Category: Louis Vuitton

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon black

Louis Vuitton is one of the most well known and beloved luxury fashion houses in the world. It’s only been making fancy timepieces since 2002, but now it’s jumping into the world of smartwatches with the Tambour Horizon.

This is a luxury smartwatch built for the jet setters. Louis Vuitton is not concerned with fitness or metrics – there’s no heart rate sensor or GPS here. Instead, it wants to be the perfect wrist-based companion for travelling, and when you’re back on terra firma, just looking like a damn fancy smartwatch. The Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon isn’t cheap. It starts at a eye widening, wallet melting, clutch-your-heart-and-gasp . But does that luxury appeal make the price point worth it as one of the best Android Wear watches you can buy? And how does it compare to something like the Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45 or Montblanc Summit? That’s what we’re here to find out.
The Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon sports a design inspired by Louis Vuitton’s analogue watch, the Tambour Moon. It’s a large 42mm-wide case that’s also pretty thick, lounging at a hefty 12.5mm. It doesn’t look its size though, not until you put it on your wrist – but we’ll get to that in a bit.

The face itself looks like it lacks any sort of bezel, and that’s because the bezel is actually used for something: it’s where the numbers go. It surrounds a 1.2-inch 390 x 390 AMOLED display that – wonderfully – doesn’t have a flat tyre at the bottom. This is a perfect circle, and that helps it blend in with the bezel. Plus, that bezel nicely fits in with LV’s watch faces when they’re in passive mode, since they don’t display numbers. It’s a unique design choice that makes the watch look smaller than it is. The big design inspiration it takes from the Tambour Moon, however, comes from the concave design on the side of the watch. This, too, makes the Tambour Horizon look smaller than it is. Like wearing a well-tapered shirt, it’s slimming in all the right ways. Also, it makes it very comfortable to grab the watch face when you’re swiping across that screen or pressing the digital crown. Speaking of the digital crown, it’s the only physical button on the Tambour Horizon. It’s got a hefty feel to it. The button itself is slightly soft, and it pushes into the crown rather than the entire crown pushing down. It’s a little weird at first, but it also becomes pretty satisfying.

Satisfying is a good word for the Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon. It feels good to wear, almost an antithesis to the Montblanc, though I also must note it doesn’t look or feel too massive on my larger wrist. If you’ve got a smaller wrist, it might feel like it’s swallowing you. The rubber watch band that was provided to me isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but it also isn’t bad. It certainly looks nice, especially if you like seeing the words “Louis” and “Vuitton” on things. There are 30 other bands you can choose from, however. There isn’t the level of modularity and customisation that the Tag Heuer has though; this feels more like a designed, curated experience. I would be remiss to not mention the extracurriculars of the Tambour Horizon experience. The charger, too, has nods of luxury. There’s a leather buckle on it that you can use to wrap up the cable, which is covered is a knitted material so that it doesn’t get tangled. The massive box that you get with the watch is like a miniature cabinet, with drawers for your charger and these strange leather, LV-adorned key covers to protect/decorate your chargers. Yeah, the Tambour Horizon is so luxury you need protection for your charging cable. A charging cable that is, by the way, slightly strange. It’s a magnetic charging puck, but it’s also very specific about how it is to be used. The only way it’ll charge is if you line it up so the power cord on the puck is in the opposite direction of the digital crown. Even while charging on your nightstand in the middle of the night – unseen by anyone’s judging eyes – your Tambour Horizon must maintain perfect posture, I suppose.

Overall, the Tambour Horizon is a very attractive watch. It’s cleverly designed, with lots of subtle details that other smartwatches could take notes from. More than that, however, it feels good to wear. If great design is all about making a product feel good, then the Tambour Horizon is singing its heart out.There’s no GPS here, or heart rate sensor, or NFC payment support. The Tambour Horizon isn’t interested in anything fitness, and that’s because it only cares about being a luxury accessory as you travel the globe. Thus, the biggest features LV has introduced here are all related to travel.
The two signature features are LV Guide and My Flight. Before you get to use these two, you’ll have to download the LV Link app to connect your Tambour Horizon. This process is supposed to be easy. Your watch displays a QR code, the app has a QR code reader. Except that in practice it’s not that simple – it’s actually a little glitchy. It took me three attempts to connect properly.Once you do get all that set up, and a Louis Vuitton account registered, you can use LV Guide and My Flight. LV Guide is basically a fancy version of Yelp. If you’re in one of seven cities – London, Beijing, Shanghai, Paris, Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo – you’ll get a guide that points you to interesting places to check out. You just open the app in one of those cities and it’ll start guiding you.

