Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The Louis Vuitton Tambour Spin Time Comes Back as a Permanent Collection (Incl. Video)
Following last year's limited editions, the distinctive Spin Time collection is back permanently.
First released in 2009 as part of the emblematic Tambour collection, the Spin Time is, without a doubt, one of the most recognisable creations of Louis Vuitton horlogerie. The idea, a dynamic display using 12 rotating cubes as a modern interpretation of the classic jumping hour complication, was inspired by the overhead flap panels that show timetables in airports, another reference to travel. Following the return and revamp of the concept with the Taiko limited editions of 2025, the Louis Vuitton Tambour Spin Time comes back now as a permanent collection, with 5 different references that we’ll discover in this article, as well as in a video featuring Michel Navas, Watchmaker and Co-Founder of La Fabrique du Temps, and Matthieu Hegi, Artistic Director at La Fabrique du Temps.
The Spin Time Concept and return
As said, the Spin Time is certainly, together with the Escale Worldtime, the most emblematic creation of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. This complication was developed by Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini for Louis Vuitton back when the French powerhouse did not yet own La Fabrique du Temps (LFT), emerging in their minds around 2007, before being officially released in 2009. The idea, a dynamic display using 12 rotating cubes to indicate the hours, was inspired by the overhead flap panels that show timetables in airports – once again connecting these watches with the spirit of travel dear to Vuitton. You can see this display as a three-dimensional reinterpretation of the traditional jumping hour complication.
These 12 cubes, one for each hour, are connected to the central movement using arms. These cubes rotate every 12 hours, thus bearing four faces – two with the hour to be displayed and two with a discreet tone-on-tone background blending in with the rest of the dial. When 60 minutes have passed, the current cube rotates quickly and firmly by 90 degrees and disappears, while the next cube turns 90 degrees to indicate the hour to come with a contrasting background. A central hand indicates the minutes classically. These cubes can either be inserted into a solid dial or into a more complex Air version, with each of the cubes levitating within the case while the movement is suspended at its centre.
In 2025, Louis Vuitton rejuvenated the concept, launching a series of limited editions under the Tambour Taiko Spin Time collection. It featured 4 main models, with the classic close-dial Spin Time, the Spin Time Air with suspended cubes, the Spin Time Antipode with a world time complication and the Spin Time Flying Tourbillon with a centrally mounted regulating organ. But this collection wasn’t only about the return of its distinctive display, as it introduced a new case design – the Tambour Taiko shape – in 39.5mm and 42.5mm versions, with a drum-like central case and new, complex lugs (thus different from the integrated Tambour) and a bezel with the 12 letters of Louis Vuitton discreetly engraved on the perimeter.
This new collection also integrated a brand new base movement (with different variations depending on the complication), a compact automatic calibre developed and manufactured internally at La Fabrique du Temps. And while the concept of the display is still the same since 2009, with the instantaneous and simultaneous jump of two cubes (as the prior hour disappears and the current hour appears), the mechanics behind the Spin Time have changed, as explained in this in-depth article with video. But now, it’s time to see the new collection, as 5 new references are released to create a permanent range.
Tambour Spin Time Green in White Gold
Like all models in this new permanent collection, the first watch we’ll be looking at is an evolution of one of the limited editions launched in 2025. The most classic interpretation of the Spin Time concept, this close-dial version retains its case and dimensions, but swaps the dolphin grey colour scheme for a new khaki green style, an earthy tone with an inherent connection to exploration and nature. This version is housed in a rather compact brushed white gold case, measuring 39.5mm in diameter and 12.15mm in thickness. Paired with a tone-on-tone rubber strap, this makes this version the most versatile of the range, specifically with its robust 100m water resistance.
If the green colour scheme is new, the construction of the dial and the display are familiar, with the Spin Time’s original jumping hour display configuration based on tion: 12 numbered cubes orbiting the dial. Each rotates in sequence at the top of the hour; one cube face – lighter in tone – signals the current hour, while the remainder hold their neutral position until called. The green dial combines sunray-brushed and sandblasted surfaces with white gold markers and hands, all reminiscent of the integrated Tambour of 2023.
Under the sapphire back (new for this year, as the 2025 limited edition had a closed back) is the same movement as the 2025 limited edition: the in-house, automatic calibre ST13.01 with its solid gold rotor, micro-blasted bridges, polished chamfers and colourless jewels. The movement runs at 4Hz and stores 45 hours of power reserve. This edition will be priced at EUR 86,000.
Quick facts: 39.5mm x 12.15mm – white gold case, sapphire crystals front and back, sandblasted bezel with 12 LV letters, 100m water-resistant – sunray and sandblasted dial in khaki green, white gold markers and hands – calibre ST13.01, in-house automatic, hours with spin time display, minutes, 4Hz, 45h power reserve – khaki green rubber strap, gold pin buckle – reference W9WGA2 – EUR 86,000
Tambour Spin Time Australia’s Opal in Rose Gold
A high-end, far more precious take on the concept exposed above, the Tambour Spin Time Australia’s Opal brings a different and bolder concept to the collection, with a combination of gold and a fiery Australian Opal dial and stones on the case. Sharing its movement and case dimensions (39.5mm x 12.15mm) with the green version above, this 18k rose gold edition (a first for the collection) is all about stones, whether precious or hard ones. The case is set with baguette-cut sapphires, seen on the bezel and lugs, as well as the strap’s buckle. In continuity with the dial, the rubber strap adopts a blue hue.
