Louis Vuitton Colorful Ugly Sweater
Welcome to Dialed In, Esquire’s weekly column bringing you horological happenings and the most essential news from the watch world since March 2020.
Historically, fashion brands can, with the right marketing oomph, permeate to the farthest corners of the earth and penetrate every possible product segment. But while there have been a few notable successes, doing that in watchmaking has not always proven successful. The traditional (and frankly easy) option is to pitch designer-branded watches as entry-level pieces under license, pop in a quartz movement, and go for the volume. This often makes for a fun way to wear your favorite brands. Comparatively rare, however, are the fashion brands who choose to aim high. When you are competing for attention with acknowledged leaders who only make watches, that requires limitless dedication and unshakable conviction. And a great deal of moolah.
So, it was a bold move in 2002 when Louis Vuitton pitched into the watch market in a deliberate mission to make Louis Vuitton watchmaking an exclusively upmarket affair. The Tambour—a totally new case design inspired by the shape of a drum—was its opening gambit and it has had a remarkable run for such a unique design. Louis Vuitton’s plan involved establishing its own movement and assembly workshop in watchmaking mecca La Chaux de Fonds in 2002 in order to secure a suitable and consistent level of quality, and then stepping it up yet further to work, from 2007, with La Fabrique du Temps, a Geneva-based concern it eventually bought outright in 2011. Movement development, production, and also dial-making are now all under one roof at La Fabrique Du Temps Louis Vuitton.
This month, the brand celebrated two decades of Louis Vuitton watches with the Tambour Twenty, in a special edition run of just 200 pieces. It celebrated at the same time a new Louis Vuitton ambassador in Bradley Cooper, who appears in a short film directed by Damian Chazelle and accompanying stills by photographer Boo George.
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Aesthetically, the 41.5mm chronograph, which features an in-house Fabrique du Temps LV277 Automatic movement, reprises many of the hallmarks laid down by the Parisian house in the very first Tambour in 2002, from the distinctive flared steel case with signature Louis Vuitton lettering around it to the chocolate sunray dial and yellow accents. Of course, the blissful serendipity of the name Louis Vuitton having 12 letters has been played out not only around the case but on the dial, too, with multiple landmark pieces in high watchmaking and more recently in the Louis Vuitton connected watch, the Tambour Horizon. The latter, by the way, which lights up like a Christmas tree whenever you get a notification, is the first smart watch ever—in our considered opinion—to make it an actual joy to receive an email.
Tambour Twenty in steel, $17,800, by Louis Vuitton. Available at select Louis Vuitton stores.
You Might Also LikeAssouline and Louis Vuitton just released the first ever book about Virgil Abloh. The visionary African-American designer passed away last year on November 28, 2021 after a battle against cancer. This wonderful book opens with the words of Mickael Burke, Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, “so much about Virgil Abloh set him apart from other fashion designers.”
Louis Vuitton Virgil Abloh, two covers Classics Collection,
AssoulineLouis Vuitton: Virgil Abloh is the testament of a relationship that changed the course of fashion history. Virgil Abloh started as Men’s Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton in June 2018. It marked the starting point of the beginning of a luxury new era including inclusivity, diversity and empowerment. The book written by his close collaborator Anders Christian Madsen offers an intimate incursion in the life of a great man born to break boundaries, not only in fashion but also in art, design, architecture and music. “Virgil was not only a designer of genius, a visionary, he was also a man with a beautiful, sound and great wisdom.” Bernard Arnault.
“I realize my themes in my own image: young men of color, who, in the future, might be able to … [+] mirror themselves in the historical reflection of luxury as much as any white boy down the street.” — Virgil Abloh
Jean Baptiste MondinoHe knew he would change the history of fashion. When he entered Louis Vuitton, with no background and training in fashion, he already changed this history. A black creative outsider who became a breakthrough icon. “As a black man in a French luxury house, I am well aware of my responsibilities. Rather than preaching about it, I hope to lead by example and unlock the door for future generations. I believe in making my mark with poise, style and grace”.
The Louis Vuitton men’s temporary residency, Walk in the Park, previewed the men’s fall- winter 2021 … [+] collection in Soho, New York in June and July, 2021. The rainbow-hued neon arches were inspired by the Pont Neuf in Paris.