My Flight is there to help you get to your flights on time. You email your flight information to a provided email address, which isn’t very convenient, and then on your My Flight watch face it’ll have a running timer for your next action. So around the watch face will be a line that’ll get smaller and smaller as you head toward your boarding time. If you’re on your flight, it’ll get smaller as you head to your destination. It’s a pretty neat, convenient way to get flight information. If you’re a frequent traveller, it’s definitely something that’ll help you tremendously.The more interesting faces are in the My series. They range in design, from a thick stripe down the centre to pasting the LV logo all over the place to adding widgets to get you to your favourite apps quickly. Each of them also comes with a second watch face that activates when your display goes into passive mode. That’s par for the course with Android Wear, but some of them look so good that I wish they were available the whole time. By the way, as noted before, the numbers on these watch faces go away in passive mode, relying on the bezel to tell you the time.

The two standouts of the My line are the My 24 Hours and My Classic. The Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Classic has two little shapes near the bottom that colour up when you have notifications to check out. It’s a nice, simple way to let you know what’s up. Also, most of the watches have a second hour hand (more like an hour dot or arrow) that lets you keep track of the time in another time zone. So with a quick glance you can not only see what time it is where you are, but at your destination as well.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour All Black

One of the malaises sweeping the Swiss Louis Vuitton Tambour All Black watch industry is, in my oh-so-humble opinion, that of homogeneity. From a distance, the world from the wrist down looks remarkably similar: round, black-dialled steel sports cases in a style that sits somewhere on a spectrum between vaguely retro to full-blown reissue. I’m well aware that this isn’t a new phenomenon, but today a properly original watch design is an exception, rather than the rule. Louis Vuitton Tambour All Black case is original. I mean, sure, it’s round and sporty, but it is also possessed of a really interesting case, with an inwardly curving profile that looks like it was actually designed by a person, rather than a committee. And it’s not just the case — the whole kit and caboodle is dramatically different from what you’d expect from a Swiss watch, which is unsurprising because the visual identity and IP of Louis Vuitton is so strong, and so pervasive. There are versions of the Tambour in the house’s famous motifs, but this option is a little more — for lack of a better word — stealthy. For all that the palette is monotone, this is not a shy watch. There’s that aforementioned sweeping profile, complete with L O U I S V U I T T O N spelled out at hour intervals (convenient), and a sporty assemblage of pushers, lugs and rubber-clad crown. There’s also the 46mm case size (which wears smaller than you’d think). The dial is particularly LV too, with bold, blocky shapes for the hour markers and hands, and a repeated Gaston V signature in grey on the dial and at 12 o’clock. The Louis Vuitton Tambour All Black movement is an undisclosed Swiss automatic, which, from the fact that it’s hidden away behind an oblique sapphire glass caseback, is likely nothing too noteworthy (but definitely robust and reliable), which is absolutely fine for the sort of fashion-forward wearer this watch is intended for. The strap is excellent, and comes with a quick-change attachment, allowing you to re-up from LV’s plentiful options. The name on the dial is, depending on your perspective, either the biggest selling point or stumbling block for this watch. But take that away and you’ve got an interesting, distinctive watch design that stands on its own merits.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Slim Metallic Flower

Louis Vuitton’s Tambour Slim collection includes several incredible timepieces, but there’s now a new superb ladies watch worth talking about. The Tambour Slim Metallic Flower represents the French luxury brand’s latest offering, showing off a remarkable floral pattern based on the company’s emblematic Monogram Flower.

Inspired by fluid forms, plays of light and reflections, the chic dial of this watch actually displays 60 Monogram Flowers teasing our retinas with an intense metallic radiance, while eight polished cabochons add to the beautiful contemporary design of this watch. Do you like what you see?

You might have noticed the gold finished hands, Louis Vuitton Tambour Slim Metallic Flower complemented by four iconic motifs from Louis Vuitton’s stylistic repertoire at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock. The luminous contrast set against the polished steel of the case adds even more charm to the visual appeal of this timepiece, that will be available with 28, 33 and 39 mm cases.

The watch also benefits from an interchangeable strap equipped with Louis Vuitton’s patented system, which Louis Vuitton Tambour Slim Metallic Flower allows owners to personalize their watches and make them truly their own. Other than that, it’s all a matter of style, preferences and exclusivity; we’re guessing the Louis Vuitton name will make any lady feel special. Did you forget that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner?

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Monogram

Colorful, brash, high-end, and easy to navigate — that’s how I’d summarize the Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Light Up after spending some time with the latest smartwatch from the iconic luxury brand. Frankly, I appreciate how up-front the entire presentation of the piece is. If you a) don’t like smartwatches; b) don’t like the design of the Tambour Horizon; c) prefer subtlety to flash; or d) all of the above, then this probably isn’t for you. And all that’s before mentioning price. Now, if you haven’t eliminated yourself, then keep an open mind, and take a look at the most unapologetically fun luxury smartwatch out there.

