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Louis Vuitton Escale Spin Time Tourbillon Central Blue

The Louis Vuitton Escale Spin Time Tourbillon Central Blue watch is a new-for-2018 product that as of writing isn’t even on the Louis Vuitton website. It is common that the brand’s most exclusive timepieces aren’t listed widely or at all on their website. I can’t say why that is, but for the time being, it certainly adds a serious perceived level of exclusivity to these products. This particular Louis Vuitton watch combines three important features that the brand is proud of. First is its dress-style Escale case, which here is 41mm wide and in 950 platinum and titanium. Second is the brand’s proprietary “Spin Time” complication, and third is the central in-house made tourbillon.

The Louis Vuitton Escale Spin Time Tourbillon Central Blue watch certainly isn’t a watch for the average Louis Vuitton customer with its close to $150,000 price point. Aside from some very exclusive pieces of luggage, the brand’s timepieces represent among the most expensive items available in their catalog. Fine watches, in general, make for a very appropriate halo product for fashion brands who want people to take their in-house craftsmanship and manufacturing capabilities as seriously as possible.
Where does this leave watch collectors? A lot of times watch collectors look upon pricey luxury timepieces from “fashion houses” with skepticism. “Are these actually well made? Are these actually mechanically competent? How much of the price is just a brand tax?” These are all important questions whose answers greatly depend on the brand and product. In the context of Louis Vuitton, the simple answer is that the larger LVMH group is very seriously into watches given its ownership of Hublot, TAG Heuer, Zenith, Bulgari, and more. On top of that, Louis Vuitton itself has its own watchmaking facility known as La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. It is there that the Escale Spin Time Tourbillon Central blue is produced.

Centrally-mounted tourbillons are no longer as rare as they once were – though they are still uncommon and very cool. The idea is that the spinning tourbillon is mounted in the absolute center of the dial, as opposed to a position such as right over 6 o’clock. Omega was the first brand that helped popularize the central tourbillon – and they still produce a few of those on a limited basis. Centrally-mounted tourbillons are tricky because you can’t exactly mount hands over them. So watches with central tourbillons all need alternatives to the traditional centrally-mounted hour and minute hands. Here the solution is interesting and fun – and this is where the Spin Time complication comes in.
Note that “Spin Time” actually represents a few different types of complications Louis Vuitton has used over the years. What each has in common is the use of twelve cubes which spin in order to indicate information such as the current hour. As such, on the dial of the Escale Spin Time Tourbillon Central are twelve painted cubes that spin to reveal the current hour when it is their turn. The cubes are colored blue using a form of hand-operated pad printing, which carefully transfers segments of color onto the small surfaces one small piece at a time. A smaller hand to indicate the minutes projects from the periphery of the tourbillon assembly, whose mounting is actually under/around the tourbillon system.
Another note on the hour hands is that they indicate the time in 24-hour format. That means the first time around the dial, the hours indicate 1-12. The second time around they indicate hours 13-24. This makes the w Louis Vuitton Escale Spin Time Tourbillon Central Blue watch a bit quirkier, but at the end of the day, I think it is more interesting. Though the appeal will be for places which are more familiar using the 24-hour format – which doesn’t include the United States where most consumers prefer a 12-hour format.
In true brand fashion, the tourbillon cage is shaped to look like a “V” for “Vuitton.” It is set against a lovely matte blue surface and the flying tourbillon visual experience is really handsome and attractive, in my opinion. The movement is known as the Louis Vuitton LV 92, and it is an automatic with a sort of hidden automatic rotor whose motion can be viewed on the rear of the watch. You can see more about how this rotor looks and more about the Escale-style case in my aBlogtoWatch review of the Louis Vuitton Escale Time Zone 39 watch here. The LV 92 automatic movement operates at 4Hz (28,800 bph) with 40 hours of power reserve. I believe it is a base movement with a module on top for the Spin Time and flying tourbillon systems.

