Louis Vuitton Debuts Two New Tambour Models

LVMH Watch Week: Louis Vuitton Debuts Two New Tambour Models

With the new Tambour Taiko Spin Time and Tambour Convergence collections, the Maison unveils two wildly different next-generation approaches to jump-hour complications.

By Rhonda Riche
Editor-At-Large

While the “LV” in LVMH Watch Week stands for Louis Vuitton, we are nonetheless hard-pressed to recall when the conglomerate presented any examples from Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking division at the annual event.

This year, the Maison has corrected this oversight by launching two distinctive expressions of its drum-shaped Tambour: the Taiko Spin Time collection and the Convergence line.

Spin City

Instantly recognizable thanks to its patented jumping hour cubes display, there is nothing else on the market that looks quite like the Louis Vuitton Spin Time. However, despite its playful nature, the Spin Time was the luxury house’s first serious addition to its High Watchmaking collection when it debuted in 2009.
 

It was an obvious link to travel and Louis Vuitton’s legendary luggage. That said, the Tambour Taiko Spin Time, an entirely new collection of limited editions, puts as much thought into the destination as it does into the journey
 

Spinning Through Time

There are six Tambour Taiko Spin Time variations in total: four time-only watches, a world timer watch (the Antipode), and a flying tourbillon. It also comes in two different sizes: 39.5mm and 42.5mm. Each model has distinct touches, from diamonds to dials that appear to be floating in space.
 

(Spoiler Alert: Our favorite is the Antipode, which somehow manages to integrate the names of the time zone cities on the flipping indications.)
 

What makes these new Taiko Spin Times even more remarkable is that for the first time in the history of the Spin Time family, these models are entirely powered by in-house movements developed by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton.
 

This family of movements stands on the shoulders of the architecture of 2023 Tambour’s LFT023 movement found in the Tambour 2023, including a solid-gold rotor, which is meticulously decorated with a stylized version of the classic LV pattern. It also features micro-sandblasted bridges, polished edges and chamfers, a circular-grained main plate, and the use of colorless, transparent jewels instead of the traditional magenta movement rubies.
 

“Tambour” means drum in French, while “Taiko” refers to a type of Japanese drum; thus, the four distinct designs in this limited edition come in 18k white gold, drum-like cases and also offer other percussive elements, such as a 45-hour power reserve and a balance wheel that beats at a frequency of 4 Hz.
 

These pieces are priced as follows: The 39.5mm time-only Spin Time retails for $72,500; the gem-set iteration is $145,000. Meanwhile, the 42.5mm Spin Time Air is priced at $81,500 for the plain and $145,000 for the diamond-set version. Finally, the Spin Air Antipode and the Spin Air Flying Tourbillon sell for $99,500 and $172,000, respectively.

Unity

The Louis Vuitton Tambour Convergence continues the brand’s exploration of family. This evolution of the Tambour takes a completely different but somewhat similar approach to expressing the Maison’s fine watchmaking but in a minimalist way.

In the press kit, the Maison says the Convergence is meant to unify the aesthetic language of Louis Vuitton’s ateliers in Geneva – La Fabrique du Temps (movement design), La Fabrique des Boîtiers (case-making), and La Fabrique des Arts (rare handcrafts).
 

At LVMH Watch Week, the house debuted two 37mm models – one in platinum paved with snow-set diamonds and one in polished rose gold. Visually, the elements come together thanks to Convergence’s lozenge-shaped case and direct read hour and minute display.
 

These two tiny windows are meant to evoke the “fleeting nature of a moment in time, like sunlight breaking through the gilded edges of clouds,“ according to the brand. The time reveals itself with calligraphic, blue Arabic numerals.
 

Inside the case beats the brand new, self-winding, entirely in-house Calibre LFT MA01.01. The polished pink gold Convergence is $33,500, and the platinum with snow-set diamonds model is $60,500. Both are presented with a calfskin leather strap and matching pin buckle.
 

To learn more, check out the Louis Vuitton website.

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