Note that I’m not going to get into all the specs and technical rigamarole here, but you can easily glean all that information from our release article here.The Tambour Horizon Light Up lets you know what it’s all about from the name alone, which underscores how vital the “always-on” screen is. Rather than trying to impress with specs, it dazzles with spectacle. Seriously, I couldn’t stop tapping the screen to activate the vivid theatrical display that is wonderfully punctuated by the curved edges of the sapphire crystal. Of course, there are times when you don’t want a fireworks display on the wrist, as well as times when you want to extend battery life. Fortunately, it’s very simple to switch among four different modes either from the app or by swiping up on the watch. “Blossom” is the most fun, with just about every engagement with the watch kicking off that stunning light display. “Explorer” mode is meant for the typical day where you just want the connected features without the pomp, the weekday to Blossom mode’s weekend. “Submarine” is basically a “do not disturb” mode that silences notifications, and finally, “Saver” mode turns off most functions to extend battery life.Swiping right on the screen lets you manage the “My Day” function, which handles the personal basics like calendar, appointments, weather, and the health tracker. Swiping left deals handles the “My Travel” functions like flight info and city guides. And swiping down lets you check messages and notifications. It’s all very clean, simple, and easy to operate, so it’s perfect if you’re like me and don’t want to deal with yet another overly complicated device in your life.I initially wasn’t sure what the pushers on the side of the case could be for and worried they could add unnecessary complication to such an easy-to-useLouis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Monogram. Fortunately, that’s not the case, as the upper pusher just shuffles watch faces, and the bottom pusher can be set to quickly activate an app of the wearer’s choosing.Much has been made about the new operating system, a specially customized take on the Wear OS that is the “first outside Apple’s own ecosystem to be accredited as ‘MFI’ or ‘Made For iPhone.’” In real-world terms, what this means for iPhone users is an LV Connect app that runs butter-smooth with full functionality, unlike many previous Android apps that both glitch out and/or offer limited functionality for Apple users.The Tambour Horizon Light Up measures 44mm-wide and 13.2mm-thick with a 1.2-inch screen. The domed edges of the crystal make it seem more compact than it really is, but their true purpose is revealed when the dial is going full kaleidoscopic Blossom-mode, which reaches out to the far ends of the case. The 24 individual LED LV insignias dotting the circumference join the party and visibly heighten the wonderfully ostentatious display. It’s so extra and so much fun that there really isn’t much else like it out there.It feels very well-finished and succeeds in what is one of the most important tasks for a $3,500-$4,000 smartwatch: it makes me forget (or, more importantly, not care) that this will be obsolete in the future. Just like for buyers of luxury electric cars like Tesla, that pesky inevitability doesn’t really matter. If it’s obsolete in two years, then buy the new one. This is a luxury product with a focus on a travel-heavy lifestyle because that’s the buyer the brand has in mind. There were over 35 million Apple Watches sold in 2021 and there are many popular and competent offerings from Samsung, Garmin, and others out there. Luxury smartwatches like the Tambour Horizon Light Up are for the buyers who, for several possible reasons,  don’t want what everyone else has.In addition to luxury cars, even things like cameras (let alone smartphones) have entered the obsolescence cycle. Buying something like the Leica Q2 will cost you about twice as much as a comparable camera from other brands and will be replaced with the inevitable Q3 in a matter of years. Other than clothing, accessories, and things like mechanical watches, future obsolescence is baked into being a consumer these days. We pay for exclusivity, finish quality, and how a product makes us feel even if it isn’t rational for 95% of the population.The Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Light Up battery lasted me about a day, though I kept it on Blossom mode so you could ostensibly stretch it a little longer — I’d recommend charging nightly.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon

After launching the second generation Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon smartwatch earlier this year, Louis Vuitton (PARIS:MC.PA -1.84%) introduces a series of digital neon designs for the timepiece’s face. Taking cues from LV’s colorful windows for this season, the electronic faces reinterpret the brand’s iconic monogram flowers and logo with bright kaleidoscopic graphics.

In addition to the new neon designs, the Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon connected watch includes a travel feature with flight, hotel and transportation information, “My 24 hours” with weather, daily agenda and step counter, along with access to LV’s City Guide and exclusive customizable watch faces to truly tailor the timepiece to your own needs.

Colorful, brash, high-end, and easy to navigate — that’s how I’d summarize the Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Light Up after spending some time with the latest smartwatch from the iconic luxury brand. Frankly, I appreciate how up-front the entire presentation of the piece is. If you a) don’t like smartwatches; b) don’t like the design of the Tambour Horizon; c) prefer subtlety to flash; or d) all of the above, then this probably isn’t for you. And all that’s before mentioning price. Now, if you haven’t eliminated yourself, then keep an open mind, and take a look at the most unapologetically fun luxury smartwatch out there.

Note that I’m not going to get into all the specs and technical rigamarole here, but you can easily glean all that information from our release article here.

