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Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronograph Calendar

In all the years that I’ve been writing about Jaeger-LeCoultre, I really thought that I’d seen everything at this point. Gyrotourbillons, ultra-thin watches, square Reversos (remember those? the Squadra, gone but not forgotten), lubricant-free high-tech concept watches (the Extreme LAB), complications of every description – well, the list is long. Apparently, however, there is one thing which I have not seen and which nobody else has seen either from JLC, and that is a complete calendar chronograph with moon-phase. Jaeger-LeCoultre says that they have never done one before, and they should know, but as Jon Bues wrote in his Introducing coverage it still comes as a surprise to hear it – if you’d shown me this watch without any introduction and said, “Hey, this is such a great watch and you’ve never covered it in all these years, what’s the deal?” I’d have blushed and felt as if I’d been both unobservant and derelict in my duties as a consumer journalist. This is all by way of saying, and I mean this as a compliment, that the new Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronograph Calendar looks as if it has been part of the JLC lineup for a long time. There are reasons for that, of course: The general layout of the watch is very much one intended to appeal to traditionalists, and the combination of these two complications is a traditionalist’s favorite as well. Perhaps the best-known vintage implementation is the hand-wound Valjoux 88, which was produced, at least for a Valjoux chronograph movement, in surprisingly small numbers. The first impression you get of this watch, therefore, is of a timepiece that, if new as a complication to its maker (which I still can’t quite believe) is certainly not new to watchmaking or to wristwatch design. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronograph Calendar is part of the larger Master Control Collection, which was relaunched this year with redesigned cases whose basic profile was derived from JLC’s flagship complication for 2020 (at least so far), which is the Master Grand Tradition Grand Complication. That watch debuted with a slimmer profile to the lugs, which had also been opened up (although not actually openworked) with recesses along their flanks, as well as the case middle. The result was a version of the watch that seemed both more in line with the vocabulary of classic watchmaking, as well as more light and graceful. The recesses in the lugs and case middle haven’t been carried over to the Master Control line, and this is all to the good as it would seem affected in the context of these watches, but the sense of subtle grace is still present, helped along by a crisper transition from case to lugs, and a slightly more emphatic sense of geometry overall. If there is little or nothing to complain of in terms of overall aesthetics, there is also certainly nothing to complain of in terms of fit and finish. While Jaeger-LeCoultre takes a back seat to no one – and I do mean no one – when it comes to the high-end horological decorative crafts sometimes referred to collectively as metiers d’art, there is another, more accessible, and just as important side to its character, which has to do with unostentatious excellence in daily wear mechanical watches. The case details in the Master Control Chronograph Calendar are not an overt paean to the decorative potential of steel; rather, they are intended to form a frame which, while it does not distract from the functionality of the watch, at the same time offers a reassuring sense of solidity and attention to detail should you wish to inspect the watch closely. I think the dial of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronograph Calendar is exceedingly beautiful and well organized. There are no tricks being played here, in particular – just good, solid, clarity of design. This could indeed easily be mistaken for a complicated gent’s watch from the 1950s, although one thing that gives away the modernity of the watch is the crispness and clarity of the printing and dial furniture, as well as the equally crisp starry background to the lunar disk on the moon-phase display. I think that the dial works as well as it does as much for what JLC decided not to do, as for what it decided to do. The only slight quibble I have with the dial overall is that against the white dial, the highly polished hour and minute hands can sometimes be slightly difficult to pick out, but I certainly didn’t find that to be a fatal issue in terms of on-the-wrist legibility and utility.

