Today we present the Tambour Spin Time Regatta from Louis Vuitton.
LOUIS VUITTON
The beginning of the French fashion house, long regarded as the worlds most valuable luxury brand, began with its founding in 1854 by Louis Vuitton.
Vuitton had seen a way to make luggage more practical. It was a time when ships and trains were making the world a much smaller place and the brand introduced a flat bottomed trunnk made of light weight trianon canvas which were airtight and also easy to stack. The design caught on quickly and by 1867, following the participation in the Paris universal exhibition, Louis Vuitton found it necessary to protect his trademark from imitators. The now famous beige and brown striped design appeared in 1876 and in 1888, three years after the opening of the first London store on Oxford St, Vuitton created the Damier Canvas patter which bore a logo that reads "marque L. Vuitton déposée", a registered trademark.
Louis Vuitton died in 1892, passing the company's management onto his son, Georges Vuitton. He began a campaign to build the company into a worldwide corporation, exhibiting the company's products at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. In 1896, the company launched the signature Monogram Canvas and protected the design with worldwide patents. 1901 saw the release of the Steamer Bag, designed to fit inside the luggage trunks.
The company opened what was, at the time, the largest travel-goods store in the world. The Louis Vuitton Building on the Champs-Elysees. Within a few short years, boutique stores had been opened in New York, Bombay, Washington, London, Alexandria and Buenos Aires. Georges Vuitton died in 1936 and control passed to his son, Gaston-Louis Vuitton.
In 1977 the company merged with Moët et Chandon and Hennessy creating the LVMH, a luxury goods conglomerate which now owns more than 60 companies including well known wine, spirits, fashion, perfumes and cosmetics, watches and jewellery and selective retailer brands - Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, Hennessey, Hublot, Tag Heuer, Zenith, Bvlgari, De Beers, Fendi, Mercier, Givenchy, Christian Dior, Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, DFS Galleria, Emilio Pucci, Ruinart, Glenmorangie, Guerlain, Loewe and Dom Perignon among others.
Louis Vuitton continues to produce luxury luggage and over the years have added leather good, shoes, jewellery, sunglasses, books, accessories and, in 2002, added the Tambour watch collection.
As with many other luxury brands, counterfeit merchandise is a very significant problem and has been plaguing the brand for over 150 years. As it one of the most heavily counterfeited brands it is an issue that is taken very seriously. Directly employed by the company are a specialised team of lawyers and investigators pursuing offenders throughout the world. A statement from parent company, LMVH, states that "Some 60 people at various levels of responsibility working full-time on anti-counterfeiting in collaboration with a wide network of outside investigators and a team of lawyers." Authentic Louis Vuitton merchandise is strictly distributed to over 130 brand owned boutiques, from Tokyo to Marrakech, New York to Melbourne, and a small number of select luxury department stores. Recently, an online store has begun operating through the main website.
In a 2012 Bloomberg article, the brand was valued at US$25.9 billion dollars and for six consecutive years (2006–2012) Louis Vuitton has been named the world's most valuable luxury brand.
The video below features the LV Tambour Spin Time Regatta, upon which this years entry for Only Watch is based.
Blue sunray effect dial set with 18ct gold applied indexes and numerals and with a hand-engraved 18ct gold boat, designed by Paul Pettavino (sail and flag are made of 18ct white gold hand covered with white enamel with a blue and red LV logo, Hull made of pink gold hand painted with Paul's name in red.) Unique piece.
Catalogue Description:
| LOUIS VUITTON TA MBOUR Spin Time Regatta for "ONLY WATCH 2013 1/1" A fine and unique 18K pink gold self-winding chronograph wristwatch with 5-minute regatta countdown and personalized dial design by Paul Pettavino. Accompanied by custom Louis Vuitton trunk and Certificate. | |
| C. 18K pink gold, crown and push buttons at 2 and 4 O’clock over molded with rubber, sapphire crystal, caseback engraved with Monogram pattern and specific mention "ONLY WATCH 2013 1/1." D. Blue sunray effect dial set with 18K gold applied indexes and numerals and with a hand-engraved 18K gold boat, designed by Paul Pettavino (sail & flag are made of 18K white gold hand covered with white enamel with a blue and red LV logo, Hull made of pink gold hand painted with Paul’s name in red), 18K pink gold hours and minutes hands. Red chronograph hours and minutes hands, ONLY WATCH printed in red, between 12:00 and 2:00 on the flange. M. LV156, 35 jewels, Automatic Manufacture Calibre developed and assembled in-house at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, 12-hour chronograph, 5-minute regatta countdown indicated by the 5 rotating cubes, number of components: 360, power reserve: 48 hours, oscillations: 28 800 per hour. | |
| Estimate: 60,000 EUR - 80,000 EUR |
Links to all the articles in our countdown can be found on the original post