In general, I like the Escale case a lot. It is dressier than the brand’s Tambour cases, and the lug structure design is inspired by Louis Vuitton trunk luggage from the past. Again, this model has a 41mm wide case that is actually not too thick at 12.8mm. It’s water-resistant to 30m, of course, has a double sapphire crystal on the front and back, and is produced from titanium and 950 platinum parts. What an interesting combo that we don’t see every day. The middle case is brushed titanium, while the lugs, crown, and bezel are in 950 platinum. Attached to the case is a blue-colored alligator strap with a cool yellow rubber lining that promotes comfort and the overall life of the strap.
Who is the Louis Vuitton Escale Spin Time Tourbillon Central Blue watch best for? This complication is interesting enough to be in any number of “traditional” watch brand high-horology pieces that aren’t associated with a fashion brand. Nothing about this watch is kitschy or boring, but there are going to be some people who feel it is “overly fashionable” for a traditional timepiece. They might be right but Louis Vuitton isn’t going for the Patek Philippe crowd. A watch like this is best suited for timepiece collectors with the budget and playfulness to appreciate a real watch lover’s Louis Vuitton. This is by no means the most expensive Louis Vuitton watch ever made, but at over $100,000 it certainly is up there with the brand’s most exclusive products. In the long term, I believe products like this will “age well” given what is likely to be the enduring value and consumer interest in the Louis Vuitton brand. Assuming Louis Vuitton continues to earn a place as a top mark, its top products will benefit with enduring appeal.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon GMT

2023 has so far been an aggressive year of releases for the luxury watchmaking arm of fashion giant Louis Vuitton. The brand’s core Tambour line has been reimagined as everything from a streetwear-influenced diver-style watch to a high-concept statement piece this year, but perhaps the most impressive from a sheer watchmaking perspective is the brand’s new Tambour Curve GMT Flying Tourbillon. Seemingly aimed squarely at the wealthy traveling fashionista, the fully in-house design offers a lithe Parisian take on the modern GMT sports watch with both a prominently displayed flying tourbillon and a trio of distinct stylistic interpretations. The new Louis Vuitton Tambour Curve GMT Flying Tourbillon continues the brand’s trend of dancing to its own unique drum, creating a genuinely impressive piece of high watchmaking in an inimitable Louis Vuitton suit.

There’s no getting around the fact that the Louis Vuitton Tambour Curve GMT Flying Tourbillon is a hefty watch. The tapering drum-inspired central case, a staple of the Tambour line since its inception in 2002, measures in at a diameter of 46mm, with a wide base that may potentially make the watch feel ungainly on the wrist. This case, with its streamlined semi-integrated attached lug assembly, is available in either a full-shot blasted Grade 5 titanium finish or a mix of black-coated titanium and 18k pink-gold accents for a more luxurious look. The simple form of the rounded, smooth case design draws added attention to the details, and Louis Vuitton imbues these models with small touches of refined functionality. The crown and tapering rectangular pushers both feature small ridged segments to aid grip, giving these elements a sporty feel. While rubberized ridges like those on the crown are usually used for easy handling in wet environments, however, the Tambour Curve GMT Flying Tourbillon is decidedly not ready for water activity with a water resistance of only 50 meters. That said, the inclusion of pushers into this GMT design adds an easy and useful on-the-fly adjustment of the 24-hour second time zone hand.

The layered cutout dial designs of the Louis Vuitton Tambour Curve GMT Flying Tourbillon offer a delicate visual balance of modernism and masculinity, without coming off as aggressive. All three dial variants follow the same formula, with a matte black main surface cut through in stripes to reveal a contrasting layer through the “Venetian blinds” and stylized hourglass motif. The sloping applied indices bridge the gap between this dial surface and the steep rehaut and feature applied blocks of solid Super-LumiNova rather than the more common painted application. Although this isn’t exactly a minimal dial design by any means, the real depth of visual detail on these dials shines through in the GMT subdial and flying tourbillon window. A flying tourbillon becomes the visual centerpiece of nearly any watch that features one, and the balanced approach Louis Vuitton takes to incorporating this element into the dial allows the horology to speak for itself rather than needlessly forcing the eye towards the display. It’s a clean and confident execution, but not without a Louis Vuitton flourish in the V-shaped skeleton tourbillon cage. The brand’s classic “LV” branding is slickly integrated into the 3 o’clock GMT subdial as well, as the hand for this display is a sapphire LV emblem with a yellow pointer forming the tip of the V. This bold yellow accent on the GMT hand, as well as the matching yellow 24-hour scale, injects a further sense of modern sporting energy into the overall design. From this point, the three variants diverge, with the core titanium model accenting the matte black top layer with a cutout lower dial layer in sunburst black. This is likely to be a subtler effect on the wrist than the pink gold cased model, which brings a matching pink gold sunburst layer to the design. Lastly, the titanium case variant can also be optioned with a lower dial layer in bright and dynamic meteorite. While most brands are vague about the origins of meteorite dial materials beyond the obvious answer of “outer space,” Louis Vuitton takes this material as an opportunity for product storytelling. The brand claims this meteorite sample is from the Gibeon meteorite in Namibia, sought after by jewelers for its unique pattern and which the native Nama people have used to make tools for generations. To accentuate this extraterrestrial material, Louis Vuitton replaces the applied indices for this model with baguette-cut diamonds.