The Tambour Horizon Light Up lets you know what it’s all about from the name alone, which underscores how vital the “always-on” screen is. Rather than trying to impress with specs, it dazzles with spectacle. Seriously, I couldn’t stop tapping the screen to activate the vivid theatrical display that is wonderfully punctuated by the curved edges of the sapphire crystal. Of course, there are times when you don’t want a fireworks display on the wrist, as well as times when you want to extend battery life. Fortunately, it’s very simple to switch among four different modes either from the app or by swiping up on the watch. “Blossom” is the most fun, with just about every engagement with the watch kicking off that stunning light display. “Explorer” mode is meant for the typical day where you just want the connected features without the pomp, the weekday to Blossom mode’s weekend. “Submarine” is basically a “do not disturb” mode that silences notifications, and finally, “Saver” mode turns off most functions to extend battery life.

Swiping right on the screen lets you manage the “My Day” function, which handles the personal basics like calendar, appointments, weather, and the health tracker. Swiping left deals handles the “My Travel” functions like flight info and city guides. And swiping down lets you check messages and notifications. It’s all very clean, simple, and easy to operate, so it’s perfect if you’re like me and don’t want to deal with yet another overly complicated device in your life.

I initially wasn’t sure what the pushers on the side of the case could be for and worried they could add unnecessary complication to such an easy-to-use smartwatch. Fortunately, that’s not the case, as the upper pusher just shuffles watch faces, and the bottom pusher can be set to quickly activate an app of the wearer’s choosing. Much has been made about the new operating system, a specially customized take on the Wear OS that is the “first outside Apple’s own ecosystem to be accredited as ‘MFI’ or ‘Made For iPhone.’” In real-world terms, what this means for iPhone users is an Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Connect app that runs butter-smooth with full functionality, unlike many previous Android apps that both glitch out and/or offer limited functionality for Apple users. The Tambour Horizon Light Up measures 44mm-wide and 13.2mm-thick with a 1.2-inch screen. The domed edges of the crystal make it seem more compact than it really is, but their true purpose is revealed when the dial is going full kaleidoscopic Blossom-mode, which reaches out to the far ends of the case. The 24 individual LED LV insignias dotting the circumference join the party and visibly heighten the wonderfully ostentatious display. It’s so extra and so much fun that there really isn’t much else like it out there.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Spin Time Air

Louis Vuitton has the advantage of not historically coming from an haute horlogerie background. This leaves the brand best known for its leather and high fashion lots of latitude to play with watches. And Louis Vuitton definitely uses this advantage to create some very unorthodox timepieces.

For fans of traditional high watchmaking, this can be slightly disorienting. But for fans of Louis Vuitton and those with a broader vision of haute horlogerie it can be a revelation. Which side you fall on is entirely up to your own taste and sensibilities.

And while taste is subjective, the quality of a piece of high watchmaking may never be in question. This crossroad is precisely where Louis Vuitton excels. Using the best materials, traditional watchmaking techniques, and most inventive watchmakers, Louis Vuitton successfully plays with unique design and unusual shapes.

One thing I find fun about Louis Vuitton is its innate sense of playfulness and devil-may-care attitude – something all too visible in 2021’s Carpe Diem, an automat created precisely to be audacious and whimsical. It was generally well received, even by traditionalists, which led to it winning a prize at the 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.
Louis Vuitton is definitely unique in the way it concentrates on both its movements and its design – delightfully and with a passionate attitude toward both.

The brand’s unusual approach has really characterized it since at least 2009 when it began working with La Fabrique du Temps, the very creative complication specialist founded by Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini. By 2011, Louis Vuitton had purchased La Fabrique du Temps and by 2014 had consolidated its La Chaux-de-Fonds- and Geneva-based supplier holdings – including dial making and La Fabrique du Temps – into one facility in Meyrin, whose sole purpose is to create and craft Louis Vuitton’s inventive high watchmaking.

Here 16 watchmakers and a host of other technicians, designers, and creative heads work together to produce 300-400 high watchmaking timepieces per year, many of which are bespoke commissions for private clients.

Today, this creative attitude is obvious in speaking with the leadership of the brand in the watch sector. But even more astounding is the ease with which Michel Navas, head of La Fabrique du Temps, has embraced the attitude and ideology of the youthful Jean Arnault, now 23 years old and marketing director of Louis Vuitton’s watches and wearables.

While we have not yet seen the fruits of their clearly mutual admiration – Arnault has definite ideas for the future as does Navas – the Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum seems to fit right in with all I’d heard from the duo over the course of the two days the brand spent introducing its 2022 high watchmaking pieces. Arnault and Navas haven’t revealed plans for Louis Vuitton’s high watchmaking future, but one thing is certain: they do plan to continue to be surprising and to appeal to today’s consumer. And this is likely to result in slightly different products than what we’ve seen thus far.
It’s been 20 years since Louis Vuitton introduced its Tambour collection in 2002.

