Expect the Unexpected: Tambour Street Diver by Louis Vuitton
In reality, a dive watch is worn not just for deep-sea jaunts as many favour the popular tool timepiece for its sporty sensibility, beyond its functional practicality. As for Louis Vuitton’s latest Tambour Street Diver, a fashionable spin is given to the traditional notion of a diver’s watch through a contemporary filter resonating with solid street cred, in and out of ocean depths.
Celebrating two decades since being unveiled as the Maison’s very first watch collection in 2002, the Tambour has become the cornerstone of Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking exploits. A timeless and versatile aesthetic affirms the Tambour’s strength in design, having hosted a wide spectrum of horological creations, ranging from high jewellery masterpieces to high complications and the connected watch.
For 2021, the robust and edgy Tambour Street Diver is making a big splash not just as a high-end sports watch but an urban and stylish companion that travels effortlessly from the office to the gym, club and beach. This ultra-modern dive model emanates a vibrant persona that echoes the creative and unconventional attitude symbolic of the House — without compromising on underwater credentials: screw-down crowns, 100m water resistance, Super-LumiNova coating and an inner rotating bezel.
Louis Vuitton corrals three actors from across the globe to star in its dynamic Tambour Street Diver campaign. The sensational Tahar Rahim, Sophie Turner and Minho Lee are set to transport us along with the latest Tambour timepiece on a Journey Beyond the Surface, shot by renowned photographer Mario Sorrenti. Together the trio embody the bold and radical reinvention of the traditional dive watch that combines design and purpose to unite the evolving connections between craftsmanship and technology, work and play, adventure and discovery in everyday city living.
The Tambour watch is crafted with larger proportions at the base than at the top to render a uniquely tapered drum-shaped case. For the Tambour Street Diver, the case and strap are united seamlessly by the applied horns, while the 12 letters “L-O-U-I-S-V-U-I-T-T-O-N” on the case band allow each alphabet to serve as hour indicators. Interestingly, the Tambour Street Diver features a diving scale that is built below the sapphire crystal on the turning flange in the form of an angled ring lying at the dial’s outer edge. Besides the prevention of accidentally rotating an external one, the internal rotating bezel also gives the case a clean, minimal look with the gently sloping flange providing a sense of depth.
The watch’s double crowns comprise a colour-contrasting one with a diver’s motif at 1:30 that is for setting the dive bezel, while the winding crown at 3 o’clock sets the time. A diagonal matte stripe cuts across the 6 o’clock small seconds subdial to mirror the flag signal of a diver in water. Another eye-catching dial feature is the unorthodox “Align the V” concept, where the diving scale’s letter V when rotated will sync with the hue-matched V at the tip of the minute hand to form an X to signify the start of a dive. The initial 15 minutes underwater can be read on the 60-minute internal bezel, marked by a vivid colour block on the diving scale. A mysterious glance of the movement within is afforded by the semi-smoked sapphire crystal case back.
For new-found fans, the Tambour Street Diver is offered in three automatic 44 mm models with unique colourways: Skyline Blue, with a two-tone case in blue PVD and stainless steel; Neon Black, with a black PVD-coated stainless steel case; and Black Blaze, with a stainless steel case coated in black PVD and pink gold.
The particularly unisex-friendly 39.5 mm quartz iteration: Pacific White comes in a polished stainless steel case. Fitted with a quick-change strap system, developed by Louis Vuitton over the past three years, the look of the watch is easily transformed especially for Skyline Blue and Neon Black, which are complemented with one of two rubber strap options each.
Armed with disruptive design and discreet functionality, the Tambour Street Diver absolutely extrapolates Louis Vuitton’s horology trajectory, backed by the hallmarks of innovation, craftsmanship, creativity and freedom of expression.
Visit louisvuitton.com for more details.