Louis Vuitton powers the Louis Vuitton Tambour Curve GMT Flying Tourbillon with its in-house LV 82 automatic flying tourbillon GMT movement. Overall finishing for this movement is clean and modern, with matte black full bridges topped by a skeletonized pink gold rotor. Performance for the LV 82 is robust, with a 65-hour power reserve at a 28,800 bph beat rate. All three variants in the Louis Vuitton Tambour Curve GMT Flying Tourbillon series are paired with Louis Vuitton’s signed black rubber strap to reinforce the futuristic and sporty ethos of the design.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon Chronograph

Louis Vuitton has been around since 1854, but the company’s watchmaking division didn’t get its start until exactly two decades ago, when the inaugural Tambour collection was launched in 2002. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the company’s “official” start in the watchmaking arena, as well as of its most recognizable case design, Louis Vuitton has just announced the Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty Limited Edition.

The new release comes in a 200-piece limited run with a sunburst brown-dialed chronograph inside the quintessential Tambour case shape and powered by a Louis Vuitton-branded variant of Zenith’s El Primero.

Since today’s release is all about highlighting the Tambour case, let’s talk a bit about it. The Tambour case has always been on the elaborate and baroque side of the aesthetic equation. Its complex architecture is inspired by the shape of a drum (tambour is the French word for drum), with a consistent rounded shape that tapers down from the bezel to the caseback.

I have to say, I’m half-convinced that one of the primary reasons Louis Vuitton extended into watchmaking to begin with is because the company name has 12 letters, which can then easily be used as hour markers. On the Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty, the Louis Vuitton name is spelled out at the very top of the smooth, wide expanse that is the caseband; and yes, each letter is positioned to line up with the hour markers on the dial. Louis Vuitton’s enthusiasm for branding is typically built around its famous monogram logo, which was first developed in 1896 by Louis Vuitton’s only son, Georges.

Thanks to its stout size, the Tambour case profile has typically been a hotbed for Louis Vuitton’s experiments with complications. There’s the famous Spin Time system that Michel Navas, the legendary watchmaker behind the design, says was originally developed without external input, but it was only after he and his watchmaking partner Enrico Barbasini had finished the construction of the first prototype that they jointly realized it would be the perfect fit for Louis Vuitton’s signature case shape.

“The [Spin Time] movement is quite thick; it’s a three-dimensional construction, with the wheels and the cubes,” Navas told me when I spoke with him earlier this year. “The prototype just went with the Tambour shape. That’s why we contacted Louis Vuitton to suggest it at the time. And they loved it.”

That was the start of the relationship between Navas, Barbasini, and Louis Vuitton. After adopting the Spin Time mechanism in the Tambour collection in 2009, Louis Vuitton eventually purchased the duo’s high-concept movement manufacturer, La Fabrique du Temps, in 2011, which now forms the beating heart of the Louis Vuitton High Watchmaking division. Since the La Fabrique du Temps acquisition, Louis Vuitton’s prowess in mechanical watchmaking has been supercharged, with minute repeaters, tourbillons (so many tourbillons), split-seconds chronographs, and even award-winning, high-concept jacquemart mechanisms that force you to ponder life, all joining the Tambour collection.

The new Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty release is a bit more straightforward, featuring Zenith’s classic high-beat integrated automatic chronograph movement under the LV 277 trade name and fixed up with a 22-carat pink gold rotor featuring – what else? – the Louis Vuitton “LV” monogram. Speaking of the monogram, the Tambour Twenty is delivered inside a miniature leather-wrapped Louis Vuitton trunk that we were able to photograph the watch with for this story.