Tambour is French for “drum,” and the brand christened the collection with this name because of its case shape. As Louis Vuitton isn’t originally a watch brand, it is all the more impressive that it was able to create a design like this that really works for it.

While the cases of the Tambour line look big – huge in some circumstances (see the above-mentioned Carpe Diem) – their signature short lugs and smooth case back allow the case to wear very comfortably on the wrist despite the size.

And let’s be truthful here: it’s my opinion that people buying watches from this brand want their watches to be noticed. The size and shape of the Tambour case all but guarantees that.
Which brings me to the latest timepiece by Louis Vuitton: the Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum, a watch designed to continue the clever Spin Time Air concept while bringing two noticeable things to the table that weren’t there before: a slightly more toned-down Tambour case and micro-electronically lit luminous cubes.

The Louis Vuitton Spin Time is Louis Vuitton’s take on the traditional jump hour. Introduced in 2009, it foregoes the traditional “jump disk” display to instead show the time by cubes that turn to reveal the time. This makes the display wildly three-dimensional.

The Louis Vuitton Spin Time displays the hour very creatively: 12 cubes on the dial spell out L-O-U-I-S-V-U-I-T-T-O-N. The one displaying the current hour is shown in opposite colors. This cube turns around when the hour passes, returning to its uniform color, at which point the next cube revolves to display the ensuing hour. The minutes are displayed by a central hand.

The result is a Louis Vuitton Spin Time watch that is easier to read than might be expected, has its own distinct character, and is – well – fun. Caliber LV 68 was developed by La Fabrique du Temps to appear as if it floats within the case, an effect heightened by the inky drum-shaped housing and the luminous cubes, which really push the watch forward into a new place as something that could well appeal to a younger crowd.

The 12 cubes on the Louis Vuitton Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum spelling out L-O-U-I-S-V-U-I-T-T-O-N illuminate on demand, activated by pushing a button in the crown. Micro electronics light up the cubes, a dozen tiny light-emitting diodes (LED) placed directly on the top face of each cube, lighting up the Spin Time display from within, illuminating each cube individually. The Spin Time cubes are usually milled from aluminum for lightness, but in this case they are crafted in fused silica, a glass made of almost pure silicon dioxide, in a laborious manufacturing process that involves much higher working temperatures than the manufacture of usual glass. Fused silica is most often used for precision applications like optical lenses and semiconductors.

The precision electronics assembly comprising a ring of 12 LEDs, an integrated circuit, and two batteries is adroitly hidden under the flange. The system can be activated six to seven times every day for three years before these batteries will need replacing. A subtle ring at the base of the crown acts as a battery-level indicator and lights up along with the cubes when the button is pressed. Conversely, it flickers when it’s time for the batteries to be replaced.

The cubes remain lit as long as the pusher is held and remain so for another three seconds after the wearer has stopped pressing the button.
The luminous display of the Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum is offset by a matte-black DLC-coated titanium case and the barest hint of gearing in the center. The movement containing a modern interpretation of Maltese Cross gearing to perform the jump functionality is covered by a visible plate that has been traditionally finished with côtes de Genève. But in a twist worthy of this watch, the plate and its pattern are coated with jet-black DLC and overlaid with the Louis Vuitton Monogram in yellow Super-LumiNova.
The Louis Vuitton Tambour Spin Time Air watch is the latest addition to the family that put this famous French “fashion” brand on the watchmaking map. While I don’t think the Tambour range qualifies for iconic status, it’s pretty darn close. Perhaps that’s more because of what it means for the brand than the industry en masse, but it could be argued that the Tambour added another valuable chapter in the history of fashion houses like Louis Vuitton, Hermés, and Bulgari being taken seriously.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Slim Monogram Dentelle

According to the Vogue Business Index (summer 2022) and Forbes, French fashion house Louis Vuitton is the world’s most valuable luxury brand. As the undisputed king of luxury, Louis Vuitton is associated in every corner of the globe with high-quality leather goods and accessories emblazoned with the iconic LV monogram. Somewhat surprisingly, given its presence on the market since 1854, Louis Vuitton only started making ‘serious’ watches twenty years ago. In a departure from some luxury emporiums that prize design over substance, Louis Vuitton took the bull by the horns and decided that its watches had to be as good on the inside as out. Louis Vuitton’s first watch, the Louis Vuitton Tambour, and its incursion into big-league watchmaking consolidated with the acquisition of La Fabrique du Temps have resulted in a unique, potent design that is impossible to confuse with anything else on the market. The Tambour, which means drum in French, marched out with its distinctive drum-shaped case and a GMT complication in 2002. Coming up for its 20th anniversary this year, the Tambour returns with iconic LV livery and a high-frequency chronograph movement based on Zenith’s El Primero calibre: meet the new 200-piece Tambour Twenty Limited Edition.

