Louis Vuitton and UNICEF’s partnership began in 2016 with the idea to provide emergency relief and educational programs for vulnerable children through the sale of the former’s iconic Silver Lockit jewelry line. To mark the collaboration’s 10th anniversary, the French luxury house has introduced a unique, football-shaped mechanical clock with a diamond-set display. This one-of-a-kind timepiece will be auctioned via Sotheby’s to benefit charitable causes.
Created as part of the Unity Time Object project, the clock draws inspiration from Louis Vuitton’s Monogram canvas soccer ball. The ball is transformed into a functional mechanical timepiece powered by a manual-winding movement developed by Swiss clockmaker L’Epée 1839.
With L’Epée 1839 MV.7452/000 movement inside, the timepiece can run for up to eight days on a single wind. It runs at 18,000 vibrations per hour and uses 22 jewels. One distinctive thing you will notice is that the time is shown using two rotating gold-colored discs instead of traditional clock hands.
The Unity Time Object features a golden and black steel structure with golden brackets and two sandblasted rotating discs. The hour display is outfitted with 144 white round-cut diamonds and 120 treated black diamonds, totaling 1.04 carats. The football mechanical clock has a 150mm diameter and weighs about 3.3kg.
The internal mechanism is visible through an openwork structure, which makes it more special for a tactile experience. Its steel frame design is inspired by the hexagon and pentagon patterns of a football, giving it a skeletonized mechanical appearance.
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The timepiece is displayed on a black leather stand decorated with a signature gold-colored Louis Vuitton stud, and the clock mechanism is manually wound using a gold steel key on the top. It also comes with a custom-made presentation trunk covered in Louis Vuitton’s Monogram canvas and handcrafted at the brand’s historic Asnières workshop in France.
Apart from the Unity Time Object, there will also be other football-themed collectibles on auction. You can also get Louis Vuitton Monogram soccer balls that have been signed by celebrities from music, film, and TV, including BamBam, Josh Hartnett, Chloë Grace Moretz, Felix, Hoyeon Jung from Squid Game.
Each clock designed like a football comes with a matching leather carrying net made by Louis Vuitton, with prices ranging from $1,000 to $2,000, as per Man of Many. The auction at Sotheby’s runs from June 9 through June 18.
