The Louis Vuitton 2020 Collection delivers flying tourbillons, gem-set cases and some very special spinning cubes
Louis Vuitton are best known today for their leather goods, and historically for their travel trunks, but when it comes to watchmaking, most aren’t aware of the work they do. Of course, having such a well-recognised brand globally is a double-edged sword, where Louis Vuitton bags are desired all over the world, but the quality of their other products is less well understood. But don’t let that lull you into thinking the French-founded brand can stitch a seam and nothing else. No, the Louis Vuitton watchmakers are some of the finest in the world, earning their movements the Geneva Seal, a rarified standard of Swiss watchmaking reserved for the best of the best. Think Cartier and Vacheron Constantin, two other brands that are also authorised to use the Geneva Seal. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at some of our favourite pieces from the Louis Vuitton 2020 collection, including flying tourbillons, gem-set cases and some special spinning cubes. Tambour Spin Time Air Japan Limited In the Louis Vuitton collection, we have seen and become dazzled by the intricacies of the Tambour Spin Time, as seen here in our video from Queenstown, New Zealand. This time, Louis Vuitton…
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Editor’s note: With watch collecting skewing towards sports models, there is definitely room for more classic and complicated watches in our collections. Now I know what you’re thinking: more complicated means more cost. This, however, is not necessarily the case. In fact, we recently covered a watch that fits the bill. When Watches & Wonders 2020 arrived, the Baume & Mercier Clifton Baumatic Day-Date and Moon-Phase was introduced to consumers around the world – providing a complicated watch at an entry-level price point. For $4400 USD or $6900 AUD, you can add a steel-cased watch packed with great complications for less than a Tudor Pelagos. With an in-house movement, silicon hairspring, and 120 hours of power reserve, the Clifton Baumatic Day-Date Moon-Phase should definitely be a candidate for your next watch hunt – and our very own James Robinson will continue to tell you why. In the end, watch fairs can sometimes be remembered for the sleeper hits. Sure, ‘fairs’ aren’t currently really a thing, but the global chaos didn’t stop Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) from rallying and creating a fully digital version of Watches & Wonders. Which we promptly translated into a TV show, because we wanted…
Let’s face it, watch auctions can be a little bit intimidating. The big players in the watch game are centuries-old organisations, with Christie’s and Sotheby’s both pre-dating the First Fleet sailing into Botany Bay, and Phillips only eight years younger, being founded in 1796. All this history, the seven-figure headline lots and the sometimes confusing rules of the game can build to the impression that it is an inaccessible world of richly scented mahogany. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, there can be hidden gems at the (relatively) more affordable end of the scale. With that in mind, I had a dig through the catalogue at the upcoming Phillips Geneva Watch Auction XII, and found eight sleepers that might just prove once again that big watch auctions can be for everyone. Patek Philippe ref. 513 – A fine yellow gold rectangular-shaped wristwatch, retailed by Tiffany & Co. There are endless areas of the vintage watch world to obsess over, but one of the most historically interesting corners to seek out is the phenomenon of double-signed watches. This Patek Philippe was produced in 1951, and was sold by their longstanding American retail partner Tiffany & Co. in…
WatchPro published an article today announcing the largest Rolex showroom in America is set to open in Boston in December. Originally meant to open earlier but delayed due to the COVID-19 crisis, the 4600 square foot showroom will be located within Long’s Jewelers – beating out current record holder Watches of Switzerland and their 3000 square foot showroom at Wynn Las Vegas. Located at 8 Newbury Street, the building was built in the 1920s and formerly housed a showroom for Rolls-Royce on its street level floor – clearly housing luxury product is in the building’s heritage. The store has quite high-calibre neighbours as well, with Bulgari and Chanel next door and Cartier, Tiffany & Co, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Richard Mille also nearby. Ultimately though, it begs the question: does a large space translate to a greater level of inventory? WatchPro reader John Lee commented on their site, “Bit of a waste of space, surely a cupboard would of [sic] been more suitable for the current stock levels?” The question remains as to whether there will be a commensurate volume of product to fill the space. WatchPro does, however, make it clear that Boston will not necessarily hold the…
In a year that sees TAG Heuer peaking with vintage inspiration, the new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph collection comes sliding into our feeds as a fresh take on a classic. There is strong inspiration from its ’60s heyday, while a contemporary 42mm case, and a sparkling new engine inside in the Heuer-02 movement, inspires a timeless quality worthy of the strong Carrera heritage, with no need for fauxtina. In these four strong references, we have a distillation of the design codes of the Carrera, which is to many the epitome of a 1960s chronograph. There is an elegant, urban touch that contemporarizes the classic design, and underlines how colours, dial details and strap choices transforms it from bold monochrome racer to the formality of a boardroom, without losing its strong identity. The tension in the case, underlined by the polished bezel and slim, angled lugs, creates an emphasis of balance between sports and elegance. The monochromatic black dial version has the purest vintage inspiration here, while the angular brushed steel bracelet sweetens the deal for a bold wrist presence. The sunray finish of the blue dial version is an exquisite bright navy, with an enigmatic hard-to-capture on camera quality. The…
