Louis Vuitton enters the sports-luxe world with the all-new integrated Tambour

If watchmaking is an art, then where better to hold a watch launch than in a gallery? And for Louis Vuitton, which last week introduced its most symbolically important timepiece ever, some of the biggest players in the world of luxury gathered at Paris’s Musée d’Orsay to celebrate the new sporty chic Tambour.

The most valuable luxury brand on the planet, helmed by Bernard Arnault, the world’s richest man, Louis Vuitton is a powerhouse of fashion, leather and travel goods. And, in the past 20 years, the French behemoth has also amassed outstanding watchmaking knowledge.

The house’s first watch, the Tambour, was introduced in 2002. Highly recognisable thanks to its drum-shaped case (tambour being French for drum), the Tambour has gone on to become one of the most successful watch designs of the 21st century.

But LV’s watchmaking has truly come of age in 2023 with a complete reinvention of the Tambour under the direction of Louis Vuitton’s 23-year-old watch director Jean Arnault and its Le Fabrique du Temps manufacture.

For the past 20 years the maison has developed its mechanical watchmaking at every level with the core Tambour models sitting alongside haute horlogerie pieces like the innovative Spin Time and spellbinding automatons. But now things are taking a different direction with a fresh generation of Tambour timepieces spearheading a whole new business strategy.

Not only is the new Tambour Louis Vuitton’s biggest watch launch in two decades, it also signifies a redefined philosophy for the brand’s watchmaking business as a whole. In the past, LV’s watch schedule was expected to match that of the rest of the brand with launches and updates every six months or so.

“But we know that making a watch takes longer than a fashion item,” says Mr Arnault. “So, to fit into that timeframe sometimes involved corners being cut. Now we have decided to focus on true watchmaking and reposition Louis Vuitton. No more corners will be cut, in terms of finishing or movements… the full package will be thought through and all of our timepieces will be high watchmaking.”

The responsibility of redesigning the Tambour was huge – emblematic of the brand, it has remained more or less untouched since 2002. But once the decision was made to enter the luxury sports watch field, Mr Arnault knew that the watch had to be different to anything that came before. But at the same time, it needed to carry on the Tambour legacy.

“We are not the first and we won’t be the last,” he says on creating the new sports luxe piece. “But what’s important with this watch is that it will be our only model going forward. The rest of the collection will be withdrawn and this will be the only one. That’s why its name is simply Tambour – it represents the core of our watchmaking and has been rebuilt for the future.”

The first thing to be rethought was the case. While it was important to keep all the historical design cues that make the Tambour so recognisable, it needed to be adapted to fit contemporary tastes for thinner silhouettes.

The traditional Tambour has been significantly changed and redesigned to be soft, curved, and to create a very pleasant tactile feeling. Sleeker than many of its contemporaries in the sports chic category, the new case is a perfectly round 40mm. It wears smaller thanks to the absence of lugs – making it the perfect sized for men and women.

While previous models averaged 13mm, the new watch is just 8.1mm thick, and thanks to the curve of the case starting two-thirds of the way in, it feels closer to 5.5mm on the wrist. The 12 letters of Louis Vuitton on the case band are smaller and less noticeable than on previous models with Mr Arnault saying that it was important to keep them “but only as a secret signature for the wearer”.

Of particular importance was the bracelet that needed to be super-flexible. Decreasing in size over the first five links, each is slightly curved rather than straight and stepped. This increased production costs by 30% but to Mr Arnault’s mind greatly improved the fit into the case and the elegance on the wrist.

The dial is not as heavily branded or adorned with logos as in previous models. There is just a simple ‘Louis Vuitton Paris’ legend in a subtle font placed below 12 o’clock, which does little to distract from the deceptive simplicity of the multi-layered face that features five or six different finishes.

An outer chapter ring provides the minutes, while the hours are read off an inner ring, both featuring sandblasted finishes. Applied Arabic numerals and markers add an extra depth and are filled with Super-LumiNova, as are the tapered openworked hands. The vertically brushed dial centre adds another dimension, as does the snailed seconds subdial at 6 o’clock.

The first two models in the collection feature steel cases and bracelets with dials in silver-grey tones or deep blue hues.

The self-winding movement was jointly developed between Louis Vuitton and Le Cercle des Horlogers, the design and decoration coming from La Fabrique du Temps. The time-only calibre has a chronometer certification equal to that of COSC (-4/+6 seconds/day) awarded by the Geneva Chronometric Observatory, which is run by the TimeLab Foundation.

Finishes include sandblasted surfaces and polished chamfers while the barrel takes the form of an LV Monogram Flower. There is a unique guilloché pattern on the gold micro-rotor reperesenting a contemporary LV logo.

“We didn’t want the traditional Côtes de Genève and perlage,” says Mr Arnault. “We wanted to be contemporary but still timeless. Finishing of the hidden parts needed to be as perfect as on the visible components, which is why it took years to develop. We knew if we entered this market, we had to do it right.”

Emphasising the special nature of the watch, its box is a miniature Louis Vuitton trunk. The watch is priced at €19,500. The first two models are available to pre-order now and first deliveries are expected in September 2023.

WATCH FACES AT THE LOUIS VUITTON TAMBOUR LAUNCH IN PARIS