For 2021, Louis Vuitton Tambour introduces a third generation to its line of Tambour Diver watches  with the Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver collection. Today, I go hands-on with the black and yellow Tambour Street Diver Neon Black reference QA122 (debuted on aBlogtoWatch here). It’s a pretty great-looking watch that continues a legacy of some of the most lovely and quirky dive watches, from one of the world’s most popular luxury brands.

Even though LVMH (which Louis Vuitton is part of) owns a variety of watchmakers, including Hublot, BVLGARI, Zenith, and TAG Heuer, Louis Vuitton also makes watches and has been since 2002. Many of these watches are in the under-$10,000 range, but once in a while, Louis Vuitton creates some really spectacular stuff that can be priced into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Closer to earth is the new Tambour Street Diver collection, which isn’t cheap but comes with a lot of style and refinement (you know, a lot like other Louis Vuitton gear).

Would you think of Louis Vuitton Tambour as a maker of high-tech diving watches? No? Well, I can’t say I’m surprised, their history of watches has been a lot more dramatic than a simple diving watch, but it’s true. It was in mid-2021 when we saw the Tambour Street Diver, a watch with a strange name and a design inspired by Super Compressor divers of old. Now, to follow the watches from 2021, Louis Vuitton releases two new watches as a part of the Tambour Street Diver collection, and these ones have chronographs.

I quite like the look of these watches; they have some diving elements to them but aren’t afraid of mixing up other design cues. I guess you could say the design is progressively modern thanks to the writing on the rubber strap and the contrast between the dial colour and the neon-like accents.

These watches definitely won’t go unnoticed. They’re 46mm x 14mm, so not quite Seamaster Planet Ocean Chronograph chunky but closer than you think. Both watches are made of stainless steel with colouration coming from a PVD treatment. It’s interesting that Louis Vuitton chose to make the blue model silver and blue, while nearly all parts of the black version are PVD black except for the lugs, pushers and crown. One thing to note is that the water resistance is 100m, that’s plenty for swimming mind you. Perhaps Louis Vuitton realised that its clients probably wouldn’t go scuba diving ever and so left it to the minimum 100m required by ISO to call a watch a Louis Vuitton Tambour diving watch.  Inside the new Tambour Streed Diver Chronograph watches is a self-winding ETA 2894-2 movement. If this is the first time you’ve heard of Louis Vuitton being a watchmaker, you might be surprised by this movement choice, especially given the price. It should be noted that while Louis Vuitton is a watchmaker and has been for a while, it’s not necessarily a movement maker, I seem to recall quite a few of their watches having off-the-shelf movements. While it might lose some horological prestige in your mind, it will make servicing the watch easier down the line, especially if Louis Vuitton decides it doesn’t want to make watches anymore. This chronograph movement has a 4Hz beat rate and a 42-hour power reserve.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Slim Monogram

Despite being a highly exotic treat (in that this watch costs more than $350,000) the new Tambour Fiery Heart Automata is a very important product for Louis Vuitton. More watches with this movement family that feature these decorative techniques are coming from Louis Vuttion. Even though the Tambour Fiery Heart Automata is a bit overshadowed by the spectacle that is the even more expensive Louis Vuitton Tambour Opera Automata, it is the former that is likely to be far more commercially important for Louis Vuitton, in the long run. That’s because the Tambour Fiery Heart Automata introduces two significant elements from Louis Vuitton watchmaking. The first is the new in-house caliber LFT 325 automatic flying tourbillon automata movement. Second is the introduction of in-house dial enameling techniques. The Tambour Fiery Heart is the first Louis Vuitton watch to be produced with dials from its newly established in-house team for such enameling crafts. While Louis Vuitton always reserves the right to work with outside talent, until the Tambour Fiery Heart Automata watch, all of its enamel dials were produced by third parties. Finally, an enameling department has been established at La Fabrique du Temps, and what incredible work they are already up to!
Louis Vuitton more or less positions the Tambour Fiery Heart as a smaller, potentially more women-friendly version of its larger Automata watches. That might be true, but this definition is also extremely limiting. This to me is a rock ‘n’nroll watch that belongs on a serious Guns N Roses fan in the West (and in Japan, for example, would be considered pretty studly). The case size is 42mm-wide and 13mm-thick. The case material is polished 18k pink gold with diamonds set into the lugs and baguette-cut stones in the crown. Indeed, that is much smaller than the 46.8mm-thick by 14.4mm-thick Tambour Opera / Carpe Diem Automata, but it isn’t exactly petite, either. The there’s the round-cut diamond treatment set into the lugs — and that could probably be a mere option.
Forget for a moment whether or not you like the Fiery Heart theme; my point is that Louis Vuitton has developed a new foundation to do a lot more things like this. This watch uses rich red and green colors to tell a story about the dual-sided nature of love. The intense emotions that give us so much pleasure can also equally give us pain. This is a truism about the human experience, and the memorialization of it through luxury art has been something fashion beacons like Replica Louis Vuitton have been commissioning since their inception.