The urge to fiddle for the sake of fiddling is very often on display in modern watchmaking, and it seems to become more and more noticeable and less and less successful as prices increase. The problem has always seemed to me to be at its most acute in chronographs, which seem to have the ability to bring out the worst in watch designers like no other complication. In this case, however, the level of detail feels entirely appropriate to the overall identity of the watch, and contributes a great deal to the impression that it gives of something intended to be a daily companion, and not just another more or less static addition to a collection. For a full evaluation of chronometric performance, we would have had to do a full Week On The Wrist (which I would very much like to do with this watch at some point; I think it merits it and then some), but there is no reason to expect anything other than excellent performance from the movement. The movement, caliber 759, a column-wheel-controlled, vertical-clutch mechanism; it also has a freesprung, adjustable mass balance, which has become more or less the standard in modern high-grade movements. It looks quite handsome and sturdy through the sapphire display back. The watch overall boasts very wearable-sounding dimensions – the case is 40mm x 12.05mm and water resistant to 50 meters. You could, of course, object that this would be an even more historically resonant watch in a smaller diameter, but after all, 40mm is hardly a Brobdingnagian dimension, and the width-to-thickness ratio makes for a watch you’d expect to feel quite comfortable on the wrist. And you would be right. This is an immensely pleasurable watch to wear, and I make no bones about it; I didn’t want to give it back. I don’t generally feel a terribly strong desire to actually own watches, largely because, for many years, it has been my privilege to experience so many of them; I suppose I am rather like a restaurant critic in that respect, who for all they are passionate about food may not particularly feel the itch to own a restaurant. But I think this would be a damned fine wristwatch to wake up to every morning, to look at during the day, to use to mark the passage of the months and moons, and to put down on the bedside table at the end of a long day and have its calmly purposeful, beautifully balanced countenance the last thing I see before lights out.

This brings us, inevitably, to The Unpleasant Matter Of The Bill; in steel, this is a $14,500 watch. I wish it were less expensive, but I think part of that may be because I have been around long enough to remember when, across the board, prices for fine watches from Switzerland were a fraction of what they are today, and I basically wish everything was less expensive. I probably ought to put my Zen Buddhism where my mouth is, though, and cultivate a spirit of, if not acceptance, at least resignation on that score; last I checked time’s arrow only points one way. However, even at that price, you are getting an awful lot: a watch with a handsome diffidence, which is rather rare these days, and which achieves an identity of its own without resorting to either rote aping of a vintage model on the one hand, or novelty effects on the other. Plus, you are getting a watch from one of the most important names in Swiss fine watchmaking, and one whose reputation is based on real horological content to boot – Jaeger-LeCoultre likes to remind us that the company is sometimes called the Grande Maison in Switzerland, but given the firm’s decades-long mastery of every kind of watchmaking imaginable, we should probably let them have that one. I think the greatest compliment I can pay the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronograph Calendar is to say that it does not feel like an attempt to broadcast affluence, or one’s good taste, or to pay homage to something in the glorious past, or to break new ground technically or aesthetically. It is not a showcase for some fantastically demanding craft kept alive through the dark years of the Quartz Crisis by a devoted few; it is not intended to be an Instagram trophy, and it will not (at least, I think not) produce years of frustration in its fans as they idle on waiting lists. Instead, it has a rare, sole ambition: It wants to be a watch, and a damned good one, and at that it succeeds admirably.

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Van Cleef & Arpels Sweet Alhambra Watch

The four-leaf clover is a long-celebrated talisman, but it was the French jewellery maison Van Cleef & Arpels that cemented it as a global symbol for good luck and great fortune when they brought it to life in gold and precious gemstones in the late 1960s.

The ‘ Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra’ collection is now internationally recognised; its signature sautoirs (long necklaces) are often spotted around the necks of tastemakers and trend setters, royalty and Hollywood’s finest alike. These long, low-swinging styles are just as easily paired with evening gowns as they are with jeans and a T-shirt, which is perhaps the secret to their enduring charm – the Alhambra has become synonymous with precious, laidback luxury.
Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra has historically celebrated luck, joy and optimism since it was founded in 1906, long renowned for its animated interpretations of flowers and animals. It was in 1968, however, that the four-leaf clover became a lucky icon for the house. Jacques Arpels, a nephew of one of the founding families, was especially enamoured with the concept of luck – he famously bestowed four-leaf clovers gathered in his garden upon his staff. His personal mantra, “To be lucky, you have to believe in luck,” inspired the maison to create a collection that saw four-leaf clovers edged with golden pearls, set upon chic sautoirs. It was conceived to introduce a new era of more accessible jewellery designs within the maison’s repertoire and became an instant success.