One of the most invigorating experiences I’ve had all year was visiting La Fabrique du Temps, Louis Vuitton’s high-end movement manufacturer, located on the outskirts of Geneva and led by the dynamic duo of Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini. What I tried to make clear in that my story based on that visit is that Navas and Barbasini are serious giants of watchmaking, with a lengthy history and a wide sphere of influence among their peers. Their work today is almost entirely focused on developing the Louis Vuitton watchmaking name to equal standing in the world of luxury goods, alongside Louis Vuitton’s other core product families, such as leather goods, luggage, ready-to-wear, and fragrances. The Tambour case design is what attracted Navas and Barbasini to Louis Vuitton in the late 2000s, and it’s somewhat remarkable how malleable a platform it is for varying degrees of complication. I think the best way to understand the Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty Limited Edition, then, is to consider it a look at where Louis Vuitton started – in the early 2000s, Louis Vuitton watchmaking was primarily an établisseur, relying on supplied movements from manufacturers such as ETA and corporate sibling Zenith.  With its sunburst brown dial, highlighter-yellow accents, and twisted lug support system, the Tambour Twenty Limited Edition is a throwback to the earliest era of Louis Vuitton watchmaking. Yet it also hammers home the significance of the Tambour case design. No matter how Louis Vuitton has evolved its horological approach, the Tambour remains.

Tambour may be the name that is rightfully associated with Louis Vuitton watches, as the drum-shaped case dominates in the luxury giant’s watches catalogue. Still, Tambour, with its variations like Tambour Curve and Tambour Moon, is not the only shape that constitutes the offer. A few years back, the Voyager case, house to the Louis Vuitton Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève, was chosen to represent the GMT models and now seems reserved for special occasions only. Like the launch of the new Voyager Skeleton, which is here to highlight Louis Vuitton’s expertise in openworked movements.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon Star Chronograph Noire & Diamants

The latest high-end Louis Vuitton watches are this attractive black and yellow youthfully focused model known as the Louis Vuitton Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum. It builds on the existing Tambour Spin Time Air collection by adding a new feature — an electronic system that lights up the 12 “Spin Time Air” cubes that indicate the hour, which are on the periphery of the mechanical movement system. The result is an electronically enhanced light system that helps read the otherwise mechanical watch in the dark. The watch is fun and spirited but also destined for serious exclusivity given its near $100,000 price point.

One of the reasons you should love Louis Vuitton watches is the fact that compared to the massive name notoriety of the French Louis Vuitton brand overall, its watches are still mostly unknown by enthusiasts and feel very much like undiscovered treasure when you appreciate how nicely made they are and how original their designs tend to be. While created with a deep sense of Parisian romance and design style, the Louis Vuitton high-end watches are produced in Geneva, Switzerland at the brand’s La Fabrique du Temps facility, where a healthy assortment of seriously exotic wristwatches are imagined and created. The majority of Louis Vuitton’s most interesting watches rarely get any publicity because they are often made to order, as well as sold privately to collectors and only marketed on rare occasions. But over the next several months, you’ll probably get to see a few of the brand’s more interesting watches here on aBlogtoWatch.

Debuting today is the neat-looking Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum, and understanding it requires some discussion of other watches that came before it. Until recently, it was somewhat sacrilegious to combine traditional mechanical watchmaking with modern electronic components. Then, a few years ago, “hybrid” watches started to show up, including even some smartwatches that combined a traditional mechanical automatic movement with a modern screen and connected interface. In the high-end watchmaking space, brands such as HYT with its H4 product, DeBethune, Ressence, and, of course, Urwerk with the EMC, have all played with combining mechanical systems with electronic ones. Arguably the most successful hybrid watch approach is the Seiko Spring Drive. The Louis Vuitton with the Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum has an electronic system for lighting that sits on the periphery of the case around the mechanical movement, and the two systems do not interact with each other.

The system is a good mixture of fun, utility, and practicality, in my opinion, though I do feel that Louis Vuitton watches would be wise to see about researching ways to achieve similar results in less expensive forms in the future. While not a limited edition, the Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum will be a hard-to-find product given its low production numbers and high price point. That’s a shame because the slick picture of Louis Vuitton brand DNA and quasi-video-style design ethos makes for a powerfully fun product to wear on the wrist.

Unlike other electronic backlight systems that have played with unusual alternatives to a traditional battery, Louis Vuitton’s is wisely powered by replaceable batteries. Even so, Louis Vuitton predicts that with 10 light activations a day, on average, the batteries in the watch will last for about three years. Louis Vuitton predictably recommends that users return the Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum watch to them for a battery replacement, but there is no serious reason why someone with the right screwdriver and battery cells can’t replace the batteries themselves — which is a good thing. When the battery is near to running out, there is an indicator light located in the crown. To activate the light system, the wearer simply presses in the pusher built into the crown. The lights glow for three seconds and then turn off. They will remain on if you hold the button down. When you activate the lights, each of the 12 “floating” cubes glows. These same globes rotate (one per hour) to indicate the current hour where the “Louis Vuitton” letter is, in the opposite color from the rest of them. How, exactly, do the cubes light up? The light doesn’t come from inside the fused silica cubes but is rather projected from the side. A row of 12 specially engineered LED lamp enclosures discreetly shines light into the sides of the cubes. The light is very evenly diffused through the silicon dioxide material and causes a pleasant glowing effect.

