Flashback in 2011, when Louis Vuitton acquired La Fabrique du Temps, literally “the time factory”, an intimate workshop founded in 2007 by two experts in watch complications, Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini. If the House knew so far how to direct its fashion clientele towards its stylish timepieces thanks to a set of monograms and leather textures well suited to its brand universe, it now covets another territory: fine watchmaking. An audacious bet that the company has achieved with the support of the two master watchmakers, who subtly blend connected objects and high-flying complications.

In an interview with Luxus+, Michel Navas discusses the latest launch of the brand, which has just received its third Poinçon de Genève for its Tambour Curve Tourbillon Volant. The ultimate recognition. Interview.

How would you explain the success of the Tambour Curve Tourbillon Volant Poinçon de Genève, the latest launch from Louis Vuitton Horlogerie?

This watch was a great success because it is innovative in every way: the caliber (46 mm breaking up the roundness to become a shape in its own right), the caseband (a continuous curve from one attachment to the other that appears round when viewed from above), the movement (with 80 hours of power reserve and a tourbillon regulator), the dial (openworked with the Poinçon de Genève at 6 o’clock instead of 9 o’clock), the materials (in particular Carbostratum®, developed for Louis Vuitton), the bracelet (the curved case hugs the wrist) and the folding clasp.

Regarding the outer part of the case made of Carbostratum®, a unique composite material, it also required a very special technique, namely the random superposition of different layers of carbon by a specialist, resulting in pieces that are unique in each execution.

And despite all these innovations, this watch has been stamped with the Poinçon de Genève, the most respected certification of watchmaking quality, the emblem of Geneva’s fine watchmaking for over a century.

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YOU CAN READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BY ORDERING THE NEW ISSUE OF THE LUXURY JOURNALS 

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Featured Photo : Michel Navas © Courtesy of Louis Vuitton