The name of the collection is derived from the Alhambra palace, in Granada, Spain, where Moorish quatrefoil motifs (four overlapping circles, much like the clover silhouette) adorn magnificent architecture with similarly detailed, intricate artisanry.
Van Cleef & Arpels is one of history’s most celebrated jewellers, founded in the high jewellery-making epicentre of the world, Place Vendome, Paris. The combined skills of lapidaries, jewellers, stone-setters and polishers come together to create each clover motif, requiring no fewer than 15 successive steps of craftsmanship. What makes the Alhambra collection so iconic is that it distils the haute joaillerie expertise of the maison into an everyday, wearable design that can be paired with a simple sweater.

Its enduring prestige is perhaps also bolstered by the evolution of sub-collections that play with colour, form and different dimensions; from the ‘Lucky Alhambra’ designs, which incorporate heart, butterfly, leaf and star motifs, to the ‘Byzantine Alhambra’ styles, which celebrate the clover silhouette in solid and openwork gold.
Since 1968, the Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra collection has evolved with the passing eras, while remaining an elegant icon of luck. Today – for the first time – it welcomes four secret pendant watch models. They celebrate the poetry of a time that remains hidden, revealing itself when so desired on the chain of a long necklace. Alongside these unique pieces, two Sweet Alhambra watches are adorned with ornamental stones, complemented by the gleam of delicately beaded yellow gold. Four new creations are joining the Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra collection – which for the first time welcomes the notion of a personal time, concealed at the heart of the emblematic, four-leafed clover-inspired motifs. Following in the footsteps of the chain watches that appeared in Europe in the 17th century, these jewels that tell the time take the form of precious pendants, accompanying their wearer’s silhouette. They combine the Maison’s characteristically elegant jewellery style with its secret watch tradition. The time is revealed at will: a simple action pivots the stone-set motif to unveil the dial.
In 1968, Van Cleef & Arpels watch created the first Alhambra long necklace, inspired by the four-leaf clover shape. Like a harmonious token of luck, it was made up of 20 motifs in textured yellow gold, delicately fringed with golden beads. The symbol was an immediate success, establishing itself throughout the world as an icon of luck and emblem of Van Cleef & Arpels.

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Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Féerie Or Rose

The artists and artisans at Van Cleef & Arpels use their combined skills to create works that evoke awe and wonder, whether they’re depicting a landscape, a character, or a scene. At Watches And Wonders 2023, colorful enamel and intricate miniature painting breathe new life into the Lady Féerie watch. Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Féerie Or Rose surrounds its watchmakers with expertise honed through generations of tradition, shared fervor, and extensive practice. These masters put the high-mindedness of their knowledge to work for the Maison’s Poetry of Time, turning difficulties into breakthroughs.

Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Féerie Or Rose has been paying homage to the allure of fairies through magically enchanting designs since the 1940s. The Maison is now selling an updated Lady Féerie watch in a range of pink tones. Adding to the Féerie line, this Poetic Complications timepiece features a 33mm case of delicate proportions and combines watchmaking expertise with traditional crafts. In the gentle light of twilight, a fairy uses its magic wand to mark the passing of the hours.

She sits on a cloud of white mother-of-pearl and sparkles like a guardian muse in a dress of diamonds, pink sapphires, and a miniature painting on gold. Translucent pink plique-à-jour enamel and opaque pink enamel were used to create the powdery gradient that covers her wings. These methods, all used in the same Maison design, produce a play of light and transparency in the wings, which are framed with diamonds that were set minutely after the enameling was completed.

In a mother-of-pearl window, the setting sun welcomes the passing of the hours while a female figure with a diamond face points out the minutes with a magic wand. The watch’s underside reveals an engraved night sky with a full moon and stars on the watch’s oscillating weight. The enameled outlines of the clouds on the sapphire glass give the design a subtle shimmer.

Watchmaking, jewelry making, and other uncommon crafts give life to this lyrical setting. The Lady Féerie Or Rose has retrograde minutes and jumping hours in addition to a self-winding movement. This sophisticated movement in a 33mm Lady case required extremely precise design and assembly. The latter can hold a three-dimensional fairy thanks to a curved sapphire glass that serves as a pedestal.

