Louis Vuitton's New Timekeeper

Louis Vuitton unveils the inner workings of its new 18-karat white gold timepiece, the Tambour Minute Repeater, a collaboration with Swiss master horologists La Fabrique du Temps. True to the brand's renown for handcrafted luxury travel accessories, Louis Vuitton’s Tambour employs complex mechanics to display one time while being able, upon request, to chime an alternative 'home' time. Hamdi Chatti, Louis Vuitton’s Vice President of Watch and Jewelry, explains: “No matter where you are, you always have two times. One of travel—often the one of business—and the one the watch guards for you. It’s romantic to think about ‘home time,’ because you’re always set to your own time and your own emotion.” As watches emerged from the shadow of pockets to perch, appreciated, upon wrists, so too did the beauty of their engineering. Dotted throughout with “infinity”-inspired figure eights, the Tambour’s transparent sapphire face and base reveal miniscule gears set with 34 jewels, including brilliant crimson rubies chosen for their ability to reduce friction on their axis. “Watchmakers used to hide the movements,” says Chatti. “We wanted the mechanism to be part of the beauty of the watch.”