Have Watch, Will Travel

Louis Vuitton is not missing a beat when it comes to attracting a new generation of globetrotting consumers who value practicality and style. Enter the new Tambour Horizon Light Up

- Jonathan Ho

Over the last three decades, the watch industry has seen momentous changes in aesthetics, trends and directions. Mechanical watches have grown in size, become more outlandish in terms of mechanical complications, or attempted different colours and unusual case shapes. We even saw tourbillons enter a sort of horological arms race, twirling in one, twos, threes and even fours like some weird commentary on the shaving industry (I’m looking at you Gillette). There was also a touch of madness and equally mad prices, anything could be made and every whim catered to for the right price. Then things changed.

The industry entered a period of self-reflection, watches stopped becoming exemplars of aesthetic pompousness. Stylistic arrogance became passé. Collectors started to embrace vintage and neo-vintage references, giving rise to independent micro-brands and kickstarter watchmakers to cater to the trend that caught most of the established watch industry flat-footed. Minimalism came back in vogue, case sizes are shrinking once again, dials are reverting to the classical codes, and some watches are providing tremendous bang for buck.

In that time since, one smartwatch has come of age.

The Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Light Up is the French Maison’s third-generation connected watch. Yes, time will tell if smartwatches will follow in a similar evolutionary path of iterative changes like their mechanical brethren, but enough time has passed since its first-generation Tambour Horizon that proves Louis Vuitton’s voyage into the innovative world of creative connected watches continues to evolve in refinement and sophistication.