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For 168 years, Louis Vuitton has designed beautiful clothes and accessories. Now it’s also designing sustainable buildings.
At this workshop, hundreds of craftspeople work at pristine white stations, constructing leather goods and accessories by hand.
[Photo: courtesy Louis Vuitton] The architects created a ventilation system featuring mini windows high up on the walls that have temperature-activated louvers, which allows air to circulate through the upper areas of the space—without gusts of wind blowing paperwork off the desks.The interior is cooled by a network of rain-fed ponds and reservoirs on the northern side of the building, and the water from these features is ultimately used to nurture plants near the factory. A system of pipes under the floors circulates water to heat the building in the winter and cool it in the summer.
[Photo: courtesy Louis Vuitton] These bioclimatic elements help cut down on the building’s overall energy consumption, which is about half that of a traditional Louis Vuitton workshop. They also reduce greenhouse gas emissions.The architects incorporated large floor-to-ceiling windows, particularly in the northern part of the building, to maximize the use of natural light, further reducing energy consumption. They strategically used fewer, smaller windows in the southern part, which can get excessively warm in the summer months.
[Photo: courtesy Louis Vuitton] The company’s architects used as many sustainable materials as possible, including recycled cement for the flooring, recycled metal for the structure, and Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood. This workshop serves as a template for others Louis Vuitton will build, including two set to open this year, in Drôme and Maine-et-Loire, France.
Louis Vuitton celebrates 20 years of the Tambour with Tambour Twenty watch.
Louis VuittonIt was in 2002 that the iconic house of Louis Vuitton introduced its first Tambour watch. Inspired by the English drum, the Tambour had a round case shape but with thicker case sides that flared out to emulate a drum and integrated highly shaped lugs that almost resemble a handle. While Louis Vuitton had begun creating watches more than a decade earlier, in 1988, the Tambour was a significant collection, as it was the first watch to make its debut since the brand opened its workshops (also in 2002). Now, 20 years later, Louis Vuitton releases the Tambour Twenty watch.
The movement inside the Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty is La Fabrique du Temps LV 277 automatic … [+] high-frequency caliber based on the Zenith El Primero movement.
Louis VuittonLike the very first Tambour, which housed an automatic GMT movement, the new Tambour Twenty also houses an automatic movement. This one, though, is a chronograph movement. The La Fabrique du Temps LV 277 automatic movement is a high-frequency caliber based on the Zenith El Primero movement, which was the first automatic chronograph in history. Both brands are owned by the LVMH Group. The rotor inside the movement is crafted of 22-karat gold and the watch boasts 50 hours of power reserve. The new watch is also larger than the original one. The 2003 version measured 39.5mm in diameter, while today’s watch is slightly larger at 41.5mm in diameter.
The Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty is sold with a small LV logo trunk.
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Also, like the first watch, the new piece features a brown-hued sun-brushed dial. Like its first Tambour chronograph released in 2003, the Tambour Twenty boasts a long yellow hand for the central seconds chronograph function and two smaller yellow hands for two of the subsidiary dials. The name Louis Vuitton, which has 12 letters, is engraved on the case sides with one letter opposite each hour marker, just like the original version.
The new Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty is based on the first Tambour introduced in 2002.
Louis VuittonThe Tambour Twenty is water resistant to 100 meters and the chronograph times to a tenth of a second. Just 200 pieces will be made, each carrying its production number and each with an engraved case back. It is sold with a small Louis Vuitton trunk made with Monogram canvas. Crafted in stainless steel, the new watch, which retails for $17,800, is a true homage to the original.
Louis Vuitton has regularly elevated the Tambour over the years. In fact, the Tambour was such a hit among Louis Vuitton lovers, and watch lovers in general 20 years ago, that it has become an icon at Louis Vuitton. Over the past two decades, multiple iterations have been made including oversized versions (45mm), Slim versions, a tourbillon, minute repeater and more. In 2020, the brand even introduced the Tambour Curve with a titanium and Carbostratum® case – proving Louis Vuitton is not afraid to travel in new high-tech material directions. Diver versions, one of which won the Grand Prix d’ Horlogerie de Geneve (GPHG) in 2021, grace the Tambour line – all as a testament to the versatility of the aesthetic design and the watchmaking prowess that Fabriques du Temps at Louis Vuitton brings to the proverbial table.
The Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver won during the 2021 GPHG.
Louis Vuitton
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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.
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.