Its automaton models and Haute Horlogerie range place the brand clearly up among the very best. This spectacular rise is the result of a double phenomenon: the takeover of Louis Vuitton's watchmaking business in 2021 by Jean Arnault, the youngest member of the watch-enthusiast family, and the integration of the highly creative La Fabrique du Temps in 2011. Founded by the brilliant Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini in 2007, La Fabrique du Temps is home to an ever-increasing diversity of manufacturing skills deployed in a scenography that is both elegant and joyful (dial-makers, enamellers, engravers, engineers, watchmakers, painters, etc.). The desire and vision of these two watchmaking entrepreneurs was to exercise exquisite craftsmanship within a human-sized entity. They had designed the Spin Time for Louis Vuitton, with its incredible display of time indications on rotating cubes, when the two enthusiasts were invited to make their Fabrique the official production facility for Louis Vuitton. As Michel Navas points out, they quickly agreed: "It's a reliable and responsible company well-known and recognized in other fields and which respected our initial philosophy, so the potential was fabulous” – a fact highlighted by this year’s creations.
The first sapphire tourbillon to bear the Poinçon de Genève
The two highly contemporary and perfectly crafted sapphire-cased models of the Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon "Poinçon de Genève" testify to the mastery of the artisans who exercise their skills in La Fabrique du Temps. Time indeed has effect on sapphire, a pure, noble mineral as unalterable as pure gold or platinum, yet boasting a hardness surpassed only by diamonds. Carved from a block of synthetic sapphire, each element of the case is delicately polished to harmoniously magnify the LV90 caliber it protects. Over 400 hours of meticulous work are lavished on each case and it's well worth the effort, as the flying tourbillon and the entire movement mechanism thus laid bare benefit from this circular, fluorescent spotlight. The graphic and sculptural concentric forms of the suspended movement fascinate with their sophistication and lightness. The presence of the prestigious Poinçon de Genève confirms the intuition that this is a magnificent Haute Horlogerie timepiece.
Originality makes a dramatic entrance
Two stellar artisans presided over the birth of the Tambour Opera Automata: enamellist Anita Porchet and engraver Dick Steenman, whose challenge was to reflect the striking aesthetics and expressive movements of the Bian Lian, the famous Chinese masks changed at lightning speed at the Sichuan Opera House. By activating the astonishing automaton, five animations stage a 16-second show: the dragon's head rises to reveal the jumping hours on the Bian Lian's cloisonné enamel forehead, its tail indicating the retrograde minutes. Shifting from joy to sadness, the mask changes expression, frowning, an eyelid descending over the left eye and the pupil of the right eye retracted to reveal a Monogram flower. More than 400 components, several patents and two years of development characterize Caliber LC 525, of which the back also features the shape of the Chinese mask, magnificently decorated with a beadblasted finish and perfect mirror polish. Haute Horlogerie and artistic crafts come together in an exceptional artistic symbiosis.
Tambour Opera Automata
Case: 18k rose gold, hand-sculpted rose gold crown and pusher, pusher set with 2 rubies and crown set with 1 ruby, sapphire caseback, water-resistant to 30m
Size: 46.8mm
Movement: hand-wound mechanical (Caliber LV 525, 100h power reserve), 426 components
Functions: 5 animations, jumping hours, retrograde minutes, power-reserve indicator
Dial: Enamel and miniature painting, hand-crafted by Anita Porchet (dial, mask & fan), hand-engraved by Dick Steenman (dragon & gourd), set with cabochon-cut rubies
Strap: black alligator leather, 18K rose gold double folding clasp, 6 cabochon-cut rubies (0.06ct)
Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon "Poinçon de Genève"
Case: yellow or green sapphire, titanium lugs and crown with black bead-blasted PVD treatment, water-resistant to 30m
Size: 42.5mm
Movement: hand-wound mechanical (Caliber LV 90, 80h power reserve), 160 components, "Poinçon de Genève" certification visible on the central bridge below the green sapphire LV bridge and green sapphire caseback
Functions: hours and minutes, flying tourbillon, tourbillon cage in the shape of a Monogram flower performing one full turn per minute
Strap: black alligator, titanium pin buckle with black bead-blasted PDV treatment