One small challenge is that while the Quantum light system allows for an ideal way to read the hours in the dark, the minute hand of the watch is illuminated more traditionally, using Super-LumiNova. This means that in total darkness, it will be hard to read the time beyond the current hour.

The mechanical part of the Louis Vuitton watches Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum is a patented movement produced in-house by Louis Vuitton known as the caliber LV 68. The automatic movement operates at 4Hz and has a 35-hour power reserve. This somewhat low power reserve is related to the heavy weight of the Spin Time system and the torque required to move it along. The entire movement is relatively compact, so having a larger or additional mainspring isn’t an option at this time. Louis Vuitton has produced a number of Spin Time family watches over the years, with the Spin Time Air being among the newer variants.

The watch case itself is beautifully shaped, as the Tambour character continues to age well and is represented across an impressive spectrum of Louis Vuitton watches. In this form, the case is produced from black-colored DLC-coated (very scratch resistant) titanium that is 42.5mm-wide and 12.3mm-thick with 50 meters of water resistance. Over the dial is a flat AR-coated sapphire crystal.

Louis Vuitton watches might not always be the best choice for those who are shy about prominently wearing brands (LV does enjoy the look of its own logo), but otherwise, the watches are remarkably well-composed and refined. While Cartier, Chanel, Dior, and Van Cleef & Arpels currently gets a bit more enthusiast attention as the prominent names in high-luxury, high-fashion Paris watchmaking (even though these watches are, for the most part, from Switzerland), Louis Vuitton is not only able to compete at the same or higher-levels than others but also has its own universe of very special products, stories, innovations, and culture to enjoy as a collector and aficionado.

It is also worth noting that Louis Vuitton watches are only sold by Louis Vuitton either directly to VIP clients or via a fractional selection of the many brand boutiques around the world. While it won’t be easier to get than any other high-watchmaking Louis Vuitton watch, the Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum is certainly in a visual class of its own and has very interesting novel graphics, such as the “circuit board-style” version of the LV logo on the caseback.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon Star Chronograph White

Louis Vuitton expands its Tambour family with the new Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon line for men and women, and opens the door to customisation thanks to a new interchangeable strap system that is compatible with all Tambour watches, past and present.

A drum roll for 15 years of resounding Tambour success

Created in 2002, the Tambour marked Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking debut and has appeared in countless guises over the years. Mechanical complications like chronographs, regatta timers, tourbillons, minute repeaters, mysterious movements and the famous Spin Time have all been incorporated in the round case of the Tambour, along with high jewellery models. French for ‘drum’, the Tambour watch is distinguished by its rotundity and the generous edge of the case where the 12 Louis Vuitton letters are engraved.

Faithful to its drum-shaped case, the Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon features a new crescent-shaped silhouette. A subtle design tweak, the concave depression on the dial area adds volume and depth.

For a brand that built its reputation on trunks, travel is a recurring theme at Louis Vuitton, and the Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon model for men, above, comes with a practical GMT function allowing travellers to consult the time in two different places simultaneously.

The two-tone version in steel and the limited-edition pink gold model accentuate the sensation of depth with their sloping black flanges and applied rose gold numerals. The dial, decorated with a black rice grain pattern reminiscent of Louis Vuitton’s famous Damier Graphite canvas, highlights the GMT function, with a lacquered hand, shaped like a ‘V’ in honour of the iconic LV monogram, coloured the same yellow as the iconic Tambour watch, which echoes the waxed thread on Louis Vuitton’s bags. Chronographs are the very definition of a sports watch. The new Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon Chronograph displays Louis Vuitton iconography throughout. Like the GMT model, this 44mm chronograph features the weave of Damier Graphite canvas on the indented dial and yellow accents to highlight the chronograph functions. Three women’s versions of the Tambour Moon Star Chronograph with a black, white or mother-of-pearl dial form part of the new collection. The Maison’s hallmark star-shaped flower – the ubiquitous design that appears on the LV Monogram – was dreamed up by Louis Vuitton’s son Georges Vuitton in 1896 to brand his luggage business. Placed at 6 o’clock, the pink gold flower adds a touch of femininity to this new Tambour watch. In addition to the women’s chronograph, the Tambour Moon Star watch, below, available in black and white models, uses the iconic pink gold flower motif at 6 o’clock, which doubles up as a small seconds, completing a full rotation every 60 seconds. The current trend for interchangeable watch straps is now a reality for all Tambour watch models – including the Tambour Slim – allowing owners to choose from a wide selection of straps made from leather, alligator, rubber and other iconic Louis Vuitton fabrics, including Monogram and Damier canvas. Developed by Louis Vuitton’s R&D department, the patented strap-changing system means that no tools are required except, of course, for a touch of imagination and style to endow your Tambour with as many different personalities as you like.  We need your help to keep The Jewellery Editor’s independence so that we can continue to offer quality writing that’s open to everyone around the world.

