Louis Vuitton's "Drag Hour" Tambour Convergence is a Trifecta of Watchmaking Savoir-Faire

“Convergence” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the act of converging and especially moving toward union or uniformity.” The Tambour Convergence timepiece, unveiled this week by Louis Vuitton in two distinctive precious-metal iterations, embodies this spirit uniquely and elegantly. What is “converging” here are the union of three sets of watchmaking expertise that Louis Vuitton has brought together under its corporate umbrella: movement design, by La Fabrique du Temps; casemaking, by La Fabrique des Boîtiers; and hand craftsmanship, by La Fabrique des Arts. Collectively, the three Geneva-based ateliers are all part of Louis Vuitton, and the Tambour Convergence represents the savoir-faire of each in a watch that tells the time in a very unconventional yet very classical manner.

The 37mm case, in either platinum or polished rose gold, is distinct from others in the Tambour collection (including the new Taiko Spin Time models, covered here) with its redesigned lugs and its harmonious combination of hand-polished upper surfaces, satin-finished sides, and hollowed-out, micro-sandblasted lateral surfaces. Measuring just 8mm thick though appearing even thinner, the case features a polished, subtly fluted crown that echoes its own shape and a sapphire exhibition caseback allowing a view of the movement, the in-house automatic Caliber LFT MA01.01. 

What sets this timepiece apart is its time display, traditionally referred to as "dragging hour." The “dial” itself is nearly opaque, with just two elegantly sculpted, arched guichets (a French word for “hatch” or “opening”) near the top. Rotating behind the guichets are two clockwise-rotating disks, one for hours, the other for minutes; a diamond-shaped (“lozenge”) pointer between the two disks indicates the correct time in an intuitive, non-analog presentation. Such a display is exceedingly rare these days but has deep roots in watchmaking history; IWC’s Tribute to Pallweber model is one of the few modern revivals of the 19th-century style. 

Subtle but significant details abound: the carefully curved shape of the guichets is meant to evoke the interior architecture of  Louis Vuitton’s family home and workshop in the French commune of Asnières-sur-Seine. The sapphire crystal over the apertures is framed by metallized edges and carefully curved to protect the numbered disks beneath while not interfering with their rotations. The calligraphy on the disks’ Arabic numerals reflects the styles used on turn-of-the-century timepieces (the turn of 19th to 20th, of course, rather than 20th to 21st).

The platinum-cased piece is the more dazzling in its aesthetic, with the expanse of its time-framing front plate covered with 795 diamonds in a snow setting; each one required 32 hours of painstaking work to set the various-sized stones by hand. The more understated rose gold model has a polished finish that Louis Vuitton says will develop a patina over years of wear, a process that will make each one unique to its owner. The exquisite finishing of the cases extends to the La Fabrique du Temps movement; its solid-gold, high-inertia rotor has a brand-specific V-notched design and a polished periphery, the bridges are sandblasted with micro-sandblasting on their edges, and the barrel click is elegantly arched. From a performance standpoint, Caliber LFT MA01.01 is also top-tier, with a 45-hour power reserve, a 4Hz frequency, and a high level of chronometric reliability courtesy of its free-sprung balance and high-precision masselots (inertia blocks.)

The platinum version of the Tambour Convergence, on a blue calf leather strap is priced at CHF 61,000; the rose-gold model, on a brown camel leather strap, at CHF 33,500.