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Bang the Drum 

Louis Vuitton upgrades Tambour with a new in-house movement, a sleeker case and an integrated bracelet. 

In the twenty-plus years since Louis Vuitton debuted its first Tambour watches, the global fashion house has achieved a goal that still eludes many much older watchmakers: to create a case shape and watch than can be easily recognized while on a wrist across the room. 

Louis Vuitton has carefully tailored Tambour’s drum-shaped case while also applying technical and aesthetic updates. The collection’s success has eased the French couture house’s entry into high-end watchmaking, steering Louis Vuitton into position as a peer among the world’s leading makers of high-end watches.

The new Louis Vuitton Tambour, here in its debut steel case and bracelet.

This year, Louis Vuitton updates Tambour with new finishes and a decidedly slimmer, sculpted case. The new collection is more luxurious overall and notably highlights an all-new in-house movement and a sleek integrated steel bracelet.

Two new models 

Two new steel watches launch the collection’s upgrade. One is a chic monochrome model with a silver grey dial and the second one sports a deep blue dial. Both are built to highlight the new unisex 40mm by 8.3mm case, its new caliber LFT023 and the new bracelet. A rose gold model and a two-tone gold and steel edition are also now available.

The 22 karat gold microrotor helps provide fifty hours of power reserve.

The movement here is Louis Vuitton’s first proprietary automatic three-hand movement. It has been designed by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton in conjunction with movement specialists Le Cercle des Horlogers.

With its 22-karat gold micro-rotor, stylized Louis Vuitton decor, micro-sandblasted bridges, polished edges and chamfers, the new caliber announces a new era of three-hand movements for Tambour, which has previously utilized modified ETA-based and Zenith-El Primero-based calibers, as well as quartz movements for certain models.

Boasting a strong fifty-hour power reserve, the new movement is chronometer certified, with timekeeping accuracy of between -4s and +6s per day. The certification, from the Geneva Chronometric Observatory under the auspices of the TIMELAB Foundation, ensures that the movement complies with ISO 3159 a serious level of accuracy that befits this new higher-end Tambour series.

“With this launch, we seek to open a new chapter in the history of the Maison’s watchmaking by creating a watch with strong horological credentials while identifiably Louis Vuitton in style”, adds Arnault.

The watches

Louis Vuitton has retained Tambour’s curves for these new designs, but has softened them with fluid edges and a curved back that gently hugs the wrist. The sloped, sandblast-finish bezel here is thinner than on existing Tambour models, but still retains the twelve Louis Vuitton namesake letters at each hour mark.

Louis Vuitton has taken great care to bring comfort to its premiere integrated steel bracelet. The bracelet, particularly novel for Tambour, offers no hint of even the small lugs we’ve seen previously within Tambour. Its clean integration into the case echoes the almost sporty look you’ve likely already seen in other well-known, high-end integrated steel watches.

A closer look at the bracelet reveals links that are convex on both sides to create a rounded profile, which guarantees smooth contact with the wrist. The folks at Louis Vuitton, a company built on fine leather products, remind us that this new bracelet, while all steel, offers “slim, curved links providing a close and comfortable fit on the wrist to rival the softest leather strap.”

Louis Vuitton has brush-finished the new Tambour case and bracelet—with a few exceptions. These include the polished bracelet chamfers and central links and the polished, drum-shaped crown.

The dial

Tambour’s new, three-dimensional dial features micro-sandblasted surfaces, gold indexes and a clean layout despite the seconds sub-dial. The markers are nicely separated as are the minute ring and the hour ring, all of which enhances the sense of balance on the dial.

Louis Vuitton revels in the details here. The watchmaker has paired recessed five-minute markers with raised, applied hour markers. The company explains that this difference in the height level of the markers allows for quick reading, since the light interacts variably between them. All numerals and hands are filled with Super-LumiNova. 

Price: $18,500. The collection also includes a rose gold edition, price at $52,000, and a two-tone model price at $26,500.

 

Specifications: 

Louis Vuitton Tambour, silver dial (W1ST10)

Case: 40mm by 8.3mm stainless steel, sapphire crystal and back.Water-resistant to 50 meters.

Dial: Grey/silver with small seconds counter at 6 o’clock; white gold hands, numerals and indexes, with SuperLumiNova coating on the hands and numerals.

Movement: Automatic caliber LFT023, visible through the sapphire caseback, 22-karat rose gold micro-rotor, 50 hours of power reserve, 28,800 vph, certified chronometer by the Geneva Chronometric Observatory.

Bracelet: Stainless steel with invisible 3-blade folding buckle.

Price: $18,500. 

 

Louis Vuitton Tambour, blue dial (W1ST20)

Case: 40mm by 8.3mm stainless steel, sapphire crystal and back.Water-resistant to 50 meters.

Dial: Blue with small seconds counter at 6 o’clock; white gold hands, numerals and indexes, with SuperLumiNova coating on the hands and numerals.

Movement: Automatic caliber LFT023, visible through the sapphire caseback, 22-karat rose gold micro-rotor, 50 hours of power reserve, 28,800 vph, certified chronometer by the Geneva Chronometric Observatory.

Bracelet: Stainless steel with invisible 3-blade folding buckle.

Price: $18,500. 

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The Watches

Briston Squares the Circle with Clubmaster 

 

By Gary Girdvainis 

It will come as no surprise to any fashionista that the retro-chic design of the Briston Clubmaster is a child of a Franco-Italian collaboration – in this case with a bit of Brit influence mixed in for good measure.