Not only is the “thorny nature” of love displayed in vivid tones of emerald green and rich red through a combination of champleve and cloisonne enamel techniques (the enamel work is performed in-house, and the engraved elements are done by Dick Steenman), but on top of that, five points on the dial can be physically animated. Pressing the pusher at 5 o’clock on the case activates the automata complication that starts roses spinning, while the heart opens to reveal a romantic phrase, and thorns poke and flames burn. All of this is on top of a flying tourbillon movement with automatic winding that operates at 4Hz. Again, all of this is in a relatively small package that is the caliber LFT 325’s volume. Plus, the case goes up to 50 meters of water resistance, which I think is competent for watches like this.
The LFT 325 is easily the most practical movement of its type and is also designed to be produced in a range of variations with the same base features. While the tourbillon might not be practical, it does help with commercial prospects and is important given a lot of the existing consumer demand. What is more important is the off-centered dial (this allows for there to be automata elsewhere on the dial and the movement to not be too thick), 4Hz operational frequency, 65 hours of power reserve, and automatic winding in a package as relatively small as it is. I predict the LFT 325 to be an important base movement used by Louis Vuitton for a lot of watches, and I think consumers will like this movement because really nothing else like it currently exists on the market. Finally, it offers a very practical wearing size, so you can enjoy a more or less sensible watch size but have this rich level of art, mechanical complexity, luxury, and emotion on your wrist. The only thing I would try to improve in the future is to find a slightly more elegant way of designing the automata pusher. No doubt that Louis Vuitton will get there.
Whether or not you like the dial elements, most will readily admit how pretty the Fiery Heart watch face looks. The depth and translucence of the champleve enamel technique allow you to see the Louis Vuitton monogram pattern and also give the entire dial an incredible sense of depth. Detailing is truly excellent, which is something Louis Vuitton tends to consistently get right. I say this because there are a lot of brands that can create objects which are beautiful from afar, but it is the rarer brand that can create things that also look beautiful when examined very closely.
Expect to see more watches with the caliber LFT (La Fabrique du Temps) 325 (because it has 325 components) movement in the near future. Louis Vuitton has developed a powerful foundation movement upon which to build a lot of emotional animated art compositions. This might not be what most people think of when they consider a “base movement,” but in true form, Louis Vuitton developed a platform to build on over time. This is good practical news because this is a very wearable movement, and it’s good artistic news because it means that Louis Vuitton will be able to consistently make wildly designed and animated watches more readily than the competition. In the ultra-high-end space, that can be one of many ways to give Louis Vuitton watches a lead. It is this type of creative-risk strategic thinking that helps a great luxury maison win big over the long term.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon Dual Time

Louis Vuitton (PARIS:MC.PA +2.18%) ‘s lineup of luxury watches continues expanding as the French house introduces the Tambour Moon Dual Time Watch. Inspired by the shape of a crescent moon and the concept of well-loved travelers’ trunks, the opulent watch upholds LV’s unmatched attention to detail.

An partial curve on the case recalls the shape of the crescent moon, interrupting the tonal shade with a black strip that stretches from the 18 hour marker to the 6. Various iterations of the timepiece offer either a muted graphite, silver or white face, offset by black or red and white accents. Further specification comes by way of various straps and the graphics seen on the watch face, which may be either the iconic Louis Vuitton monogram flowers or a series of colorful flags inspired by customized travelers’ trunks.

The new LV Tambour Moon Dual Time watch is available on Louis Vuitton’s site and stores.

Most recently, we took a first look at LV’s latest men’s footwear design overseen by Virgil Abloh: leather deck shoes Following Louis Vuitton watchmaking grand complications such as Répétition Minutes, Skeleton Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève and Spin Time, the new Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon Mysterieuse Flying Tourbillon further demonstrates the artisanal and technical craftsmanship of the brand. The adaptation of the principle of the mysterious calibre, used with ingeniously disguised sapphire discs and arranged in a line and combined with a flying tourbillon escapement marks a decisive step forward in the wonderful world of high horlogerie.

Developed in the 19th century, mysterious movements like those used in the new Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon Mysterieuse Flying Tourbillon traditionally make the hands appear to levitate. This Mysterieuse or optical illusion is made possible thanks to a clever mechanism of crystal discs, today replaced by sapphire crystals.

Here in Louis Vuitton’s latest watch, the LV 110 calibre drives the sapphire disc arrangement to great effect – hands appear untethered, leaving nothing to distract from the majesty of the Mysterieuse Flying Tourbillon. Developed and crafted by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the co-axial double barrel concealed beneath a Monogram Flower situated at 12 o’clock of the 45mm Tambour Moon , perpetuates the brand’s signature motif. Meanwhile, the central wheels dedicated to the hours and minutes, as well as the tourbillon carriage at 6 o’clock, appear to float in mid-air. A lightweight creation reinforced by two stylistic effects: the absence of a connection between the winding crown and the double barrel, and the choice of a flying tourbillon whose carriage, performing a complete rotation in 60 seconds, is adorned with an openwork Monogram Flower.