Louis Vuitton: Brad DicksonThe book is divided into eight chapters, one for each of the eight Louis Vuitton menswear collections and shows what Virgil created. The complete catalogue of the designer’s sneakers — Louis Vuitton: Virgil Abloh deep-dives readers into a singular, kite-flying, rainbow-colored world filled with rich cultural reference points and narratives, from The Wizard of Oz and James Baldwin to ‘90s hip-hop style and a mind-bending 1969 drum solo. 320 iconic images and personal quotes from his closest circle as Naomi Campbell, Luka Sabbat, Kendall Jenner, and more and his own quotes or as it is called “Abloh-isms”. From his first campaign for Louis Vuitton shot by Inez & Vinoodh which features a three-year-old girl dressed in a sample-sized Yellow Brick Road sweater from the spring-summer 2019 collection to his last posthume show presented in Miami on the last day of November 2021. We all have in mind this picture of the red hot-air ballon and the giant statue of Virgil, and one message floating in the sky of Miami at the finale of the spring-summer 2022: “Virgil was here”.
Drones spelled out “Virgil was here” at the finale of the spring-summer 2022 spin-off show in Miami … [+] staged two days after Virgil Abloh’s passing.
Courtesy of Louis VuittonTwo collectible covers of the book are offered. One taken from the Louis Vuitton’s spring-summer 2022 spin-off show in Miami with an image of a young child bounding towards a striking red Louis Vuitton hot air balloon and the other sports cartoon artwork by cultural artist Reggieknow, who illustrated the now cult characters for Virgil’s spring-summer 2021 show.
Louis Vuitton Virgil Abloh Ultimate Collection, publisher Assouline
AssoulineThe book is also available in an Ultimate Collection featuring a separate insert that serves as a compendium for every single sneaker Virgil designed for Louis Vuitton, including this year’s new Air Force 1s.
Virgil Abloh launches a paper plane on the rainbow-colored runway at his Louis Vuitton spring- … [+] summer 2019 show in the Palais-Royal garden. Paper planes became a symbol of the childlike approach Abloh wanted to inspire in his audiences.
Louis Vuitton Colorful Ugly Sweater
Bogdan “Chilldays” Plakov“There is no limit. Life is so short that you can’t waste time even one day subscribing to what someone thinks you can do versus knowing what you can do”. We should all remember this quote from genius Abloh who lost his life too young at the age of 41.At the turn of the millennium, Louis Vuitton was a luxury fashion brand with virtually no connection to the world of horology. That changed in 2002 with the introduction of the Tambour, an automatic GMT housed in a round 39.5 mm round stainless steel case, instantly recognizable for its drum-like appearance (like the Japanese taiko drums that inspired it).
The Tambour’s production coincided with the opening of a Louis Vuitton workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the heart of Switzerland’s watchmaking region, signaling the brand was serious about its ambitions.
Now, on the 20th anniversary of that timepiece, Louis Vuitton has introduced the Tambour Twenty, a redux version of the original boasting the same drum-like case in a slightly larger 41.5 mm stainless steel case, 12 letters spelling the name “Louis Vuitton” across the numbers and indexes and an LV277 high-frequency movement based on the El Primero, the first automatic chronograph, famously produced by Zenith, Louis Vuitton’s sibling brand in the LVMH stable.
“Watch enthusiasts will recognize all the features that made the Tambour’s design so unique,” Jean Arnault, marketing and development director for Louis Vuitton watches, said in a statement. “While this limited edition is a true concentrate of everything that made this watch stand out, it also boasts brand new features that will set it apart for collectors. To me, 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.”
With its brown sun-brushed dial and the chronograph’s long yellow hand glides—evoking the yellow threads historically used in Louis Vuitton’s leatherwork—the Tambour Twenty brings the iconic watch back to where it all started. But oh, what a journey it’s been.
Louis Vuitton Colorful Ugly Sweater
Produced in 23 iterations, one for every year the model has been around (and two each for 2021 and 2022), the Tambour has lived scores of horological lives. It’s been a chronograph, a tourbillon, a dive watch, a sailing watch, a jumping hour watch, a mysterious movement, a minute repeater, a flying tourbillon, a GMT, a work of art and a connected watch.
All of which begs the question: Is there anything the Tambour hasn’t been?
The commemorative chronograph, which comes with a 22k gold rotor and 50 hours of power reserve, is available for $17,800 in a limited and numbered edition of 200 pieces, accompanied by a miniature Louis Vuitton trunk in Monogram canvas.