Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours

Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours

A Game of Surprise

Vivienne, the mischievous and mysterious mascot of Louis Vuitton, takes you into the fantastical realm of make-believe, with three magical interpretations of the jumping-hour display. It’s time for the unexpected.

Who is Vivienne and what is her game?

In 2017, an enigmatic little personage appeared at Louis Vuitton. Her playful and charming personality was immediately observed by everyone who came across her. Next to be remarked upon was her elusive nature. One never knew where she would turn up next, be it on the iconic Louis Vuitton Monogram canvas, as a miniature pendant and brooch from the Vivienne Travellers collection, or as part of the Maison’s watches. On the Tambour Spin Time Air Vivienne, she multiplied herself by twelve in order to take over the rotating hour modules, and on the Vivienne Bijou Secret — through a game of hide-and-seek — she unveiled the time as if by magic.

Whenever anyone addressed her, the only thing she revealed about herself was her name — Vivienne. She caused such a sensation that there was only one thing to do. It was unanimously agreed that Vivienne should be the mascot of Louis Vuitton, a role she accepted with a lively twinkle in her eyes.

Today, Vivienne returns in her most splendid appearance yet, revealing a new power in her possession (beyond the powerto charm everyone she meets, that is). Vivienne is a mystical key, unlocking doors that let you travel to a fantasy world, a world of supernatural glamour and shifting identity. You can consult your guide, but she looks different each time you turn to her. Is she a fortune teller, predicting your glittering future? Is she a casino croupier, dealing a winning hand? Or is she a circus juggler, dazzling one and all around her?

In true Louis Vuitton fashion, Vivienne playfully shows you the time. The hour display alternates from one of her hands to the other, while a magical talisman floats around her, the minutes given by its position.

This is Vivienne’s world; your time is in her hands. Will you play her game?

Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours

Three exquisitely hand-decorated timepieces, in cases of white gold, pink gold or yellow gold, with a precious rose-cut diamond on the crown, form the new Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours — the latest collection of precious horological objets from Louis Vuitton.

In the 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 countless constellations.

The model in yellow gold casts Vivienne in the role of a casino croupier, with a dial of skarn, a mineral rarely seen in the watchmaking decorative arts, alluding to the alluring green of the casino table. Finally, a white-gold model features a mother-of-pearl dial, its shimmering iridescence highlighting the fantastical appearance of Vivienne, dressed as a circus performer. Each model is animated by an innovative manufacture movement module conceived and produced entirely by Louis Vuitton’s specialist movement workshop La Fabrique du Temps in Geneva.

How do you read the time? Don’t ask Vivienne; her lips are sealed. Her eyes - ink-black diamonds (Fortune model), green tsavorites (Casino model) or blue sapphires (Circus model) - sparkle with intelligence but give nothing away. Don’t look for conventional time-telling hands. Look instead at Vivienne’s hands. In the Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours, there are no tricks up Vivienne’s sleeves; the trick lies at the ends of her fingers.

On the dial, two apertures serve as alternating indications of the hours, hidden in plain sight amidst similarly designed decorative elements. If you want to see through this skillful act of prestidigitation, keep your eyes locked on the two elements that Vivienne’s hands point towards. Every sixty minutes, the numeral indicating the hour changes instantaneously, switching positions between the two apertures located near Vivienne’s hands. As the new hour is displayed, the aperture framing the previous hour is simultaneously filled with an arcane symbol matching the theme of the watch. It is the first time in modern horology that an alternating jumping hour has been used in a wristwatch.

For the minutes, a slim, nearly invisible wand extends out from Vivienne’s heart, making one full rotation around the dial each hour. The wand is tipped with a tarot card (Fortune), a playing card (Casino) or a Louis Vuitton Monogram Flower juggling ball (Circus), maintaining the illusion of Vivienne’s magical world while still providing a visual cue for reading the minutes.

Behind the magic

They say that it spoils the delight of a magic trick to reveal the technique behind it, but this is far from true in the Louis Vuitton Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hour. Our awareness of the creativity and mechanical savoir-faire at La Fabrique du Temps is enhanced, rather than diminished, by a peek behind the velvet curtain.

The Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours uses a multi-armed Geneva cross (also known as a Maltese cross), combined with a complex multi-level cam and a sprung ruby roller, to achieve its innovative hour display. This offers numerous advantages over the conventional system of star wheels and jumper springs, advantages such as better energy efficiency, higher precision in the time display and in the hour jump and increased movement longevity.

In other words, the jumping hour display of the Louis Vuitton Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours may go against the established watchmaking wisdom that favours simplicity over complexity. However, it is indisputably a superior system in all aspects, focusing on the importance of having a watch that is beautiful as well as mechanically impeccable.

The art of the dial

Louis Vuitton’s legitimacy in traditional savoir-faire goes back over a century and a half, so it’s no surprise that the Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours uses a variety of decorative techniques to bring Vivienne and her world to life.

Miniature hand-painting, so memorably featured in a Louis Vuitton watch for the first time in 2014 with the Escale Worldtime, is used to animate Vivienne’s trompe-l’oeil magic. Each tarot card, playing card, Monogram Flower and hour numeral is individually painted by artists in Louis Vuitton’s workshop in Geneva.

The dials of the Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours

- set in precious diamonds - are crafted from well-known decorative materials such as aventurine and mother of pearl, but also a newly discovered ornamental gemstone from Pakistan: Skarn. Also known as Sannan- Skarn, its intense green hue is due to the presence of the element chromium and its fine-grained texture comes from the process by which it was formed deep in the earth millions of years ago. Each ornamental stone has been chosen to reflect the universe of the respective Vivienne.

In every way, the Louis Vuitton Tambour Slim Vivienne Jumping Hours transports you to a different world, and the use of decorative arts helps to bring that world to life, within a 38mm-diameter circle on your wrist.