Like billowing canvas catching the wind, Frank Gehry’s signature architectural aesthetic sails into the world of haute horlogerie through a new partnership with Louis Vuitton. Two years in the making, the Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève Sapphire is the architect’s inaugural foray into timepiece design.

Inspired by his glass edifice for the Maison Louis Vuitton in Seoul, Gehry channeled the kinetic energy of the building’s undulating façade into the watch’s crystalline face. With utmost delicacy, artisans sculpted sapphire—that impenetrable gemstone—into a relief that evokes the ebb and flow of ocean waves. Abstract shapes swirl across the dial like sea foam cresting over rocky outcrops.

To manifest his vision, Gehry took a photograph of an existing Louis Vuitton watch and crumpled the paper, imprinting the distorted angles and curves into the sapphire. The technical mastery required to transpose this ephemeral impression into solid form is astonishing. Using surgical tools, dial makers chiseled the asymmetric patterns by hand, applying matte finishes with fastidious precision. The wafer-thin dial could not be mounted, only cradled gently as artisans peered through microscopes, playing with light to ensure perfection.

This maritime motif mirrors Gehry’s passion for the nautical world. “My inspiration comes from the sea, fish, boats… I like to express movement, inject this energy and dynamic into static materials,” he has stated. That kinetic spirit radiates through the Tambour Moon’s animated interior—Calibre LFTMM05.01, an intricate mechanical tourbillon certified by the Poinçon de Genève.

With the transparency of water, the sapphire case and dial reveal every exquisite detail of the movement. Tiny components shine through with jewel-like brilliance thanks to chamfered and satin finishes. Solid rose gold contrasts against rhodium-plated gears. And at the heart, a flying tourbillon cage etched with the LV monogram rotates gracefully like a ship’s compass.

By transmuting his signature into horological form, Gehry’s Tambour Moon charts an intrepid course between architecture and watchmaking. With swelling sails and mechanical tides, it is a seaworthy vessel of time fit for Louis Vuitton’s spirit of bold innovation.