BREAKING BARRIERS

THE NEW LOUIS VUITTON TAMBOUR IS EMBLEMATIC, EXEMPLARY YET SINGULARLY DISTINCTIVE IN THE COMPETITIVE REALM OF INTEGRATED BRACELET SPORT LUXURY TIMEPIECES

- JONATHAN HO

IF YOU COUNT the number of heritage watchmaking brands in the industry, the reality (and irony) is that Maisons older than 100 years aren’t exactly rare; thus when you consider that La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, at the ripe young age of 13 years old (25 if you want to be conservative), has re-conceived their flagship Louis Vuitton Tambour as an integrated steel sports watch to such great aplomb and in defiance of the genre’s ubiquitous stylistic choices – an exaggerated bezel, over-embellished dial and shaped angular midcase – the new Tambour stands apart from its peers: emblematic, exemplary yet singularly distinctive in the competitive realm of integrated bracelet sports luxury timepieces.

A New Dawn For Watchmaking

Since the beginning of time(pieces), watches have steadily progressed from round to square – tonneau followed not long after. And then in 1972, angular timepieces with octagonal bezels opened the eyes of watch-collecting cognoscenti that some rules of watchmaking were meant to be bent while others could be completely broken.

La Fabrique du Temps – literally “the time factory” – is an aptly poetic name for this exceptional manufacture, home to all the different métiers that contribute to Louis Vuitton watches. Louis Vuitton began making watches in 2002 with the Tambour and has since pursued an unceasing quest for excellence in an area.