In addition to maximizing light entry, it also helps to smooth out the watch’s profile. The dial displays the expertise of the Geneva-based Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Féerie Or Rose Watchmaking Workshops. The evening sky is painted with no less than four colors on an engraved mother-of-pearl background, ranging from pearly white to deep plum, with delicate gold and an intense fuchsia. To get this gentle gradient, Maison’s artisans tried and failed more than ten times. The plique-à-jour enamel used to decorate the fairy’s wings is a one-of-a-kind pink created by the Van Cleef & Arpels enamel workshop to complement the watch’s face. These exquisite pieces are a testament to Van Cleef & Arpels’ boundless imagination and collective brilliance.

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Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date

Have you ever wondered what a frozen dial would look like? Well, wonder no more, because the new-for-2022 Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date brings that aesthetic in not one or two, but three colorways. This watch is nspired not by tropical waters but rather by the glacial lakes of the Mont-Blanc Massif and the texture of glacial ice — let’s take an icy dive into the details. The case of the Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date watch is in stainless steel on all iterations and measures 41mm in diameter and 12.9mm in thickness. That’s by no means unwearably thick, but it’s destined to have noticeable heft, which is offset by the 300-meter water-resistance rating, should you feel inclined to dive hundreds of meters down into freezing cold waters. For us desk divers, that’s just cool to have. Likewise, the Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea is a “certified diving timing instrument,” according to the brand, conforming to the ISO 6425 norm. All that, plus each piece is subjected to the Montblanc Laboratory 500 Hour Test that assesses resistance to shocks, magnetism, temperature, and water pressure and “that their fasteners are reinforced for maximum security.” The hands and indices are all covered with white Super-LumiNova. Three shades for three types of ice is the theme, as the Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date comes in blue, green, and black. Blue ice can be found in Mont-Blanc’s Sea of Ice and is created by the inclusion of air bubbles in the ice, while green ice is found in Antarctica and is the result of the presence of microscopic snow algae blooms. Black ice occurs when the ice has no inclusions or air bubbles, therefore absorbing enough light to appear black. It can also be turned black by deposits of volcanic ash in its structure; examples of which can be seen in the polar regions. So, now you can match your next luxury watch to your favorite type of ice. Montblanc, which refers to itself as a Maison, as does basically every one of the Richemont group’s watchmakers, says it had to go through several trials before finding a technical solution to create an impression of depth and luminosity reminiscent of that of ice: “The dial makers employed an almost-forgotten ancestral technique called gratté boisé as the base.” If you Google that, you’ll soon end up in a publication by Ferdinand Berthoud – so yeah, seems pretty ancestral to me. Montblanc admirably managed to maintain its focus on legibility: The indices and indeed the cathedral-style hour and minute hands are huge and appear to contrast in finish and texture neatly against the colored backdrop – all essential to achieving real-world legibility. The bezel is in ceramic and is neatly color-matched to the dial. Does anyone remember the day when colored ceramics were basically unimaginable and all-ceramic watch parts came in were white, black, and maybe some chrome-y gray? Well, gone are those days, thankfully, so now you can enjoy fade- and scratch-proof ceramic in highly saturated blues and greens. There is a stainless steel bracelet in “charcoal” and regular steel, each with a taper that goes from 20mm at the lugs to 16mm at the clasp and each with a quick-adjust system built in. Alternatively, each model can be purchased on a rubber strap. The only bottleneck with the Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date is its MB 24.17 movement, which is basically a Sellita SW200. Its 41-hour power reserve is basically the shortest in this segment, and although that is matched with self-winding and a modern 4 Hertz frequency, 41 hours really is just not long enough for anything other than a daily wearer. Weekend-lasting power reserves (i.e. those at least 3 days long) can’t arrive soon enough for more watches in this admittedly highly competitive segment.

