The Louis Vuitton Tambour Celebrates 20 Years with the Tambour Twenty
A journey through time.
When Louis Vuitton debuted the Tambour in 2002, the French maison established itself as a watchmaker to watch. At the horological workshops in La Chaux-de-Fonds, a town with a proud watchmaking history located not too far from the French village where Mr. Louis Vuitton was born in 1821, is where the first Tambour took shape. Its name, drum in French, is a reference to the shape and case housing the Zenith El Primero movement.
Over the years, the Tambour has seen various expressions: 2009’s Tambour Spin Time featured rotating cubes instead of watch hands and indexes; the Tambour eVolution launched in 2014 with either a self-winding GMT or GMT chronograph calibre; and the Tambour Slim, a Tourbillon version in 2016. Then in 2020, the company released the Tambour Curve Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève, a futuristic Tambour iteration designed and manufactured at Fabrique du Temps, a Geneva-based horology specialist founded by Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini and later acquired by Louis Vuitton. As Louis Vuitton has been a long-time sponsor America’s Cup, the Tambour collection includes several models dedicated to the nautical world: the Tambour Louis Vuitton Cup Regatta, a split-seconds self-winding chronograph with a regatta countdown; the Tambour Regatta Navy, and the Louis Vuitton Automatic Countdown.
In celebration of 20 years, the Tambour Twenty reprises the codes that have made the Tambour an icon. This collector’s edition of only 200 models is water-resistant to 100 metres and keeps time with the LV277 movement based on the legendary Zenith El Primero. The chronograph’s yellow hands and brown sun-brushed dial are a nod to the thread historically used in Louis Vuitton’s leatherwork. The Tambour Twenty comes with a miniature trunk in monogram canvas. “As well as celebrating our anniversary, this watch also paves the way for many future decades of fine watchmaking, staying true to Louis Vuitton’s values of creativity, craftsmanship, and excellence,” says Jean Arnault, marketing and development director for Louis Vuitton watches.
Images courtesy of Laziz Hamani.