Look, we get it. Waitlists are frustrating, and watches are commanding higher values and premiums than ever before. But this has to be a new low. A Romanian couple has been caught red-handed, or rose-gold handed, attempting to steal a Royal Oak Offshore in rose gold from Audemars Piguet worth £67,000 GBP from venerated department store Harrods in the United Kingdom. According to the report, Ilie Para and Marta Para-Bloj, both 33, scoped out a particular model to steal from the Knightsbridge retailer, going so far as to take extensive photos of the watch to help them source a faithful enough replica to attempt to swap during a showing from a sales representative. Like Indiana Jones placing stone in place of the temple idol, the duo felt that with an ultra-realistic replica they would be able to fool the sales clerk long enough to escape the store and country to return home with the watch. So, how did they pull it off? According to the Metro.co.uk report, “When the sales assistant turned her back to them, Para swapped the £67,400 timepiece with a ‘convincing’ replica hidden in the child’s hood, Southwark Crown Court heard.” Under the guise of returning to…
As times change, the perception of the perfect fit evolves. When wristwatches were created, they were lauded for finally miniaturising the timepiece and making it a compact wearable object versus a large item that had to rest in a pocket. Now it seems, like American politics, the watch community is split in two: one party wants to upscale watches to larger sizes while another wants to bring back the classic sizes of yesteryear. I’ve heard and read people call for larger Submariners and Daytonas, or even bringing watches into the stratosphere of Panerai and Invicta sizing. I wonder who this really benefits; are the average wrists really much larger than the average wrists a century ago? Why are dress watches suddenly sharing equal lug-to-lug measurements of their sportier peers? Who does this really benefit? Are wrists really larger or has the perception of the perfect fit been warped? So, what do I believe is a perfect fit? In my own personal taste, which I would consider more tailored and classic versus modern and bulky, I find that a watch should situate itself in the middle of one’s wrist in a way that the strap or bracelet does not flare down…
Rolex watches are a universal status symbol, and among the most recognisable luxury items on the planet. The craze over their timepieces has never been greater, further propelling the brand away from its tool watch origins towards the pinnacle of luxury wristwear. With consumers flocking to buy out their catalogue, Rolex watches have become harder and harder to track down at retail – and as a result, conspiracies are rampant among consumers frustrated by enigmatic, Machiavellian waiting lists and seemingly scarce production. While it is not news to anyone that Rolex watches retain their value, we wanted to do a deep dive into a range of models, to determine the difference between MSRP (the manufacturer’s suggested retail price) and what the watches sell for on the seconds market. The objective is to determine the five most price-inflated models. The data The truth is there is no set rule for how much of a premium dealers will charge for the in-demand models they obtain. Whether a result of geography, or just business instinct, secondhand vendors will ultimately charge what they believe they can get away with. To try to find a common thread between current secondhand pricing, we took an average…
Editor’s note: Bulgari leapt to the aid of Australia earlier in the year, when they donated a glorious Serpenti to our Watch & Act! Auction in aid of the Australian bushfires. It turns out it wasn’t out of character. Since then the brand has shown tremendous moral leadership through 2020, and it continues with this special ‘Tricolore’ Edition of the Aluminium, which we’ve covered on video here and in a written review here. When the COVID-19 pandemic initially hit the world, Bulgari from the outset leveraged its resources in order to better service the Italian people. When hand sanitiser was in short supply, Bulgari lent a helping hand by having its fragrance manufacture halt the production of product in favour of producing and bottling hand sanitiser to donate to hospitals within the country. Their latest effort in the fight against COVID-19 is a partnership with the venerated Aeronautica Militare. Together, they join forces on behalf of the Italian nation in a spirit of solidarity to present a limited series of watches: the Bvlgari Aluminium Tricolore. The backstory The primary task of the Aeronautica Militare is to defend Italian airspace. However, like other armed forces around the world, the Aeronautica Militare has recently…
The Louis Vuitton Tambour Curve Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève is an unabashedly large futuristic dark metropolis under sapphire. I see an angular maze-like horological architecture within an organic patterned cutting-edge composite case. Hypnotised by the 9 o’clock rotating magic of the Flying Tourbillon you’ll notice it being delicately cut into the dark and recognisable structure of the LV logo. The dial – or is it the movement? The dial complexity is such that the LV signature – bold and large within an intriguing depth of openworked haute horlogerie — becomes a natural part of the movement architecture. It is almost as if the movement construction itself has dictated the shape of the recognisable overlapping L and V. This is, in my humble opinion, easily the best integration of a logo within a dial for the last 10 years, but this watch is so much more than what merits this irrelevant prize. If we work our way in from the bezel-less design, we have a discreet dark sweeping rehaut, which is a reminder of Louis Vuitton’s luck of the draw – the only manufacture with exactly 12 letters in their name, elegantly substituting the hours, engraved and lacquer filled. The Geneva…