Louis Vuitton launches a refreshed and enriched version of its iconic Tambour watch, with a host of refinements and qualities that will ensure the timepiece’s enduring appeal.
First launched in 2002, Louis Vuitton’s Tambour has held an enviable place in the luxury watch market ever since, with its characteristic drum-shaped case and bold look. Now the icon has been redesigned and introduced to audiences old and new as an emblematic expression for the here and now, as well as for the future.
Two years in the making, the reborn timepiece retains the celebrated Tambour profile but in a slimmer form that enhances its sculptural and fluid qualities. According to Jean Arnault, the Maison’s Watch Director, the new version embodies “an unprecedented level of sophistication, on each and every element of the new watch” and challenges the original aesthetic of the Tambour as much as its inner technologies. The overall depth of the watch has been reduced from 13 to 8.3 millimetres, whilst still retaining everything of the Tambour majesty, making for a remarkable feat of engineering and art combined.
The new and enriched Tambour has two steel versions, a crisp tone-on-tone model offering either a silver-grey dial (W1ST10) or one cast in deep blue (W1ST20). The sense of elegant and practical innovation is further enhanced by an integrated bracelet – a first for the Maison and offering peerless comfort and style around the wrist – and a superbly fashioned automatic movement designed by La Fabrique du Temps, Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking atelier in Geneva. Exquisite design permeates the whole piece, ensuring both visual impact and a sense of reassurance and ease on the part of the wearer. The beautifully crafted bracelet melds seamlessly into the case, placing the new Tambour in a league of its own as the only truly round watch with an integrated bracelet.
Flawless brushed finishes characterise the timepiece, except on the bracelet chamfers, central links and polished crown, with the sandblasted bezel emblazoned with the name of the Maison, each letter precisely aligned with an hour marker in a symphony of clarity and precision. As for the dial itself, the same supreme design-led craftsmanship is evident in an element that is only one millimeter thick yet which beguiles with its sense of three-dimensional depth. A split-level chapter ring, divided by a polished step, consists of an outer ring for the minuterie and an inner ring for the hours. The dial markers are designed to complement each other in terms of spatial balance, with the five-minute markers being recessed, while the hours are indicated with appliques. This difference in the height level of the markers allows for quick reading as the light interacts variably between them to heighten visibility. The indexes are in gold, diamond polished to amplify their interaction with light so that even in less than optimal conditions, the new Tambour remains fully legible. The evolution of the hands into a new, slimmer shape helps visually expand the dial, thereby creating a heightened sense of space and clarity.
In terms of the evolved Tambour’s movement, the new cal. LFT023 is the first proprietary automatic three-hand movement designed by Louis Vuitton in conjunction with movement specialists Le Cercle des Horlogers to fully embody the Maison’s visual codes, from the barrel cover with openworking reminiscent of a Monogram Flower to the micro-rotor decorated with a stylised LV in a repeating motif.
Especially rewarding for those who adore their practical but unerringly stylish jewellery is the ‘inflection point’ half-way along this exceptional watch. It allows the timepiece to sink into the wrist by two or three millimetres so that only a few millimetres protrude above the arm, making it feel entirely natural, as with the most artful item of comfortable clothing. An uncompromisingly contemporary timepiece that rests easily on the wrist, its contours and colours as reassuring as the inner machinery that ticks over in sync with the heart in our bodies. The new Tambour is indisputably another milestone for Louis Vuitton as it seeks “to open a new chapter in the history of the Maison’s watchmaking by creating a watch with strong horological credentials while identifiably Louis Vuitton in style,” concludes Jean Arnault.
