Louis Vuitton Tambour Spin Time Air — 18kt White Gold, 42.5mm, Blue Alligator — Ref. Q1EG60

Heritage & Brand Origins

Heralded luggage maker Louis Vuitton entered the watch industry in 1988 with a line of specialty fashion quartz watches. In 2002, the maison began production of the drum-cased Tambour series — “tambour” being French for drum — which remains the foundation of its watchmaking to this day. Today, under the tutelage of La Fabrique du Temps in Geneva, Louis Vuitton develops and assembles high-end mechanical movements entirely in Switzerland. Because of the quality and sophistication of their wares, Louis Vuitton has become a significant presence in haute horlogerie.

LTFL Background & Ownership History

Luxury Time For Less®’s acquisition of this unique one-owner horological masterpiece can be categorized as one of our most rare purchases. With rotating “cubes” replacing the typical hour hand, one look — and one feel — of this watch exudes exclusivity. A keen-eyed watch enthusiast has the opportunity to secure this stunning white gold timepiece for a fraction of its original retail price. The watch is sold with LTFL’s full one-year warranty.

The Watch

The Spin Time is the most modern of the jumping-hour watches, and the Air is its most theatrical expression. There is no hour hand. Instead, twelve 18kt white gold cubes ring the dial — each carrying one letter of L-O-U-I-S V-U-I-T-T-O-N — and every sixty minutes two of them flip instantly: one retiring to its neutral face, the next turning to reveal the hour. Beneath them sits the LV signature motif in blue and red, joined by a single tricolor flag cube. The real trick, though, is what you cannot see. The patented automatic Caliber LV88, developed and assembled at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, is compressed into a small central module suspended between two sapphire crystals — held in place by little more than the crown stem — so the cubes appear to hover in mid-air. That is precisely where the “Air” in the name comes from. Twenty-six jewels, 28,800 vibrations per hour, and an open sapphire caseback that reveals both the oscillating weight and the hidden faces of the cubes as they turn. The 42.5mm drum-shaped case, the crown, the cubes, and the tang buckle are all 18kt white gold, the case and buckle stamped Au750, on a royal blue alligator strap made in France. And there is one more detail, easily missed: the caseback is engraved “Spin Time Anniversary,” marking ten years of the patented concept first introduced in 2009 — a quiet nod, on the side nobody sees, to the invention that makes the watch what it is.

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THIS WATCH HAS BEEN SOLD

While no longer available, it remains on our site to showcase the quality and variety of pieces offered by LTFL.
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