Louis Vuitton bring back mascot Vivienne for new Tambour watches

It has been twenty years since Louis Vuitton first stunned the industry of luxury watchmaking by debuting their very first luxury watch. That first timepiece featured the brand’s now iconic Tambour case, its shape inspired by drums. Following that high-profile 2002 launch, the maison has elevated it’s status within the realm of high watchmaking.

Scaling up quickly to compete with the key watchmakers that already held a Geneva seal, Louis Vuitton acquired the bespoke haute horology company La Fabrique du Temps.

La Fabrique du Temps was a complications specialist headed by Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini, master watchmakers who had honed their skills working for the likes of Gérard Genta, Patek Philippe and Laurent Ferrier.

This purchase immediately gave Louis Vuitton the in-house expertise to adapt their Tambour case, for the purpose of developing haute complications. Over the last six years since Louis Vuitton acquired its first Geneva seal in 2016 with the flying tourbillon, these unique pieces have become ever more collectible.

With little or no archive to call upon, the Louis Vuitton watchmakers have had to be especially creative and innovative. “Everyone knows Louis Vuitton for ready-to-wear or trunks or leather goods,” Navas told me two years ago at the unveiling of their Tambour Curve Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Geneve. “We are very new in the watch industry – only 18 years – so we have to be different.”

Louis Vuitton has set out to achieve in watchmaking continued Navas, is to “have the utmost respect for high watchmaking, but with something else, the Louis Vuitton touch”.

Highlighting that creativity is Vivienne, the comic book house mascot of Louis Vuitton, which has captured the hearts of the jewellery world since her debut in 2017. 

Named after Louis Vuitton’s signature VVN leather, a light-coloured beige leather that gains a dark patina over time, the adorable character has been making signature hallmarks within the house’s coveted line of accessories, be it on seasonal doll designs inspired by her globetrotting adventures, or as part of the maison’s watches.

After the overwhelming success of the Tambour Spin Time Air Vivienne and Vivienne Bijou Secret, the mysterious mascot has once again revisited the world of high watchmaking for the latest Louis Vuitton timepiece, the Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours.

Multiple versions of this dazzling new 38mm watch are available – white gold, pink gold or yellow gold, each hand-decorated with a precious rose-cut diamond on the crown.

In the 18K pink-gold model, Vivienne comes in the guise of a fortune-teller, set against a dial of dark blue aventurine to evoke a night sky studded with white brilliant-cut diamonds and black brilliant-cut diamonds. Presented on a striking blue alligator strap, Vivienne’s eyes come punctuated with ink-black diamonds, and her wand tipped with a tarot card.

The model in 18K yellow gold, named Casino, casts Vivienne in the role of a casino croupier. In this design, the mascot’s eyes dazzle with green tsavorites, while her wand comes finished with a playing card. Animated by an innovative manufacture movement module produced by Louis Vuitton’s specialist movement workshop La Fabrique du Temps in Geneva, the watch is finished with a dial of skarn, a newly discovered ornamental gemstone from Pakistan rarely seen in high watchmaking.

The final model, dubbed Circus, appears in 18K white gold and features a mother-of-pearl dial, its iridescence highlighting the central character of Vivienne, dressed as a circus performer, her eyes sparkling with blue sapphires.

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