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Montblanc 1858 Automatic Date 0 Oxygen The 8000

Joining the new Montblanc 1858 – The 8000 0 Oxygen capsule collection dedicated to the world’s 14 highest peaks is the Montblanc 1858 Automatic Date 0 Oxygen The 8000. It is a 41mm stainless steel watch, water-resistant to ten bar, and hermetically sealed against oxygen. On its ceramic bezel is a sleek-designed compass framing a dark grey Sfumato dial. This traditional technique creates a pattern reminiscent of the rough texture of mountains.

Luminous layers on the numerals and hands, as well as orange markers, ensure proper orientation in the field. The Montblanc 1858 Automatic Date 0 Oxygen The 8000 is powered by the automatic caliber MB 24.17, based on the Sellita SW200-1 a. In addition to this newcomer, the capsule collection also includes an automatic chronograph and two Geosphere world time executions.

Montblanc unveils the new 1858 Zero Oxygen 8000 capsule collection that pays tribute to the world’s 14 highest peaks and the inspiring alpinists who dared to climb them.

These mountains – all measuring over 8000 meters above sea level – are challenging and dangerous to ascend as there is hardly enough oxygen for a human body to physiologically survive for more than a few hours.Climbing to 8000 meters without supplemental oxygen requires great preparation, physical condition, technique, experience, and mental strength. As a result, only a few mountaineers have climbed all 14 peaks, and even fewer have done it without supplemental oxygen.

Reinhold Messner was the first to climb all 14 peaks without supplemental oxygen between the years of 1970 and 1986, while Nimsdai Purja was the fastest person to climb all 14 peaks in 2019.

Limited to 290 pieces, this timepiece takes inspiration from Nimsdai Purja, who successfully carried out a record-breaking ascent to Everest with the first Montblanc 1858 0 Oxygen timepiece in May 2022 without supplemental oxygen.

The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygen The 8000 Limited Edition houses Calibre MB 29.27, the Manufacture automatic chronograph movement with worldtime complication. It has a power reserve of approx. 46 hours.The dial hosts two 3D turning globes with the Northern Hemisphere at 12 o’clock and the Southern Hemisphere at six o’clock. North Hemisphere features 14 orange dots, marking the location of the 8000m peaks, surrounded by Day&Night indicators. Both hemispheres also use the colour orange to mark the Greenwich reference meridian for easy setting of the worldtime function.

The chronograph features a central seconds hand, a 30-minute counter at three o’clock, and a 12-hour counter at nine o’clock – all with orange-tipped hands. The chronograph is operated via pushers on either side of the crown.

Montblanc is presenting a new capsule collection at Watches and Wonders to add to the house’s “zero oxygen” collection.

These are four new watches that pay tribute to the world’s 14 highest peaks as well as to the brave mountaineers who succeeded in the great feat of climbing them.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour 20th Anniversary Tambour Twenty

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 Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty 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 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 Tambour Twenty, the Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty 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 Louis Vuitton 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.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Spin Time Air Vivienne

Louis Vuitton launches Tambour Spin Time Air Vivienne, an innovative and modern Jumping Hour watch.

In 2017 Louis Vuitton unveiled Vivienne, a character inspired by the House’s heritage and iconic Monogram flowers. At times a decorative object, cuddly toy or bag accessory, at others a watch or jewel, this thrilling mascot journeys through Louis Vuitton’s many crafts, now landing in the wonderland of women’s high jewellery, with the new Tambour Spin Time Air Vivienne timepieces. Instead of a central hand, the Louis Vuitton Tambour Spin Time Air Vivienne watch uses twelve rotating and tilting miniature versions of the mascot to display the hours in a playful and charming way. Every 60 minutes, two mascots spin around instantly. Each hour ends with one Vivienne revealing its neutral side, making way for the next hour, indicated by the profile of a Vivienne.

This one-of-a-kind, ground-breaking technical concept features an exclusive, patented watch mechanism to read the time. Drawing from a unique, self-winding movement developed in 2009 and constantly perfected by highly skilled master watchmakers at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the impressive ethereal LV 89 calibre, a poetic, sophisticated movement lodged at the centre of the case between two sapphire crystals, provides 32 hours of power reserve. Two round, pointed Monogram flowers layer the dial, both in pink gold snow-set with diamonds in black or red lacquer variations. The twelve mascots — in pink gold and hand-applied rich black or ruby red lacquer — ”float” between the calibre and the case. The hidden side of the twelve characters, as well as the oscillating weight, Louis Vuitton Tambour Spin Time Air Vivienne watch can be seen through the transparent back.

