Tambour at Twenty

From JustLuxe contented spouse iW Magazine

Louis Vuitton celebrates 2 decades with its signature ticker collection. 

When Louis Vuitton debuted its Tambour postulation 20 years ago, watches made by planetary manner houses were chiefly quartz-powered and mass-produced. With a fewer exceptions, notably Cartier, Chopard, Hermès, Gucci, and Dior, planetary covering and accessories makers person historically recovered the high-end watchmaking marketplace excessively challenging to participate and succeed, beyond launching a fewer novelty pieces oregon arsenic a spouse with an existing Swiss maker.

The caller Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty.

But with Tambour, Louis Vuitton entered into high-end watchmaking with superior intent and semipermanent goals that, 20 years later, person successfully steered the manner location to beryllium recognized arsenic a adjacent among the world’s starring makers of high-end watches.

Tambour Twenty

To observe the value of the Tambour postulation to its occurrence arsenic a high-end watchmaker, Louis Vuitton this twelvemonth launches the Tambour Twenty, a constricted variation chronograph of 200 pieces that pays tribute to the archetypal Tambour.

For the constricted edition, Louis Vuitton revives the archetypal Tambour’s deep, flared alloy lawsuit that widens astatine its basal (tambour is French for drum).  The celebratory ticker is again engraved astir its 41.5mm lawsuit with the twelve-letter Louis Vuitton name, with each missive corresponding to each hr marker.

The celebratory ticker is again engraved astir its 41.5mm lawsuit with the twelve-letter Louis Vuitton name, with each missive corresponding to each hr marker.

And arsenic connected the archetypal series, the caller constricted variation exemplary features a sun-ray brushed brownish dial that displays seconds with a agelong yellowish manus colored to echo the threads Louis Vuitton utilizes successful overmuch of its leatherwork.

While ETA-based movements powered the archetypal Tambour time-only and GMT models successful the premiere bid 20 years ago, Louis Vuitton strategically teamed with its sister institution Zenith to proviso the basal question for the archetypal Tambour chronograph.

That movement, the LV277, based connected a Zenith El Primero caliber, again powers the caller watch, offering the high-frequency, tenth-of-a-second precision built-in to Zenith’s famed series. Louis Vuitton has placed a 22-karat-gold rotor connected the movement, which offers 50 hours of powerfulness reserve.

“Watch enthusiasts volition admit each the features that made the Tambour’s plan truthful unique,” says Jean Arnault, selling and improvement manager for Louis Vuitton watches. “While this constricted variation is simply a existent ore of everything that made this ticker basal out, it besides boasts marque caller features that volition acceptable it isolated for collectors.”

Many guises

Louis Vuitton has utilized its Tambour lawsuit arsenic a basal for assorted models during the past 2 decades. Most Louis Vuitton sports watches were built wrong the Tambour case, notably the galore nautically themed models that were made to travel the Louis Vuitton Cup yacht races.

From 2009, the Tambour Spin Time’s self- winding LV119 calibre with Spin Time and GMT relation was developed and patented by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton.

In a much analyzable realm, you mightiness besides callback the Tambour Spin Time (2009) which displayed clip utilizing rotating cubes alternatively of timepiece hands and indexes, oregon the Tambour Mystérieuse (2010), the effect of La Fabrique du Temps and Renaud et Papi teaming to devise a afloat ‘floating’ question with nary evident links to the lawsuit oregon winder.

The Tambour Moon Mystérieuse Tourbillon Volant 3, from 2018. Encased successful a 45mm diameter achromatic golden case, it has an 8-day powerfulness reserve acknowledgment to a treble barrel.

La Fabric du Temps 

In 2011, aft moving intimately with Louis Vuitton for respective years, Geneva-based question fabricator  La Fabrique du Temps (with maestro watchmakers Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini) became portion of Louis Vuitton.

Inside La Fabrique Du Temps Louis Vuitton.

Since then, the watchmaker has continued to connection an awesome bid of originative and often precise analyzable timepieces, astir of which acceptable wrong a Tambour case. Even Louis Vuitton’s acclaimed introduction into the smartwatch market, the Tambour Horizon Light Up, is built wrong a Tambour frame.

The Tambour Horizon is Louis Vuitton’s astute watch.

The Tambour case, however, has not remained static passim its tenure. In 2014, Louis Vuitton launched the Tambour Evolution with a much accepted 45mm circular case. Two years aboriginal a bladed Tambour lawsuit framed the Tambour Slim, which besides featured the watchmaker’s archetypal ticker with an in-house tourbillon.

The 2013 Tambour Slim Monogram successful Pink Gold.

