If you remember what the flap displays of airport and train station timetables look like, you’ll make sense of this dial design – a jumping hours display based on that concept, devised by La Fabrique du Temps founders Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini. The 3D display has been part of Louis Vuitton’s haute horlogerie collection under the Spin Time banner since 2009.
“Without Spin Time, we would not have embarked on the challenge of entering high watchmaking in this manner,” says Jean Arnault, Watch Director of Louis Vuitton. “And consequently, we would not have integrated La Fabrique du Temps, a founding moment for our watchmaking.”
The line has grown to include various timepieces featuring a range of complications and materials, debuting the Tambour Taiko Spin Time in 2025, a collection of six limited-edition watches marking the evolution of both form and function.
Drawing inspiration from ceremonial Japanese taiko drums and Louis Vuitton’s long-standing travel DNA, the collection combines technical mastery, sophisticated design, and iconic house codes. At the heart of each watch lies the patented 3D jumping cubes display – a whimsical yet mechanically complex signature of Louis Vuitton. This display shows the hour via a rotating cube that flips to reveal the new time, offering an instantaneous, poetic reading of the hours. Each cube is newly refined with curved surfaces for enhanced light play and topped with a mirror-polished nail. The mechanism has also been re-engineered to allow time to be set forwards and backwards – a rare feature in jumping hour complications – thanks to a patented Maltese cross gear.
The six models are housed in the newly developed Tambour Taiko case, a refined reinterpretation of the drum-inspired Tambour silhouette. The case is sleeker and more integrated than its predecessor. It has sculptural lugs composed of precisely machined parts, assembled and finished using traditional and cutting-edge techniques, including laser frosting and hand polishing with diamond paste. All six references come in 18kt white gold, with case sizes of 39.5mm or 42.5mm, the latter revealing the beautifully finished movement through a transparent case back.
A restrained yet recognisable dolphin grey palette unifies the collection, accentuating Louis Vuitton’s understated elegance. The dials, including the rotating cubes, display multiple finishing techniques – sunburst, satin, and hawk’s eye quartz – that interact with light. In the jewelled versions, grey-blue hawk’s eye, a material new to Louis Vuitton watchmaking, adds a luxurious shimmer. Some models are set with baguette-cut or snow-set diamonds, linking high watchmaking with high jewellery.
Each timepiece beats with a new in-house calibre developed at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton in Geneva. These movements are derived from the aesthetic codes introduced with 2023’s LFT023 calibre, including a solid gold rotor engraved with a repeating LV monogram, micro-sandblasted bridges, chamfered edges, and transparent jewels for a modern, monochrome finish. Technically advanced, the new movements offer 45-hour power reserves, 4 Hz frequency, and automatic winding while staying faithful to Louis Vuitton’s design language.
The collection introduces distinct expressions of the Spin Time complication. The Tambour Taiko Spin Time 39.5mm features a sleek, versatile format and integrated, waterproof rubber strap, ideal for refined everyday wear. Its jewelled version is enhanced with 4.3 carats of baguette diamonds and a hawk’s eye dial centre.
The Spin Time Air models in 42.5mm showcase a “floating” aesthetic. The hour cubes seem to levitate between a centrally placed calibre and the case walls, thanks to extended cube shafts.
One of the range highlights is the Spin Time Air Antipode, an unprecedented world-time display that uses 12 cubes to indicate the time in 24 time zones. Each cube displays two opposing cities, mirroring the antipodal logic of global travel. The minutes are shown by a traditional hand, while the hours are marked by a yellow arrow pointer mounted on a rotating world map, paying homage to Louis Vuitton’s heritage in global travel and cartography.
The Air Tourbillon variant further elevates the offering by combining the Spin Time with a flying tourbillon and the floating display of the Spin Time Air – two major complications presented in signature Louis Vuitton style.
The Tambour Taiko Spin Time collection showcases artisanal watchmaking and technical ingenuity and is a tribute to Louis Vuitton’s enduring values of innovation, movement, and savoir-faire.
