Telling time the Louis Vuitton way

FOR ONE SEEKING TO FUSE time with the art of travel, Louis Vuitton has come a long way in its 20-year journey of watchmaking - although 2 decades is a short time in an industry that's been producing timepieces for over 400 years.

Since the launch of its first Tambour watch in 2002, the brand has built on its expertise in tradition and innovation to create timepieces of daring creative design and powered by complex movements. The heart of this mastery is La Fabrique du Temps, a factory near Geneva where Louis Vuitton has assembled its watchmaking trades and talents - led by master watchmakers Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini.

Watches produced in the factory achieved a new standard of excellence when they earned the Poincon de Geneve certification in 2016. But the true recognition La Fabrique du Temps sought came only last year when, in the middle of the pandemic lockdown, it was awarded two watch prizes equivalent to Hollywood's Oscars. They were the Grand Prix de l'Horlogerie de Genève de l'Audace for the Tambour Carpe Diem, a 21st century jacquemart timepiece, and the Diver's Watch Prize awarded to the Tambour Street Diver Skyline Blue.

CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY

Louis Vuitton has not rested on its laurels. The latest timepiece to roll out of La Fabrique du Temps is the Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum, which applies cutting-edge technology to elevate traditional high watchmaking.

In the first Spin Time watch unveiled in 2009, the familiar display of the hours of the jumping hour complication was transformed into a three-dimensional dance. Now 13 years later, the kinetic performance of the Spin Time is further transfigured with the hours displayed on cubes that light up on demand, adding a fourth dimension to the signature complication.

The timepiece, which is framed in a 42.5mm wide titanium case, is the product of fine watchmaking, but the fundamental tenets of the latter have been audaciously reimagined with a layer of micro-electronics added to a highly complicated movement to form a single unit that captures time and emits light.

"After 12 years of refining our patented Spin Time, we ventured towards unprecedented technical challenges," says Jean Arnault, Director of Marketing and Development, Louis Vuitton Watches. "The Tambour Spin Time Air Quantum is not only a formidable horological feat, it is a unique and disruptive complicated hybrid watch that combines the best of the mechanical and electronic worlds at the service of both legibility and design."

Two years in the making, the new Spin Time is inspired by the bioluminescence of deep-sea creatures. It seamlessly melds the art of watchmaking with the science of microelectronics, using 12 tiny light-emitting diodes (LED) that lit up the watch display from the inside.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

The Spin Time features a bold design that sets it apart from the earlier mechanical Spin Time. In totally matte black DLC, with contrasting vivid, luminous green and yellow - the trademark colours of Super-Luminova - the timepiece bears a metallic emblem on its sapphire back that transforms the Louis Vuitton Monogram into a circuit board.

Production of high-end Louis Vuitton watches like the Spin Time is fully consolidated at La Fabrique du Temps, thanks to its expertise in the assembly of movements and dial making. Master watchmakers Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini are constantly working with teams to conceptualise and realise extraordinary timepieces.

The technical process starts with research and development, where the team generates precise drawings that are 3D-modelled in hard wax. Once prototypes are validated, procurement of raw materials and pre-production can proceed. For the fine watchmaking pieces, watchmakers are responsible for their watch's entire assembly process - a process involving technical skills, precision handwork and patience.

Whether assembling a dial, hand finishing components or testing the mechanism, they execute all steps with a mastery that is in turns instinctive, learned and gained over time. All watches are regulated for maximum accuracy before leaving the workshops.

PERSONALISED PROCESS

Another recent timepiece that went through this personalised process is the Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours, which is hand-decorated with a range of precious metals. Its main feature is the enigmatic Vivienne, the Louis Vuitton mascot. The hour display on the new watch alternates from one of her hands to the other while a magical talisman floats around the playful, charming and elusive little personage, the minute indicated by its position.

The new Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours comes in three exquisitely decked out models, in 3mm wide cases of white, pink and yellow gold with a precious rose-cut diamond on the crown. In the pink-gold watch, Vivienne appears in the guise of a fortune teller set against a dial of dark blue aventurine that's reminiscent of a night sky studded with countless constellations.

The yellow gold model casts the mascot in the role of a casino croupier, with a dial of skarn which is a mineral rarely seen in watchmaking decorative arts; it alludes to the green of the casino table. And finally, the white gold timepiece has a mother-of-pearl dial in shimmering iridescence - just the backdrop needed for the fantastical appearance of Vivienne in a circus performer's dress.

INNOVATIVE MOVEMENT

Each model is brought to life by an innovative movement conceived and made entirely in the specialist movement workshop in La Fabrique du Temps.

On the dial, two openings located near Vivienne's hands serve as alternating indications of the hours. Every 60 minutes, the numeral indicating the hour moves instantaneously, switching positions between the two apertures. The opening that framed the previous hour is at the same time filled with an arcane symbol matching the watch's theme. It's the first time in modern horology that an alternating jumping hour is used in a wristwatch.

A slim, nearly invisible wand extending from Vivienne's heart makes a full rotation around the dial hourly. Tipped with a tarot card (fortune), a playing card (casino) or a Louis Vuitton Monogram Flower juggling ball (circus), the wand maintains the illusion of Vivienne's magical world, while still providing a visual cue for reading the minutes.