| WATCH YOUR TIME
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F O C U S
Louis Vuitton opened 2025 on a roll, build-
ing on a growing reputation for creative
watchmaking and bold designs. However,
there are broader ambitions playing out
at the brand with refinement being the
watch word.
Following up on the 2023 launch of the 2nd genera-
tion Tambour – in its simple form, as desirable a dress
watch as any on the market – Louis Vuitton have given
the Tambour fresh expressions.
Back in 2023, the Twenty model was change enough
for the time being: Tambour ‘2’ is the definition of refine-
ment. More elegant than ever, every facet of the design
boasted clever technical and aesthetic upgrades. The
‘base’ model now features an artfully curved unisex case,
a remarkably tactile integrated bracelet and a chronom-
eter-certified automatic movement developed for Louis
Vuitton by Cercle des Horlogers, with every detail fin-
ished to the most exacting Haute Horlogerie standards.
And earlier this year we saw the Tambour collection
expanded with new expressions of the smart, creative
style that’s so characteristic of Louis Vuitton watch-
making.
The dressiest of the three new watches is the Tambour
Ceramic, which comes arrayed in a warm, chocolatey
brown inspired by the Damier canvas of the brand’s
emblematic travel trunks. In ceramic-making, creat-
ing a new colour involves a complex high temperature,
alchemy, a process that is empirical in nature. So, achiev-
ing a colour so closely tied to the brand’s identity was as
long and as painstaking a job as you might expect. Then
recall that ceramic’s toughness makes it extremely hard
to work with. Here, to get the result desired result, Louis
Vuitton chose not to follow the normal injection mould-
ing route in favour of double machining raw ceramic
blocks: once before firing, when the parts shrink and take
on their final colour, and again afterwards to achieve the
precise form required. Following meticulous hand-fin-
ishing, the ceramic parts are mounted over an internal
case and bracelet structure in rose gold. And despite
the material layering, the Tambour Ceramic retains the
original’s exact dimensions.
Everything in-house
On the movement side, Louis Vuitton introduces a
second-generation Spin Time — the patented compli-
cation originally developed by La Fabrique du Temps,
before its integration into the Maison in 2011. Launched
in 2009, these ‘jumping hour’ movements, where the
hours are shown on rotating cubes, have seen multi-
ple iterations through to 2022. Now they return with
a refined, newly patented mechanism, inside move-
ments entirely conceived and built by La Fabrique du
Temps Louis Vuitton. They power the first models of
the Tambour Taiko collection, named after the famous
Japanese ceremonial drums who’s shaped inspired the
Tambour.
Naturally, the in-house cases from La Fabrique des
Boîtiers are thicker than standard Tambours, though
the extra bulk is well disguised thanks to a curved case-
back profile that creates a sleeker silhouette when paired
with the two part lugs that ensure the watch sits per-
fectly on the wrist. As for the signature cubes, they’ve
been redesigned with gently domed and cushion-shaped
faces, a subtle update that enhances the play of light
over their surfaces.
The 2025 Tambour Taiko Spin Time collection
includes six white gold limited editions in tones of grey
and blue, accented with exquisite finishes and, in some
cases, diamonds. The Spin Time display plays out across
rotating cubes either set into the centre of the dial or sus-
pended around its rim. These highlight hour numerals
— or, in some cases, letters from “LOUIS VUITTON”. The
Tambour Taiko Spin Time Air Antipode, a traveller’s watch,
takes things further: for the first time, the cubes show
world time. Each cube is doubled to display two cities
on opposite sides of the globe, rotating to indicate day or
night. All 24 time zones are shown at once — across just
12 hours. Spectacle and practicality, perfectly balanced.
Perfect harmony
And Louis Vuitton watchmaking is developing fast
with the peerless La Fabrique du Temps joined by
in-house-house casemakers, La Fabrique des Boîtiers
and La Fabrique des Arts, in which is concentrated
expertise in decorative techniques. The collaboration
between the three finds perfect expression in the two
Tambour Convergence models. Vintage-style montre à
guichet (window watches), they take their design cues
from the Vuitton family home in Asniéres to the west
of Paris and case fronts make the perfect canvas for
Métiers d’Art magic, as with the platinum version snow-
set with diamonds or shimmering restraint, as with the
rose gold watch.
The future’s clear, the future’s bright. ■ Marie Le Berre
1. LOUIS VUITTON Tambour Ceramic. Fully clad in ceramic, the
40 mm Tambour Ceramic comes in the brand’s signature trunk
brown tone. The matching dial displays the time with COSC-cer-
tified chronometer precision, thanks to the proprietary automatic
Calibre LFT023, a movement developed in-house with bespoke
finishing, visible through a sapphire caseback.
2. LOUIS VUITTON Tambour Taiko Spin Time Air Antipode.
Part of the new Tambour Taiko line, the Spin Time Air Antipode
in 42.5 mm white gold is Louis Vuitton’s first world time watch to
feature its emblematic cube-based Spin Time display. It’s pow-
ered by the proprietary automatic Calibre LFT ST12.01.
Drumroll!
MICHEL NAVAS | MASTER WATCHMAKER, CO-FOUNDER OF LA FABRIQUE DU TEMPS