Measuring 42.5 mm diameter, the pink gold case is enhanced by applied diamond-set horns, a distinctive Tambour feature. Highlighted by a deep black or cherry red alligator strap, the timepiece intricately encapsulates style and innovation.

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Franck Muller Vanguard Crazy Hours Hom Nguyen

In honour of the 20th Anniversary of the Crazy Hours, Franck Muller and Hom Nguyen joined up their talents for the second time, with the same leitmotiv: to bring together the watchmaking know-how and the talent of the artist to offer their collectors an exceptional limited collection.

For this collection, Hom Nguyen let his imagination run free by drawing each numeral with his legendary and talented pattern. From one line to another, the drawing embodies the trajectories of human lives. The numerals drawn by the artist and replicated by Franck Muller’s dial craftsmen in the purest watchmaking tradition thus come to life.
The Crazy Hours mechanism offers a unique reading of time, showing the hour numerals drawn by hand in the most unconventional order. Thanks to a patented mechanism, the central hour hand literally jumps from one hour to the next, respectfully following the numbers placed randomly on the dial.

Thereby after 60 minutes the hour hand would jump to the next correct number. Meanwhile, the minute hand follows a conventional 60-minute cycle revolving around the dial. Time becomes a value that is personal, individual, and unique. You find yourself eagerly waiting at each 59th minute to observe the Crazy Hours’ mesmerizing jump.

With a bidirectional self-winding movement, this mythical and enchanting masterpiece of watchmaking enjoys a power reserve of 42 hours.
The Franck Muller Vanguard Crazy Hours Hom Nguyen is the perfect translation of a piece of art; each timepiece comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist in addition to the usual certificate of authenticity. To make the collection as unique as it already is, each timepiece will come in a special presentation box.

Franck Muller Vanguard Crazy Hours Hom Nguyen Available in stainless steel, titanium, ceramic and 18k rose gold, the limited edition of 50 or 100 pieces depending on the finishing, is presented in the sizes 41, 43 and 45 millimetres.
Born in 1972, Hom Nguyen, a French painter with Vietnamese origin, is a self-taught artist and the son of a mother who immigrated to France in the 1970s. In 2009, Hom Nguyen fully commits himself to an artistic path, guided by an urgent need to express himself.

Through his subjects, Hom Nguyen’s work is universal, questioning human destiny, between joy and sorrow, cry and silence, presence and loss. The artist’s work is particularly sensitive to the human values that he embodies and conveys: a feeling of peace, respect, communion, spirituality. These values are for him the foundation of all art: a path that connects one man to another.

Characterized by an instinctive and figurative style, Hom Nguyen received in 2022 the honorable distinction of Chevalier de l’ordre national du Mérite.

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Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Matte Black

Louis Vuitton has officially launched their new Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Matte Black Watch. The watch is the first of its kind from the brand, and seamlessly blends its technical elements with signature Louis Vuitton luxury.

Though the Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Matte Black watch is the third-generation connected watch to come out of the Maison, it offers a level of personalization that has never been seen before. Louis Vuitton created a bespoke operating system for the smart features of the watch, allowing users to seamlessly integrate the Tambour Horizon with their other pieces of technology. It is the first operating system, outside of Apple’s own, to be accredited as “MFI” or “made for iPhone,” though it is also compatible with Android and HarmonyOS devices.

The Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Matte Black watch builds upon the traditional Tambour case silhouette and makes it compatible with the Horizon screen. The screen is made of curved sapphire glass, giving the appearance that the screen falls over the edge, allowing Louis Vuitton to make the watch case smaller, at 44mm. The watch is completed with 24 LED lights circling the face, with animations made to match each watch’s configuration.