Adorned with a black alligator strap, the manual winding LV Tambour Moon Mysterieuse Flying Tourbillon driven by LV 110 calibre with eight-day power reserve offers watch enthusiasts another surprise: the back of the tourbillon carriage may be personalized with the customer’s initials.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Monogram

According to the Vogue Business Index (summer 2022) and Forbes, French fashion house Louis Vuitton is the world’s most valuable luxury brand. As the undisputed king of luxury, Louis Vuitton is associated in every corner of the globe with high-quality leather goods and accessories emblazoned with the iconic LV monogram. Somewhat surprisingly, given its presence on the market since 1854, Louis Vuitton only started making ‘serious’ watches twenty years ago. In a departure from some luxury emporiums that prize design over substance, Louis Vuitton took the bull by the horns and decided that its watches had to be as good on the inside as out. Louis Vuitton’s first watch, the Tambour, and its incursion into big-league watchmaking consolidated with the acquisition of La Fabrique du Temps have resulted in a unique, potent design that is impossible to confuse with anything else on the market. The Tambour, which means drum in French, marched out with its distinctive drum-shaped case and a GMT complication in 2002. Coming up for its 20th anniversary this year, the Tambour returns with iconic LV livery and a high-frequency chronograph movement based on Zenith’s El Primero calibre: meet the new 200-piece Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty Limited Edition.

Given the brand’s historical ties to travel (see above), it makes sense that the first Tambour watch released in 2002 was a GMT. Fitted with a lustrous brown dial (quite bold at the time) and a mustard yellow GMT hand and matching 24-hour scale, the colour scheme of the Louis Vuitton 39.5mm Tambour GMT (ref. Q11310) was a nod to the iconic Monogram canvas developed by Louis Vuitton’s son in 1896. As the blueprint for the Tambour family, it’s worth looking at the design features that have made it such a unique, somewhat quirky design that looks as fresh today as it did two decades ago.

Some sources attribute the inspiration for the deep, round, drum-shaped steel case of the Tambour to the silhouette of Japanese taiko drums. As Jean Arnault pointed out to MONOCHROME, the design of the Tambour was entrusted to a Parisian design studio (BBDC – Berra Blanquer Design). The result was a singular, unprecedented case shape that did, effectively, look like a drum. Its unusual flared profile, which was wider at the base than at the top, included a wide caseband, the perfect canvas to engrave the 12 letters in the name ‘Louis Vuitton’, aligned with the hour markers on the dial. Crafted from a single block of metal, the tall sloping flanks of the deep case also proved an ideal container for all sorts of complications (some Tambour models, like the Carpe Diem, have a height of 15mm). Practically every surface of the Tambour case was decorated with some form of branding, including the LV monogram on the crown, motifs from the Monogram canvas on the caseback, the brand name on the buckle and obviously, the dial.

A year after its debut, the Tambour returned with a high-frequency COSC chronometer-certified chronograph complication, a model that has a direct bearing on the latest Tambour Twenty anniversary piece we are covering today. Known as the Tambour LV 277 chronograph, the model took advantage of the synergies in the LVMH group and powered its chronograph with Zenith’s famous El Primero high-frequency calibre.

Perhaps one of the most delightful Louis Vuitton Tambour watches and the one that would determine the new direction for the collection was the 2009 Spin Time. With 12 miniature rotating cubes revealing the hours, the Spin Time reinvented the concept of jumping hours in a fresh, new language. Developed and patented by La Fabrique du Temps, a specialist complication workshop based in Geneva set up by master watchmakers Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini, the 44mm Spin Time put a playful spin on time, but it also signalled a more creative approach to complications in the hands of Navas and Barabasini.

Just two years later, in 2011, Louis Vuitton upped its watchmaking antes by acquiring La Fabrique du Temps. To mark its commitment to creative high-end watchmaking, the brand unveiled the complex Tambour Minute Repeater, a fascinating GMT complication that chimed the wearer’s reference (home) time instead of local time on demand.

Determined to acquire even more independence, in 2012, Louis Vuitton bought Léman Cadran, a renowned dial maker, and in 2014, inaugurated the La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton workshop in Meyrin, Geneva. Other standout Tambour models over the years include the Tambour Twin Chrono, a monopusher split-seconds chronograph, a skeletonised Flying Tourbillon with a cage shaped like the Monogram flower, the 2020 Tambour Curve Flying Tourbillon with Poinçon de Genève certification, and the sportier GPHG award-winning Tambour Street Diver of 2021.