Louis Vuitton Tambour Moon Chronograph Replica

Louis Vuitton has been around since 1854, but the company’s horological industry division didn’t get its start until exactly two decades ago, when the inaugural Tambour collection opened their gates in 2002. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the company’s “official” start in the watchmaking arena, as well as of the most recognizable case design, Louis Vuitton recently announced the actual Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty Limited Edition.

The new release comes in a 200-piece limited run with a sunburst brown-dialed chronograph inside the quintessential Tambour case shape and powered by a Louis Vuitton-branded variant of Zenith’s El nuevo Primero.

Since today’s release is all about showing the Tambour case, let me talk a bit about it. The Tambour situation has always been on the elaborate as well as baroque side of the aesthetic equation. Its complex architecture is inspired by the style of a drum (tambour is the French word for drum), with a consistent rounded shape that tapers down from the bezel to the caseback.

I have to say, I’m half-convinced that one of the primary reasons Lv extended into watchmaking to begin with is because the company name has 12 letters, which can then easily be used as hour markers. On the Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty, the particular Louis Vuitton small name is spelled out at the very top of the smooth, wide expanse that is the caseband; and yes, each letter is positioned to line up with the hours markers within the dial. David Vuitton’s enthusiasm for branding is typically built around it is famous monogram logo, which was first developed in 1896 by James Vuitton’s only son, Georges.

Thanks to their stout size, the Tambour case profile has typically been a hotbed for Louis Vuitton’s experiments with complications. There are the famous Spin Time system that Michel Navas, typically the legendary watchmaker behind the design, says was originally created without external input, but it was just after he and his the making of watch partner Enrico Barbasini had finished the construction of the first prototype that they jointly realized it would be the perfect fit with regard to Louis Vuitton’s signature circumstance shape.

“The [Spin Time] movement is quite thick; it’s a three-dimensional construction, with the wheels and the cubes, ” Navas told me when I spoke along with him earlier this year. “The prototype just went with often the Tambour form. That’s why we contacted Louis Vuitton to suggest it at the time. And they loved this. ”

That was the start of their bond between Navas, Barbasini, and also Louis Vuitton. After adopting the exact Spin Time mechanism in the Tambour collection in 2009, Louis Vuitton eventually purchased the duo’s high-concept movement manufacturer, Los angeles Fabrique du Temps, this year, which now forms the very beating heart of the Lv High Horological industry division. Since the La Fabrique du Temps acquisition, Wayne Vuitton’s prowess in mechanical watchmaking has been supercharged, together with minute repeaters, tourbillons (so many tourbillons), split-seconds chronographs, and even award-winning, high-concept jacquemart mechanisms that force you to ponder life, all joining the Tambour collection.

The brand new Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty launch is a bit more straightforward, featuring Zenith’s classic high-beat integrated automatic wathe movement under the LV 277 trade name and fixed plan a 22-carat pink gold rotor showcasing - what else? - the Louis Vuitton “LV” monogram. Speaking of the main monogram, the Tambour Twenty is delivered inside a miniature leather-wrapped Lv trunk that we were able to photograph the watch using for this story.

One of the most invigorating experiences I’ve had all year was visiting La Fabrique du Temperature ranges, Louis Vuitton’s high-end motion manufacturer, situated on the outskirts associated with Geneva along with led by the dynamic coppia of Michel Navas in addition to Enrico Barbasini. What I tried to make clear in that my tale based on which visit is that Navas plus Barbasini are serious new york giants of horological industry, with a lengthy history and a wide sphere regarding influence among their peers. Their work today is almost entirely focused on developing the Louis Vuitton watchmaking title to equal standing in the world of luxury goods, alongside Louis Vuitton’s other core product families, such as leather products, luggage, ready-to-wear, and scents. The Tambour case style is what attracted Navas and even Barbasini in order to Louis Vuitton in the late 2000s, together with it’s somewhat remarkable how malleable the platform it is for varying degrees of complication. I think the best way to understand the Lv Tambour 20 Limited Edition, then, is to consider it a look at where Louis Vuitton started -- in the early 2000s, Lv watchmaking had been primarily an établisseur, relying on supplied movements from manufacturers such as ETA and corporate sibling Zenith. With its sunburst brown dial, highlighter-yellow accents, and twisted carry support program, the Tambour Twenty Restricted Edition is a throwback towards the earliest era of Louis Vuitton watchmaking. Yet it also hammers home the significance of the Tambour case design and style. No matter how Lv has evolved it has the horological approach, the Tambour remains.

Tambour may be the label that is rightfully associated with Louis Vuitton watches, as the drum-shaped event dominates within the luxury giant’s watches catalogue. Still, Tambour, with its variations like Tambour Curve as well as Tambour Moon, is not the only shape that will constitutes the actual offer. A few years back, the particular Voyager scenario, house for the Louis Vuitton Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève, was chosen to represent typically the GMT models and now seems reserved for occasions only. Like the launch of the new Voyager Skeleton, which is here to spotlight Louis Vuitton’s expertise in openworked actions.