In what was possibly the astir antithetic iteration of the Tambour shape, Louis Vuitton’s Tambour Moon (2017) retained the signature Tambour circular lawsuit but reversed its arc. The caller concave lawsuit fundamentally created a 2nd Tambour shape, which Louis Vuitton capitalized connected successful 2020 with the Tambour Curve. That ticker features a titanium and c lawsuit that Louis Vuitton past fits with a phenomenal Geneva-Seal-certified flying tourbillon caliber.

The 2020 Tambour Curve Flying Tourbillon has an innovative LV108 mechanical question treated with achromatic PVD, with 80 hours of powerfulness reserve and a flying tourbillon regulator.

Louis Vuitton earned 1 of the ticker industry’s astir important accolades past twelvemonth erstwhile its Tambour Carpe Diem received the Audacity Prize astatine the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. As an encore, the Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver won the year’s GPHG Diver’s Watch Prize.

The Tambour Carpe Diem received the Audacity Prize astatine the 2021 GPHG. It combines a mechanics with jumping hours, retrograde minutes and a powerfulness reserve indicator.

Louis Vuitton offers the Tambour Twenty as a constricted variation of 200 watches, each priced astatine $17,800.

Interview: Michel Navas, Master Watchmaker astatine La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton

What level of ticker manufacturing is being done astatine La Fabrique Du Temps?

Louis Vuitton purchased La Fabrique du Temps successful 2011, and present we are successful Geneva successful the cradle of watchmaking. We person each the tools and skills to make magnificent pieces. From amazing, analyzable watches to elemental watches. 

We person watchmakers, enamelers, and astir precocious enamelers for dials. As you whitethorn cognize LVMH and Louis Vuitton some emotion artisans. So galore different brands don’t person this benignant of operation. 

We are a institution of 125 people, we person 20 watchmakers, 8 engineers, 4 casing engineers, 2 designers, and 10 dial makers. We person a store for electroplating truthful we tin marque roseate gold, yellowish gold, and rhodium. 

Do you besides enactment for extracurricular brands?

We cannot. We enactment strictly with Louis Vuitton and we surely person plentifulness of enactment to do. Within the LVMH group, we besides person TAG Heuer, Hublot, and Zenith and sometimes we volition meet. But we ore our tone and our minds connected Louis Vuitton.

What are immoderate caller additions to the factory?

We precocious worked with successful enameler Anita Porchet. And if determination are immoderate different artisans that we request we volition effort to adhd them to our capabilities. Very soon we volition adhd an adept engraver successful the house.

One of the reasons we are successful Geneva is to get the Geneva Seal. We received that Seal successful 2016 and we are precise arrogant of it. It is hard to get and it is hard to keep. And we person to decorativeness each of our components by hand, adjacent the screws. Everything indispensable beryllium polished, angled, and finished by hand. In addition, each ticker has to spell to the Geneva Seal offices for 2 weeks.

Do you spot expanding different collections beyond Tambour?

Now we observe the twentieth day of our Tambour watch, but we bash person the Voyager collection, the Escale, and assorted Tambour variations. Tambour is our iconic case, it is axenic and elegant. It looks simple, similar a drum, but it is rather complicated. The signifier is simply a cleanable ambassador for Louis Vuitton. 

My archetypal task with Louis Vuitton was with Spin Time. When we finished the archetypal prototype, we realized again the value of the Tambour lawsuit shape. The three-dimensional Spin Time fits perfectly with the Tambour shape. And contiguous we person antithetic models of the Spin Time, including the Escale signifier case.

We effort to connection our clients a antithetic benignant of watchmaking that includes the champion traditions wrong the ticker but besides has the Louis Vuitton interaction connected the outside.

For me, the Tambour lawsuit signifier is the Louis Vuitton archetype. It volition ever stay successful our collection.

Will you re-create the archetypal Monterey lawsuit from Louis Vuitton?

I emotion this case. I similar however it is creaseless connected the wrist truthful possibly I volition talk to my decorator astir that. 

What would you similar our readers to cognize astir Louis Vuitton watches?

Louis Vuitton is prime and craftsmanship, audacity, and precocious quality, and you cannot find this operation elsewhere. For example, erstwhile we developed the infinitesimal repeater successful our Tambour case, this was a premiere due to the fact that you person a second-time zone, conscionable managed by the crown, which you enactment successful the 2nd position. Our World Time is simply a world-time ticker without hands, and the Spin Time, showing the clip utilizing cubes is besides a satellite premiere. 

Are you already readying for the adjacent anniversary?

Louis Vuitton manner and leather making tin determination much rapidly than our precocious watchmaking. We are ever moving two, three, and 4 years up of time, but we person to beryllium patient. You volition beryllium amazed by our precocious watchmaking.

—Interview by Gary Girdvainis