Louis Vuitton Tambour Convergence Guilloché

Louis Vuitton is back with round three of its Tambour Convergene, a classic montre à guichet that displays the dragging hours and minutes through two arched windows. A delightfully compact watch powered by LV’s in-house automatic movement, the 37mm Tambour Convergence takes advantage of the wide rose gold dial plate to showcase its dexterity in the art of hand-turned guillochage.  

Popularised by Pallweber’s patented digital disc display in the 1880s, the montre à guichet (French for a watch with ticket windows or small apertures) enjoyed a comeback in the 1920s and made a surprise return in 2025, including Louis Vuitton’s sleek Art Deco-infused Tambour Convergence.

While Louis Vuitton’s Tambour, its first watch with an unmistakable drum-shaped case, is easy to recognise, the “Convergence” part of the name needs a short explanation. Convergence at LV watches refers to the convergence of different in-house disciplines that have contributed to the genesis of the watch. The epicentre of LV’s watchmaking adventure is housed under one roof at the La Fabrique du Temps manufacture in Geneva, with internal ateliers for case production (La Fabrique des Boîtiers) and for the execution of métiers d’art to decorate the watches (La Fabrique des Arts).

Benefitting from a refined evolution, the Tambour’s iconic silhouette has been slimmed down to a height of just 8mm. The 18k rose gold case, with a compact 37mm diameter, features mirror-polished, satin-finished, and sandblasted finishes. The sculpted lugs, which are manufactured separately, are hollowed and micro-sandblasted. The blue Arabic numerals for the hours rotate clockwise through the upper arched window on a satin-brushed brass disc, while the minutes appear in the smaller window below, united by a lozenge-shaped marker indicating the current hour and minutes.

However, the true protagonist of the Tambour is the hand-guilloché decoration with a series of undulating rays radiating from the hour and minute apertures. Using restored machines, an experienced guillocheur engraves the domed surface of the rose gold plate with two distinct manually operated lathes: a rose engine from 1850 for the concentric waves along the perimeter and a straight-line engine from 1935 for the undulating rays. Each model requires approximately 16 hours of engraving.

Powered by the calibre LFT MA01.01 produced in-house at La Fabrique du Temps, this automatic movement shares its architecture with the base calibre used in the new Spin Time collection. Equipped with a solid 18k rose gold central rotor, the movement delivers a 45-hour power reserve and beats at a contemporary frequency of 4Hz. Decorated with sandblasted bridges with micro-sandblasted edges, perlage on the mainplate, polished bevels, an LV motif on the periphery of the rotor and colourless jewels instead of conventional magenta synthetic rubies, the movement can be admired on the caseback.

The Tambour Convergence Guilloché is paired with a blue calfskin strap and rose gold pin buckle. It retails for EUR 59,000. More information at louisvuitton.com.