It comes in three different faces (polished steel, matte black, and matte brown), and allows users to further customize it with 8 built-in dial configurations.   The watch is compatible with the Louis Vuitton Connect app. The app has several unique features separated by function, including a “My Travel” section to add upcoming trips, and a “My Day” section for everyday activities. The also offers more customization experiences, from changing the watch face to different colorways for the screen

Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Matte Black watch is the recent version of the iconic Tambour mechanic watch series initially launched in 2002. In its efforts to captivate the new breed of luxury customers, Louis Vuitton was among the first few non-tech watch manufacturing brands to enter into the high-tech market segment in 2017. The Tambour Horizon is LV’s third-generation smartwatch design, recently released in 2022. This third-gen innovative iteration brings various refreshing innovations to the brand’s Tambour timepieces, including; a unique wraparound LED display, average battery life, Android compatibility, and a heart rate monitor. According to Ablogtowatch, the LV’s Horizon Light-Up Watch features some old-school technology with bold Louis Vuitton signature designs to improve the visual presentation of the luxurious timepiece. Thanks to the eye-catching curved edge of the sapphire glass that contains twenty-four LED lights, and the centered intelligent module that improves the watch’s functionality, the Tambour Horizon helps provide its users a smartwatch experience. These 24 LED lights that are housed in graphic trefoil shapes were originally used back in 1910 and designed to display an animated array of colors when a notification is received. Read on to learn more about the Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Light Up Watch.

Louis Vuitton recently released its third-generation high-end watch, the Tambour Horizon Light-Up. The design of this timepiece still retains the brand’s impressive craftsmanship in producing modern-era watches. The Horizon Light-Up comes in three versions that mimic the Louis Vuitton House Codes, including; the Matte Black, the Matte Brown, and the Polished Steel. Both the brown and Matte black version are reengineered with high-end PVD finishes, and the Polished Steel model comes with a contrasting titanium crown. The iconic LV House’s design codes are also well represented through a rainbow of colors on the various versions. In addition to the three 44mm cases that are finished with low-profile activation buttons, each version of the Horizon Light-Up watch has a digital LED display with eight dial permutations that operate on different design cues. You can also add your initials on the screen or choose from the 11 fantastic gradient displays, which now come with an always-on setting eliminating the need to press a button or shake it for the screen to be powered on.

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Louis Vuitton Escale Time Zone Blue

“In terms of haute horlogerie complications we could do anything we like at Louis Vuitton – and we certainly have the means to do so. But that’s not our approach. What we do is deeply rooted in classical horology, but every piece needs to have an original twist that has real meaning for the Maison.” So says Michel Navas who, together with Enrico Barbasini, is the technical brains behind Louis Vuitton watchmaking.

The Louis Vuitton Escale Time Zone perfectly illustrates this. Introduced in 2015 (with a version in tones of blue and grey last year), it looks unlike any travel time watch that preceded it. Or, more precisely, that preceded Louis Vuitton’s Escale Worldtime, released a year earlier. Time Zone is, by the way, almost a misnomer: the term usually means a second (or in rare cases third) time zone display – a GMT in other words. But this is a true world time watch. Clearly, though, it needed a different name to distinguish it from its big brother.

The technical underpinnings are entirely classical – it’s essentially the same as the complication invented in 1931 by Louis Cottier (and improved by him in 1953), which made it possible to view the time in 24 zones simultaneously.

However, the expression is totally original – the vivid and playful dial a radical departure from the usual world map surrounded by city names. To be fair, that became the default design because it’s a great aid to visualising world time, but has become a bit of a cliché.

The multi-coloured emblems are reminiscent of maritime signal flags (Louis Vuitton was deeply involved in America’s Cup sailing until a couple of years ago) but they also hark back to the firm’s history as a trunk-maker. Back in the 19th century, Louis Vuitton Escale Time Zone would create unique personal ID badges for the luggage of clients who didn’t have their own coat-of-arms – simplified emblems distinguished by geometric shapes and bright colours. For the watch dials, the same principle has been used to create a ‘badge’ for each city. But the Time Zone is not just a pretty face: Louis Vuitton’s evolution in high watchmaking is a world away from the fashion watches that can be a cash cow for any big luxury brand, and that’s thanks to Navas and Barbasini. Among the most inventive watch developers of their generation, they have worked together for more than 30 years – at Gérald Genta (during Genta’s heyday as a creative, independent brand) and Patek Philippe (in the high complications division) before moving on to Franck Muller (where they developed Crazy Hours) and then starting their own business. In the early 2000s they were the B and N of BNB Concept, a highly regarded independent movement-developer for other brands – including Laurent Ferrier, a fellow Patek alumnus. They left to set up La Fabrique du Temps in 2007 (the third member of the BNB triumvirate, Matthias Buttet, is now with Hublot).

