quattro
[Moderator]
18063
Louis Vuitton watches: a hands-on experience
Because Louis Vuitton owns La Fabrique du Temps, a manufacture founded by two watchmakers I admire, Michel Navas & Enrico Barbasini (who have participated in the creation of Laurent Ferrier's micro-rotor), I wanted to see in the metal some of their watches.
Here are some photos from my experience and some thoughts.
A/ LOUIS VUITTON ESCALE
39 mm case & automatic LFT023 caliber
1/ PLATIUNUM CASE & METEORITE DIAL ref. W3PT11
The Escale (French word for Stopover) is my favorite model because it is the most traditional.
The 39 mm case fits nicely on the wrist.
The Escale collection also features the least intrusive branding, intrusive branding being, in my opinion, the major flaw of this brand.
The pin buckle is simple, but not particularly interesting.
The meteorite dial and monochrome look is appealing.
The lugs, inspired by the House's trunks, and the octagonal crown are pleasing.
The design of the micro-rotor caliber is quite nice, but a bit too industrial for my taste: I don't warm up to it, personally.
2/ ROSE GOLD CASE & SILVERY TEXTURED DIAL ref. W3PG11
I like colored gold and found this textured dial appealing.
But, maybe because of the color of the strap, this variant felt a little too shiny.
So, in the end, the platinum/meteorite variant was more to my taste: it better matches the overall aesthetic of the model, imo.
B/ TAMBOUR CONVERGENCE ref. W9PG11
37 mm rose gold case & automatic LFT MA01.01 caliber
I like quite a bit the design of this piece and the dragging hours and minutes complication.
But, unfortunately, the mirror-polished dial acts like a real mirror, reflecting your own image when you look at the watch: something very unpleasant for me.
The mirror-polished dial is so prone to scratches that the protections were only removed when the watch was lying flat and not on my wrist.
I forgot to take a photo of the movement: again, here, nothing that I really love, personally.
With a non-mirror dial, the Tambour Convergence could/would be a very nice piece.
Unfortunately, the only currently available alternative is a platinum version with a dial featuring snow-set diamonds.
credit: @watchesbyeliot
But, unfortunately, in this particular model, it's all about branding, as the hours are indicated by the 12 letters of the brand name: a design choice I find terrible.
The letters of the brand name also appear on the flank of the bezel (and, surprisingly, they don't match the letters of the "hours")...
The lug design is interesting.
The caliber, which appears to be suspended in the middle of the case, with only the crown stem visible, produces a pleasing visual effect.
I'm not a big fan of sports watches, but of course I wanted to try this model too, considered a competitor to the famous icons we all have in mind.
The fit on the wrist is indisputably nice.
And the "two-tone" blue dial is really well done.
But the side of the bezel is spoiled by the letters of the brand name and, to me, it's just another blue dial integrated bracelet sports watch...
For me, the Escale stands out here.
2/ STEEL & ROSE GOLD CASE WITH SILVER DIAL ref. W1SP10
This two-tone variant didn't appeal to me.
The steel/blue variant is much more appealing, imo.
Thanks for reading.
C/ TAMBOUR TAIKO SPIN TIME AIR ref. W9WG41
42.5 mm white gold case & automatic LFT ST13.01 caliber
The three-dimensional jumping cubes display, inspired by the overhead flap displays that show timetables in airports, is ingenious and playful.
But, unfortunately, in this particular model, it's all about branding, as the hours are indicated by the 12 letters of the brand name: a design choice I find terrible.
The letters of the brand name also appear on the flank of the bezel (and, surprisingly, they don't match the letters of the "hours")...
The lug design is interesting.
The caliber, which appears to be suspended in the middle of the case, with only the crown stem visible, produces a pleasing visual effect.
D/ TAMBOUR
40 mm case & automatic LFT023 caliber
1/ STEEL CASE & BLUE DIAL ref. W1ST20
The fit on the wrist is indisputably nice.
And the "two-tone" blue dial is really well done.
But the side of the bezel is spoiled by the letters of the brand name and, to me, it's just another blue dial integrated bracelet sports watch...
For me, the Escale stands out here.
2/ STEEL & ROSE GOLD CASE WITH SILVER DIAL ref. W1SP10
This two-tone variant didn't appeal to me.
The steel/blue variant is much more appealing, imo.
As you can see, this experience leaves me with very mixed feelings: none of the models truly convinced me, and to be honest, I expected more from La Fabrique du Temps (no hand-wound movement here: how frustrating!).
I feel that these timepieces remain trapped within the non-horological world of the Louis Vuitton brand. I guess, the remarkable creativity of Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini is better expressed in exceptional, bespoke pieces.
If I had one piece of advice for Jean Arnault, it would be to break free from the Louis Vuitton universe and create pieces that will resonate much more deeply with watch enthusiasts (just my personal feeling, of course).
Thanks for reading.
Best, Emmanuel
Louis Vuitton watches: a hands-on experience
Because Louis Vuitton owns La Fabrique du Temps , a manufacture founded by two watchmakers I admire, Michel Navas & Enrico Barbasini (who have participated in the creation of Laurent Ferrier's micro-rotor ), I wanted to see in the metal some of their ...
Who are their customers target?
Thanks for the Review, superb as always and the thoughts. I very much share your views regarding branding, as a watch addict. I’m wondering who they actually target, namely if they want to speak to horologically minded people or rather their fans which ar...
Thank you, Jerome!
I think you're asking exactly the right question! And, in my opinion, Jean Arnault is still caught in a kind of loyalty conflict: he loves watchmaking and would like to make purely horological watches, but doesn't want to betray his brand and group (or so...
I like the convergence curious to see how it would look in a year or two.
One change for me that I feel would help, instead of putting louis Vuitton all over the watches, just have the watches branded with a simple LV
If it is worn daily, even carefully,
I think the dial fo the Convergence can only end up with many hairs or even scratches. I agree with you, LV would be enough, or at least only the brand name on the dial. For the same reason, I've never really understood why the dial of the Royal Oak Jumbo...
I couldn't agree with you more.
The Escale is the only piece here with a truly attractive dial, and that as a result of that particularly good combination with the meteorite and platinum case. I even like the Submariner GMT with the meteorite dial, and I've never been a fan of the Sub o...
The meteorite dial and platinum case are definitely what makes the first example of the Escale successful.
If it wasn't for Michel Navas & Enrico Barbasini, I don't think I would've paid attention to LV watches. But knowing how great watchmakers they are and the role they played in the creation of Laurent Ferrier's micro-rotor (which is called "FBN" for Fe...
Good! You reminded me....
of their collective history and 'origin'. I used to know this, but have admittedly forgotten in the meantime.... I used to own one LV messenger bag, and when I realized I wasn't really using it, I wanted to sell it, and the salesperson at one of their fla...