The Drumbeat of Innovation: The Latest Tambour Collection from Louis Vuitton Steals the Show at LVMH Watch Week 2025

The sixth edition of LVMH Watch Week has just commenced in New York. Originally scheduled for Los Angeles, the prestigious watch event has been relocated to The Big Apple because of the West Coast's devastating wildfires. There will be a European leg in Paris as well. 

This year's exhibition is especially important because three new brands, namely Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., and L'Epée 1839, will participate in the event, along with Bvlgari, Hublot, TAG Heuer, Zenith, Daniel Roth, and Gérald Genta. If we look at Louis Vuitton, the Maison seems to have once again ushered in a mini revolution in luxury watchmaking with the introduction of three new timepieces ― Tambour Convergence in pink gold (Ref.  W9PG11) and platinum (Ref. W9PT11), and Tambour Taiko Spin Time Antipode (Ref. W9WG62) in white gold.

The Louis Vuitton Tambour series was launched in 2002, marking the premium brand's daring foray into the realm of high-end watchmaking. "Tambour" (which means “drum” in French) refers to the model’s unique case form, inspired by the profile of a traditional drum. The references in this series combine Swiss watchmaking expertise with Louis Vuitton's characteristic design components. Over the years, the collection has grown to incorporate a variety of complications.

Needless to say, the newly launched LV Tambour variants carry the legacy forward. GMT India examines what makes these timepieces, which have made their debut at the ongoing LVMH Watch Week, truly ground-breaking.

Louis Vuitton Tambour Convergence

There are two new Convergence clocks in this collection ― Ref.  W9PG11 and Ref. W9PT11. Each piece is housed in a 37 mm casing with a matching crown and lugs. The timepieces have cambered sides that taper to an inflexion point. The Tambour Convergence variants also feature revised lugs that distinguish them from their counterparts in the current Tambour series. Their upper surfaces are hand-polished while the lateral external surfaces are hollowed and micro-sandblasted. The polished crown echoes the shape of the case, and is subtly fluted for ease of winding and setting. 

The platinum model's hour and minute discs are in brushed silver, featuring transferred blue numerals. The plate, which serves as the  decorative focal point of each watch, framing the time display, is set with 795 diamonds using a method known as snow-setting, wherein stones of various sizes are put in their positions so precisely and minutely that their settings are indistinguishable. In fact, Tambour Convergence in platinum uses stones in seven sizes. Its  dial has hand satin-brushed brass discs with rhodium-plated galvanic treatment.

The pink/rose gold model will develop a patina. It has an 18 ct pink gold, hand-polished case while the lugs are polished by hand on the outside and sandblasted on the inside; these are further accompanied by satin-finished case-sides and a polished crown. Both timepieces are powered by Caliber LFT MA01.01, a self-winding movement with a 45-hour power reserve. Turning each watch showcases the open caseback with an 18 ct pink gold oscillating weight. The rose/pink gold model is finished on a VVT camel calf leather, accentuated by a beige calf leather lining with an 18 ct pink gold pin buckle, sporting the LOUIS VUITTON engraved signature. The platinum model gets a blue calf leather and black calf leather lining, and a platinum pin buckle with the LOUIS VUITTON engraved signature.

Louis Vuitton Tambour Taiko Spin Time Antipode

This 39.5 mm timepiece comes with an 18 ct satin-brushed white gold case and a polished bezel; the lugs are set with 68 baguette-cut diamonds. Essentially, it pays tribute to Japanese artistry with a bold, rhythmic design, inspired by traditional Taiko drums.

The jumping hours display was devised by La Fabrique du Temps founders Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini, who were inspired by the flap displays of airports and train stations. The dolphin grey dial has cubes finished in the same colour, except for the cube indicating the current hour that displays a face in light grey. Each detail is finished with varied techniques, ranging from sunburst to hawk’s eye. 

The mirrored surfaces are polished by hand with a beechwood wheel covered in a diamond paste while the hollows are frosted with a laser; the same process is also used to frost the bezel's recessed channel without marring the polished relief characters. The Spin Time cube's modest reprofiling intensifies the play of light off its surfaces; it is finished with a mirror-polished nail on top. Tambour Taiko Spin Time has been developed with meticulous attention to detail and the cubes have been reworked accordingly.

The upgraded complication operates on the same principle: the instantaneous jump of two cubes simultaneously when the prior hour disappears and the current hour appears. The timepiece maker has also created a patented Maltese cross gear for each cube. The gear features teeth on the inner edge and is part of a system that allows for easy time-setting. The jumping hour display may be adjusted both backwards and forwards without causing movement damage, which is a significant improvement over the usual forward-only setting.

The Tambour Taiko Spin Time Air Antipode variant stands out for its novel worldtime display, which blends a unique leaping hours mechanism with a world-first travel time feature. The Antipode complication, created by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, displays time in 24 time zones and day/night in an easy-to-understand format. The minutes are shown by a traditional hand while the hours are represented by a yellow arrowhead pointer, inspired by the stitching on Louis Vuitton leather goods. The pointer is positioned on a revolving disc with a global map, a visual allusion to the Antipode world time complication. The minute hand and yellow hour pointer indicate local time while the 12 Spin Time cubes encircling the worldmap disc display world time. The hour numeral next to each cube represents the time in the two cities on the cube. The Antipode's unique design with two cities on each cube distinguishes it from typical world time mechanisms. The unique technology hides a user-friendly interface that allows for quick tracking of multiple time zones. Each city's background hue indicates whether it is day or night.

To elaborate, the 12 cubes reflect the world's 24 time zones. Each cube's city pairs are separated by exactly 12 time zones. For example, Los Angeles and Dubai are 12 hours away. The two cities share the same cube since midnight in Los Angeles corresponds to midday in Dubai. Therefore, the model has been named "Antipode" as it is inspired by the display of opposite time zones, a unique feature in watchmaking. Powering this watch are Calibre LFT ST13.01 (has a closed caseback) and Calibre LFT ST05.01 (has an open caseback). These are self-winding movements, each with a 45-hour power reserve. 

Calibre LFT ST05.01 has a flying tourbillon in the centre of the dial, making one revolution each minute, thereby creating a captivating effect. The tourbillon cage, shaped like a Monogram flower, is made of steel with hand-finished surfaces. The tourbillon assembly's steel lower plate is highly polished, creating a mirror effect that showcases the underside of the components. The hawk’s eye variant gets a dolphin grey rubber strap with an 18 ct white gold pin buckle, set with 14 baguette-cut diamonds. The sunray dial watch is finished on a beige calf leather with an 18 ct white gold pin buckle.