The dial retains the same combination of blue and gold, but this time with a rare element: Australian opal, a stone that shifts between indigo, teal, and cerulean. The stone not only appears in the centre of the dial (as it did with the 2025 limited edition with falcon eye dial) but also between each of the 12 Spin Time cubes, the latter being dark blue and silver-toned, with rose gold-toned numerals. The dial is finished with a blue central ring, where the hour markers are made from baguette-cut diamonds.
Powered by the in-house calibre ST13.01, visible under a sapphire caseback (again, a novelty for this year’s permanent collection), this high-end gem-set edition of the Spin Time retails for EUR 190,000.
Quick facts: 39.5mm x 12.15mm – rose gold case, sapphire crystals front and back, baguette-cut sapphires on bezel and lugs, 100m water-resistant – Australian opal and blue dial, rose gold hand and diamond/gold hour markers – calibre ST13.01, in-house automatic, hours with spin time display, minutes, 4Hz, 45h power reserve – blue rubber strap, gold pin buckle – reference W9PG42 – EUR 190,000
Tambour Spin Time Air Blue in White Gold
A new version of what’s probably the most emblematic model in the collection, the Tambour Spin Time Air returns in a slightly bolder and more saturated edition than last year’s limited edition model. Housed in a larger case of 42.5mm made of white gold, it retains all classic elements of the collection such as the sandblasted bezel with polished LV letters or the sculpted lugs with recessed sandblasted surfaces. More open than its smaller counterparts, the Spin Time Air has a more complex case construction, explaining its 50m water resistance.
This version relies on the beloved display where the cubes are suspended in thin air, almost levitating within the case while the movement is suspended in the centre. For this new edition in white gold, the dolphin grey colour scheme of last year is replaced by a more vibrant hue of blue, used on all surfaces: the centre of the dial, with sunray and sandblasted surfaces, the cubes (at least for two of the faces), the outer flange and the new leather strap. In this version, the domed cubes are more complex than on the close-dial models, being topped by a small, polished stud, a reference to the rivets found on Louis Vuitton’s historic trunks.
The base movement is identical to the two aforementioned models, being the calibre ST13.01, only here lodged at the centre of the timepiece, allowing the cubes to float like satellites, and paired with longer shafts to support the levitating display. This version is priced at EUR 95,000.
Quick facts: 42.5mm x 12.45mm – white gold case, sapphire crystals front and back, sandblasted bezel with 12 LV letters, 50m water-resistant – sunray and sandblasted dial in blue, white gold markers and hands – calibre ST13.01, in-house automatic, hours with spin time display, minutes, 4Hz, 45h power reserve – blue calfskin strap, gold pin buckle – reference W9WG81 – EUR 95,000
Tambour Spin Time Air Antipode Blue in White Gold
A more complex take on the concept, the Spin Time collection now integrates an Air Antipode edition permanently. Equipped with a traveller’s complication, this large edition pairs the 12 floating cubes with an original world timer function. Indeed, the cubes are not here to display the local hours anymore, as the time is read more traditionally at the centre of the watch – a conventional 360-degree hand indicates the minutes, while the hours are displayed by an arrowhead pointer in yellow, mounted on a rotating disc bearing a world map. The world time function uses the 12 rotating cubes, and the hour numeral adjacent to each cube indicates the time in the two cities on each cube, with the background indicating whether it’s day or nighttime. The city pairs on each cube are exactly 12 time zones apart. For instance, when it’s midnight in Los Angeles, it is midday in Dubai.
Following the style of the classic Spin Time Air model above, the Antipode version relies on a white gold and blue combination, paired with a calfskin blue leather strap. Inside is the in-house Calibre ST12.01, a more complex movement that uses the same base as other members of the Spin Time family. All adjustments are handled simply and intuitively via the crown.
The Tambour Spin Time Air Antipode is housed in a 42.5mm case in white gold, with a thickness of 12.45mm and a water resistance of 50m. It retails for EUR 120,000.
Quick facts: 42.5mm x 12.45mm – white gold case, sapphire crystals front and back, sandblasted bezel with 12 LV letters, 50m water-resistant – sunray and sandblasted dial in blue, white gold markers and hands, world map in galvanic growth – calibre ST12.01, in-house automatic, world time with spin time display, hour disc, minutes, 4Hz, 45h power reserve – blue calfskin strap, gold pin buckle – reference W9WG91 – EUR 120,000
Tambour Spin Time Air Flying Tourbillon Salmon in Platinum
Last but not least, the permanent Tambour Spin Time collection now integrates a new version of the central tourbillon model. This high-end edition pairs a white metal case with a matte salmon-toned dial, a classic of fine watchmaking. Created and manufactured internally at La Fabrique des Cadrans, the chosen salmon tone is soft and relatively discreet, keeping the focus on the display. It is elegantly paired with a tan-coloured calfskin leather strap.
Housed in a 42.5mm case made of 950 platinum, this edition adds a central tourbillon regulator to the Spin Time Air display. The base automatic movement has been deeply reworked to integrate this central tourbillon – the going train was rearranged to locate the tourbillon on the dial, but the minutes hand also had to be positioned under and around the tourbillon. The latter is housed in a cage in the form of a Monogram flower, and the lower steel plate is polished to show the underside of the cage. This version is priced at EUR 200,000.
Quick facts: 42.5mm x 12.45mm – platinum case, sapphire crystals front and back, sandblasted bezel with 12 LV letters, 50m water-resistant – snailed and sandblasted dial in salmon, white gold markers and hands – calibre ST05.01, in-house automatic, hours with spin time display, minutes, central one-minute flying tourbillon, 4Hz, 45h power reserve – tan calfskin strap, platinum pin buckle – reference W9PT21 – EUR 200,000
For more details, please consult louisvuitton.com.