The Briston Clubmaster Sport

Crafted in cellulose acetate supplied by the sixth-generation-owned Italian manufacturer Mazzucchelli 1849, the watch has Briston making a case for a watch case in the form of a “squircle”. What’s a squircle you say? It’s actually a portmanteau of “square” and “circle” and really best describes the softened corners and flowing lines of this Briston case out of round.

Emulating the style of both luxury eyewear and fine writing instruments originally crafted in tortoise shell (a misnomer as most often sea turtle shell was used), the main body of the Briston Clubmaster case is sensually smooth and soft to the touch, hypo-allergenic, and even recyclable.

Variegated patterns evoke the tortoise-shell effect of its biological predecessor, and like natural shell, the man-made acetate versions will vary with no two cases being exactly alike. Unlike the original shell, the cellulose acetate can be brought to life in an amazing array of colors beyond the amber and cognacs of the original – including solid tone colors crafted in the same material.

In our Ice Blue Briston Clubmaster sample, the steel lugs spaced 20mm apart seamlessly emerge from the semi translucent case, while a threaded steel back and domed sapphire crystal protect the inner workings and lume-enhanced dial and hands.

Various colors are available in a 40mm x 40mm three-hand model as well as a 42mm x 42mm chronograph with day/night indicator at 3 o’clock. All are water resistant to 10atm and powered by Miyota quartz movements.

For smaller wrists there are also options in 36mm and 24mm in a variety of cool case colors and matching dials. 

Lightweight and stylish, Briston watches are an easy purchase with prices ranging from $195 to $440 at www.briston-watches.com 

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American Brands

Roland Murphy To Speak at HSNY

Watchmaker and RGM founder Roland Murphy will headline the November Horological Society of New York (HSNY) lecture at the organization’s New York headquarters on Nov. 6. with his discussion “Inside the James Arthur Collection: A Patek Philippe Grand Complication.”

The Pennsylvania-based Murphy was asked in the mid-1990s by the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) Museum to repair a Patek Philippe Grand Complication — an important timepiece in the James Arthur collection. The Association at the time was making a video and needed the repeater mechanism inside the watch to function. Additionally, photographs were taken during the repair and restoration process to give a glimpse inside the extremely rare and complicated watch.

Roland G. Murphy

Earlier this year, the 35mm negatives were shared for the first time, and during his lecture Murphy will share the scans and his experience of repairing one of the most important watches in horological history.

The lecture is free of charge (RSVP required) and takes place at the HSNY headquarters at the General Society Library, 20 West 44th Street in New York City. Click here for details and to RSVP. 

Doors open at 6 p,m. with the lecture set to begin at 7 p.m.

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The Watches

Citizen Summons Neptune to Attesa GPS Series 

Citizen adds a gold-and-blue-hued limited-edition light-powered Satellite-Wave GPS watch to its high-end Attesa collection. The new Attesa Power of Neptune features a dial design inspired by the icy blue surface of its namesake planet Neptune, named of course for the Roman god of the sea.

The new Citizen Attesa Power of Neptune.

Boasting a dark blue sapphire glass bezel to match the dial, the watch also enhances its luxury appeal with Duratect Gold on its side and on its dial, where city names are printed in the same gold color. 

Citizen reports that the surface of the bezel is particularly clear thanks to the use of physical vapor deposition, which provides a more defined color than traditional printing techniques. You’ll also find yellow gold color accents on the indexes and hands.

Citizen extends the luxury to the bracelet and the 44.6 mm by 15.4 mm case, both of which are made using Duratect Platinum, which provides a silvery hue.  On the back Citizen underscores the limited-edition nature of the watch (which will be limited to 1,900 pieces worldwide) with an embossed case back featuring a trident symbol amid the swirling sea currents.

Citizen fits its top-of-the-line F950 movement into the watch. The F950 will receive time-only signals in as little as three seconds, after which the hour and minute hands move rapidly to display the correct time.

Price: $2,395.

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The Watches

Video: Zenith and Aaron Rodgers Team for New Chronomaster Sport 

 

By Gary Girdvainis 

Since it first launched, Zenith’s Chronomaster Sport has seen a variety of cases, dials, sizes and colors. Today, Zenith is releasing a collaboration on a new Chronomaster Sport with brand ambassador Aaron Rodgers, four-time NFL MVP and future football Hall of Fame quarterback.

The new Zenith Chronometer Sport developed with Aaron Rodgers.

Taking on the New York Jets team color, “Gotham” Green (pantone – PMS 7484 C), Zenith’s newest member of the Chronomaster Sport series keeps all the quality points and construction of its 41mm predecessors – this time in the affiliated garb of the brand’s favorite pigskin protagonist.

The El Primero Striking Tenth, which Zenith debuted in 2011, elevated the chronograph function to a logical zenith in human-actuated interval timekeeping. Zenith did this by taking the already high-speed El Primero movement beating at ten beats per second and adding a center chronograph seconds hand that moves along in 1/10th seconds intervals when actuated.

This finite timing, which breaks the second into tenths, is really at the very peak of human reaction time and represents both technical prowess and logical functionality. Of course there are mechanical watches that divide the second into hundredths, or even thousands, but when the best human reaction times to stimuli are at about .15 seconds, dividing the second into such small increments is more an example of technical achievement than actual useful functionality.

In addition to sporting the Gotham Green dial and bezel, this limited edition also has Aaron Rodgers’ logo engraved on the sapphire crystal back. Price: $12,800. 

See www.zenith-watches.com for more details. 

Here’s my take on the new watch:

 

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