SJX Watches
In Depth: Louis Vuitton Tambour Spin Time Air
Since it acquired Geneva complications specialist La Fabrique du Temps in 2012 Louis Vuitton has been steadily growing and refining its complicated watch offering. Last year it debuted the Carpe Diem minute repeater with automaton, the most complex watch LDFT has developed to date. But the signature completion of Louis Vuitton (LV) is still the patented three-dimensional jumping hours known as Spin Time. The complication relies on 12 cubes to indicate the hours, rotating one by one every hour. Since its introduction in 2009, the Spin Time has been iterated into a variety of formats, including a GMT, regatta countdown chronograph, and most recently a glow-in-the-dark extravaganza. But its most refined form is arguably the Spin Time Air launched in 2019 that has a dozen “floating” cubes arrayed around a movement suspended between the front and back crystals. Initial thoughts The Spin Time Air has all the elements of an interesting watch. Both transparent and striking, the “floating” display brings to mind historical mystery timepieces, with the tall Tambour case serving as the perfect frame for the suspended display. But it is the cubic hour display sets it apart. The hour display is truly unique, even when compared against the most exotic in independent watchmaking. It brings to mind Urwerk’s cubic display found in the UR-210, but that’s a three-dimensional reinterpretation of the wandering hours, whereas the Spin Time is actually an innovative take on the jum...
