Louis Vuitton Unveils An Extremely Handsome New Watch
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Louis Vuitton has made significant strides in establishing itself as a name to be taken seriously in the world of watches – but it has been a long journey.
The French luxury fashion house entered the watch business in 1988 with its Vendrôme, a quartz model named for the Place Vendrôme in Paris, a location synonymous with traditional craftsmanship.
Things went up a notch in 2002 when it launched the Tambour, a not-especially nice-l00king travel watch with a GMT function (because Louis Vuitton has historical ties to travelling, luggage etc, dating back almost 170 years).
In 2011 it acquired La Fabrique du Temps, a Swiss watch manufacturer and specialist in technical skills including high-end complications like tourbillons and perpetual calendars, skeletisation and traditional artesian crafts.
Last year, under the control of the new, dynamic director of watches Jean Arnault – the youngest son of LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault – it relaunched the Tambour, and essentially Louis Vuitton as a watch brand.
The completely redesigned model came with a new case, new movement, new integrated bracelet, new fancier materials and a handsome new dial design that gained almost universal praise.
(You can read a fantastic feature about the whole story, and that of LVMH’s whole watchmaking portfolio, here.)
Today Louis Vuitton doubles down on that success with a new Tambour that is every bit as eye-catching.
The Tambour Convergence comes in two turbo high-end options, one in 18ct pink gold and one in platinum, encrusted with 795 diamonds and 1 saffron sapphire.
The time on the 37mm automatic watch is read via a pair of satin-brushed discs, one for the hours and one for the minutes.
As per the brand’s pivot to the top table of watchmaking, the Tambour Convergence is the product of three of its Swiss ateliers working together – La Fabrique du Temps for the movement design, La Fabrique des Boîters for the case-making and La Fabrique des Arts for the handcrafting and finishing.
The watches both feature open case backs, the better to view the oscillating weight driving the movement – also made from 18ct pink gold.
The movement itself is comprised of 201 components, including the minute and hour discs.
It’s quite something.
Last year, Jean Arnault picked up the tourbillion prize for another of his LVMH brands, Daniel Roth, at the GPHG awards – the watch world’s “Oscars”.
Don’t be surprised to see him on stage again this year – this time for the headline act.
Tambour Convergence (pink gold), £32,500. Tambour Convergence (diamonds set in platinum), £58,500 uk.louisvuittom.com
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