Although Louis Vuitton had been a client from the beginning – the Louis Vuitton Escale Time Zone (launched in 2009) was the first fruit of that collaboration – many were surprised when it bought La Fabrique du Temps outright in 2011. Not least, Navas and Barbasini: “We have more creative freedom than we ever imagined we would,” says Navas. “In fact they want us to really go for it – so long as it embodies the essence of Louis Vuitton.” The outcome, so far, has ranged from the Tambour Twin Chrono of 2013 (which allows two elapsed times to be calculated simultaneously) to the Tambour Moon Mysterious Flying Tourbillon of 2016, with its ‘floating’ linear movement (and Geneva Seal certification) – and, of course the Escale series.

So, back to the watch: given all the information it needs to display, a world timer dial can’t help but be busy – so, rather than trying to reduce that, Louis Vuitton’s designers have made it a virtue. With its bold graphics, startling colours, iconoclastic style, it’s polarising, for sure – and it’s very refreshing to see aesthetic conventions being overturned.The Time Zone presents the key attributes of the Escale Worldtime in a smaller and slimmer (39mm x 8.4mm) version of its big brother. And in its degree of hand-crafting, it is much, much simpler – all of which means that it’s a tenth of the price. There’s an important distinction here: simplified doesn’t really mean watered down, it just means that priority is given to certain core attributes.

Where the Louis Vuitton Escale Time Zone Worldtime dial was a masterpiece of miniature painting (50 hours of painstaking hand craft to apply the 38 different colours), the Time Zone dial is transfer-printed, using a slightly simplified colour palette. However, the quality of printing is such that there’s still a subtle relief-effect to the coloured emblems.

As world time watches go, it could hardly be more user-friendly. To set your local time, you simply turn the crown backwards or forwards to position the city name at 12. The times in all other zones can then be read from the 24-hours disc – which is also marked with day and night sections to avoid confusion.Reading the local time is more intuitive (or at least, more familiar to our analogue-dial-trained brains) than the Worldtimer, using hands rather than a fixed pointer for local time. But here’s another twist: while the minutes hand is attached to a central axis in the conventional way (covered by a disc at the centre of the the dial), the triangular hour hand has been applied to a disc so that it appears to float – in a manner reminiscent of mystery clocks.

Rather than the in-house calibre LV 106 used for the Worldtime (with the high cost that entails), the Time Zone’s movement is the ultra-reliable ETA 2829, coupled to a module developed and produced in-house by Navas and Barbasini’s team. (The pair remain very hands-on watchmakers, by the way – and assemble at least some of the first production run of any new model, to catch any potential bugs before they become an issue for their watchmakers.)

Although the caseback is sapphire, it doesn’t reveal the movement (having no need for fine hand-finishing also cuts a significant amount of cost). What it does show is a large LV logo, very neat and tidy.The Time Zone case is steel – lighter, sturdier and less expensive than the white gold of the Worldtime – but with all of the same details and finishes. The lugs are attached by screwed brackets inspired by the metal reinforcements on the corners of trunks, and their polished surfaces contrast very well with the brushed case band. Another nice detail is the use of curved spring bars to ensure that the end of the strap hugs the curve of the case.

For any of you still labouring under the misguided impression that Louis Vuitton doesn’t produce “real” watches, the Escale Time Zone is a (very) long way from a fashion watch – and its playful aesthetic proves that totally legitimate horology doesn’t have to look po-faced. Best of all, it’s a very useful watch – not only for frequent fliers, but for all of us who have friends, family or business relationships on different continents.