“Tambour” is the French for drum and it was the logical choice for the distinctive watch that Louis Vuitton launched 15 years ago that was shaped like… a drum. For its 15th anniversary makeover the case shape is once again the focus of reflections, with the Louis Vuitton designers coming up with a case middle with an inward curve. This gives the watch a crescent-shaped profile, hence the name Tambour Moon.
Louis Vuitton is presenting the new Tambour Moon as a complete collection, with a choice of different sizes and complications for both men and women. The women’s collection comprises a 28mm Moon Star Second model, with a stainless-steel case and a choice of black or while dials, as well as 35mm and 39.5mm Moon Star Chronograph models, also in stainless steel, with or without mother-of-pearl and diamonds. All the women’s models are powered by a quartz movement and feature the Louis Vuitton monogram as their small seconds hand at 6 o’clock.
The men’s models, on the other hand, are all powered by self-winding mechanical calibres. Naturally, for a brand inspired by travel, the Tambour Moon comes with a GMT complication housed in a 41.5mm case in stainless steel or two-tone stainless steel and rose gold. Here too, the choice of dials is classic, with black and silver versions available with a sand-blasted matte finish and a contrasting GMT scale with an oversized yellow “V” as the indicator for the second time zone. A chronograph version is also available with a 44mm diameter stainless-steel case and a matte finished black dial.
There are a number of features mentioned above that indicate Louis Vuitton’s proximity to the customer and therefore their understanding of current market trends. No mechanical movements in the women’s collection, classic dial colours for the men’s and women’s models, two-tone for the men’s models. Louis Vuitton is clearly producing watches that are designed to sell rather than the so-called “talking pieces” that we see from many other brands. Plus they offer an extra-special touch that I’m surprised nobody in the industry thought of before…
Interchangeable straps
OK, interchangeable straps are nothing new and a lot of brands now offer them. But Louis Vuitton has taken things a step further: a new patented system using a composite material with a high carbon content is integrated into the strap itself, meaning that the mechanism remains invisible and that they can be changed without any need for tools. What’s more, the new straps can be retrofitted to any Tambour model, regardless of its age.
There are 80 different types of straps (40 for men, 40 for women) already available for the launch of the new Tambour Moon collection, with more to come every few months up to a total of 100 different straps. The idea is that you can choose your strap in store when you buy the watch. You can also change the strap whenever you want, of course, with the straps themselves costing between 200 and 400 Swiss francs.
