Louis Vuitton’s revolutionary new watch feels like it’s floating in air
Take a closer look at the standout of the French fashion house's Tambour Taiko Spin Time collection
IN RECENT YEARS, Louis Vuitton, the French fashion house known for its iconic bags and splashy menswear collections, has reestablished itself in the world of serious watchmaking. The brand’s first salvo came in 2023 with the relaunch of its flagship Tambour watch. This year, it delivered something exceptional in the form of six – count ’em, six! – new riffs on its signature Spin Time complication.
Introduced in 2009, Spin Time does pretty much what it says. The watch doesn’t have an hour hand. Instead, the dial is outfitted with 12 cubes, one of which rotates to reveal a different color, indicating the hour. As this happens, the cube that had previously marked the hour spins back to match the color of the other cubes on the dial. The minute hand shows the time in the traditional manner. It’s a cool trick that requires a whole lot of watchmaking wizardry to work properly.
Any of the half dozen new designs that debuted at LVMH Watch Week in January are worth your attention. But one is downright unmissable. Its proper name is the Tambour Taiko Spin Time Air Antipode (price upon request, pictured here). It has a “floating display,” which lends the whole thing an air of magic, because the Spin Time cubes appear suspended in midair. But that’s not all.
The watch offers a revolutionary take on telling time in foreign cities. With most world-time complications, you see cities in 24 separate time zones. With the Antipode, you’ve only got the twelve cubes aligned with each hour. On each of those cubes, there are two cities listed, 12 time zones apart. One is displayed in a darker color to indicate night, the other in a lighter color to indicate daytime. Local time, for those wondering, is easy: It’s indicated by a highly legible yellow arrow that points at the hour where you are, plus a traditional minute hand.
In geographical terms, the antipode of any place on earth is the location diametrically opposite it, hence the name. This watch may not be the antipode of traditional time-telling, but it’s close – which is exactly what makes it so damn fun.
This story originally appeared on Esquire US.
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