In 2002, Louis Vuitton launched their first watch – the Tambour marked the trunkmaker’s entry into the watchmaking space, with the timepiece being produced in La Chaux-de-Fonds. By associating their name with millenary craftsmanship, Louis Vuitton anchored itself even more in a quest for tradition; it wouldn’t take much more to make the first Tambour a watchmaking icon. The distinctive shape of a drum (“tambour” in French) inspired the name – the ambition was to conceive and develop a movement with the drum as the case and signature. “The Tambour watch is a timepiece, it protects time with its massive presence, but also with its iconic dimension,” declared Hamdi Chatti, Louis Vuitton’s Vice President of Watches and Jewelry.
With the Tambour, Louis Vuitton’s mission is to establish new complications tied to the travel universe. Several trademarks were obtained, most notably an unheard of ease of reading that makes all movement invisible to the eye. This technical masterpiece is composed of 115 parts. Since 2002, the Tambour has integrated all the label’s values into its own aesthetics: the twelve letters Louis Vuitton are engraved on the case across from each hour; the dial’s brown or the second hand’s yellow also recall LV-labeled bags.
Now in 2017, the brand is introducing a brand new version of its watchmaking icon: the new Tambour Slim Chapman watch. Imagined in collaboration with the Chapman brothers, the style looks like a coin engraved with the artists’ iconic elephant motif on the dial. This steel 39 mm timepiece also has a quartz calibre, all plunged into a mysterious allure that joyfully mixes perfection and Louis Vuitton’s own savoir-faire. These British artists fashioned the silver dial as a coin in relief that’s entirely hand-polished. To heighten the sophistication of the new Tambour Slim Chapman, Louis Vuitton included a Monogram canvas Savane Ink bracelet, the brand’s new signature that’s present on a number of Spring/Summer 2017. This is a must-have in the making!
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