It means we can give a full and varied picture of the big, wide world of jewellery and watches whether it is on our website or social media channels.

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Louis Vuitton Voyager Skeleton

Louis Vuitton Voyager Skeleton has made a plethora of headlines in this early half of spring as it dropped its second batch of products alongside artist Yayoi Kusama, unveiled a luxe golf trunk and announced its latest Archlight 2.0 sneaker. And now to keep its momentum pushing forward, the luxury label has just announced its latest Voyager Skeleton watch.

The new and limited-edition timepiece is designed with a mechanical and minimalistic build that can resist up to 50mm of water. Its crafted with a 41mm platinum case and sapphire glass, the former of which houses the LV60 — a skeleton-ized movement that references the architecture of some of Louis Vuitton’s flagship stores and the Fondation Louis Vuitton. The calibre is equipped with a tungsten micro-rotor ornamented with a white gold rhodium plated plate. It’s been intentionally positioned off center to maximize the visibility of the LV-shaped bridges and the mechanics inside. The rear end of the watch features an engraved case-back that spells out “Limited edition,” and the piece comes packaged with a navy blue alligator leather trap as well as a taurillon leather strap that are locked in place by a platinum ardillon buckle.
Tambour may be the name that is rightfully associated with Louis Vuitton watches, as the drum-shaped case dominates in the luxury giant’s watches catalogue. Still, Tambour, with its variations like Tambour Curve and Tambour Moon, is not the only shape that constitutes the offer. A few years back, the Voyager case, house to the Louis Vuitton Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève, was chosen to represent the GMT models and now seems reserved for special occasions only. Like the launch of the new Voyager Skeleton, which is here to highlight Louis Vuitton’s expertise in openworked movements. The Voyager case is a beautiful creation, with an attractive round shape that seems oval and sometimes even square. It has a monobloc construction, so the middle part and the bezel are one piece. The curves and different finishes on its surfaces, mirror-polished and brushed, provide a perfect and luxurious (Pt 950) frame to enjoy the functional beauty of the open-worked calibre. The new skeletonised movement LV60 fits perfectly into the distinctive 41mm Voyager case as it was created for this particular model. The Calibre LV60’s architecture is designed within the stylistic codes of the Maison to remind nothing less than the exceptional forms of the Fondation Louis Vuitton building by Frank Gehry. And the movement spells Louis Vuitton, like the brand’s most leather goods, with LV-shaped bridges, LV-decorated tungsten micro-rotor and a “Louis Vuitton” cut-out ratchet wheel. But it somehow remains quite discreet. This movement is the brand’s first automatic time-only skeleton calibre; it beats at a frequency of 28,800vph and has 48 hours of power reserve. Designed and developed by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, an in-house, Geneva-based specialist atelier, this calibre was manufactured in partnership with Le Cercle des Horlogers out of Neuchâtel – LV must be praised for communicating this and not usurping all the laurels. The Voyager Skeleton movement’s decoration aligns with expectations as we remember the exquisite finish done on the openworked Louis Vuitton Poinçon de Genève watches, Louis Vuitton Voyager Skeleton Tambour Curve Flying Tourbillon and Voyager Flying Tourbillon. The LV-shaped bridges show fine linear graining on the top and sandblasted finish on the caseback side, with chamfered edges. The rhodium-plated parts make the watch look very monochromatic. This feeling is enhanced by the contrasting deep blue-coloured minute ring on the dial’s periphery and the pair of semi-skeletonised hands for hours and minutes, with their blue contour. The Louis Vuitton Voyager Skeleton caseback is transparent, and the sight is no less spectacular than the dial, especially if you enjoy viewing the mechanism at work. Still, with the Voyager Skeleton, you can enjoy the dial side equally, if not much more. Louis Vuitton invites you to guess the power left for the watch to properly function by looking at the mainspring coils or paying attention to the arrangement of the coils so as not to miss the moment to wind your Voyager Skeleton.

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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.