The Tambour Fiery Heart by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton

Since Louis Vuitton’s foray into fine watchmaking began in 2002, the travel brand has pursued the development of visually captivating and complex timepieces. In 2011, Louis Vuitton purchased La Fabrique du Temps, a highly regarded movement manufacture founded by renowned watchmakers Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini. With this acquisition, Vuitton was able to make most of its movements entirely in-house.

The magnificent Louis Vuitton Tambour Opera Automata features 426 components

Navas and Barbasini have led a further revolution for Vuitton’s watchmaking at La Fabrique du Temps, with high-complication timepieces at the forefront. Among all of the watches they’ve created in the ensuing years, Navas admits it’s hard to choose a favorite. “They’re all my babies,” he says. “But it might be the Carpe Diem. This was the first watch that introduced people to the expertise of La Fabrique du Temps in terms of Automata [automatons].” Indeed, the Carpe Diem was also a critical success, winning the Audacity Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in 2021.

Automatons feature prominently in the six new models, two of which are unique pieces. This year, Navas combined automata with a Cathedral Gong minute repeater in the Tambour Jacquemart Minute Repeater 200 Years, a unique piece celebrating the 200 years since Louis Vuitton’s birth. Travel is at the heart of the brand Mr. Vuitton created, and Navas and Barbasini took the travel theme to its outer limits – space. The “mechanical timepiece explores the journey theme, our great Maison’s core expertise,” says Navas. Engraver Dick Steenman sculpted the moving spaceship and miniature planets, while Anita Porchet combined several techniques, including enamel miniature painting, to decorate the dial.

"Since my very first moments in High Watchmaking at Gerald Genta in 1987, I have striven to improve the sound of the Minute Repeaters.” –Michel Navas

The LV 525 Calibre powers an Automata mechanism featuring five animations, jumping hours, retrograpde minute hand, power reserve indicator

The watch contains the first Cathedral Gong minute repeater produced by the brand. “Since my very first moments in High Watchmaking at Gerald Genta in 1987, I have striven to improve the sound of the Minute Repeaters,” Navas says. “Enrico and I spent our days creating and adjusting Cathedral Gongs while working at Gerald Genta. To this day, we are pursuing the purest crystalline sound whether it’s a traditional or cathedral gong repeater.”

The inner workings of the LV 90 Calibre, a mechanical movement with 160 components that powers the Tambour Moon Tourbillon Volant Poinçon de Genève

The Tambour Opera Automata, also a unique piece, features a dial depicting a traditional Chinese mask in tribute to the Sichuan Opera’s Bian Lian. When the automata feature is activated, the mask’s expression changes, the hours appear on the mask’s forehead as the dragon lifts its head, and the retrograde minutes are marked by the dragon’s tail.

The luminous Tambour Moon Tourbillon Volant Poinçon de Genève by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton

The limited-production Tambour Fiery Heart Automata features a flaming heart adorned with the word Sweet. Upon activating the automata, thorns appear around the hour and minute sundial, and the heart cracks open, revealing the words Sweet but Fierce.

The Louis Vuitton Tambour Tambour Jacqemart Minute Repeater 200th Anniversary

Rounding out the new introductions this year are skeletonized timepieces. The limitedproduction Tambour Moon Tourbillon Volant watches are entirely encased in clear synthetic sapphire, carved from a single block, in either a fluorescent green or yellow version. The watches, which have earned the prestigious Geneva Seal, feature a flying tourbillon at six o’clock. The manually wound timepieces require 420 hours for carving and polishing the sapphire elements, including the transparent bridge incorporating the LV logo.

The Voyager Skeleton will be produced in the largest numbered edition, with a total of 150 individually numbered watches to be made. The Voyager’s case, fashioned in platinum, holds the new skeletonized LV60 automatic-winding movement. The movement’s design echoes the dynamic, purposeful architecture of some of Louis Vuitton’s stores and the Fondation Louis Vuitton.

The platinum Voyager Skeleton by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton

"But you can imagine how interested I am in offering our clients new High Watchmaking that’s never seen elsewhere with our next releases.” –Michel Navas

Navas won’t reveal specifics about what’s next. “I can’t answer this question because we must be discreet,” he says. “But you can imagine how interested I am in offering our clients new High Watchmaking that’s never seen elsewhere with our next releases.”