Went behind the scenes at La Fabrique du Temps and discovered jacquemart automaton development. Michel Navas & Enrico Barbasini are solving engineering problems that most watchmakers never encounter.
I really like this boots on the ground type of article from you. You have managed to capture a true representation of the place, and heap praise where deserved and still address the elephants in the room. I feel like this is an ideal template for what honest Watch journalism should look like and can be a force for good. Bravo choma
F. I appreciate this article quite a bit. LV is definitely striking on the innovation notes that many collectors seem bemoan is missing from more historical brands in recent years. Dial color alone isn’t new or innovative, it’s just another color. Yet LV seems to be over looked because they don’t have “history” or are just “buying their way in.” I know I’m going to get blasted for this next portion. I attended a LV event about this time last year that was specifically for the new Tambour automatic. I didn’t even notice the ETAchron regulator, I was distracted by the micro rotor and level finishing that I wasn’t expecting to see by LV. The bridge finishing etc… was a surprise. So was how well I felt the integrated bracelet fit. I do agree a free sprung balance would make a larger impact. My biggest hang up actually wasn’t that regulation, I didn’t even pick up on it at the time, it was that it was a “fashion watch” at a the cost of some nice watches from “proper watch makers”. It sounds absolutely stupid to myself typing this now. Those were my emotions at the time, and still are a tiny little bit if I’m honest. Not to the extent that they were then, far, far less. The emotion about fashion watch is silly. It’s purely due to all the things discussed in the SDC articles. Status amongst peers (eye roll) story etc…. Again it sounds very immature and down right childish to say out loud how much some these thoughts and emotions influenced me about something I objectively found to be very nice. An honest assessment of my feeling and thoughts back then were. “Damn, this good, I kind of like it…like wow.,” “what do people think if they see LV on the dial, fashion watch?” “If I owned this tambour what would the watch community think of me….that I’m uneducated?”
Thanks for sharing an honest assessment of the LV after spending time with them. You never know what may end up on a wrist in the future.
I bet you are expecting me to make a comment on LFdT, nope. It’s about Chopard and the 1.96. Guess who ran that factory as his first job in watchmaking??
People don’t want to wear a handbag company on their wrist (logo has is their impediment). But agree they need to invest in R&D to come up with their own chronometre blue, nautilus etc as a loss leader and make available to a few hundred people vs the Kari or Akrivia made for VVIPs
That’s an interesting point around why they don’t get more credit re: their watchmaking. The ability is there. And even the basic Tambour isn’t *bad*.
I personally think LVMH would benefit from a dedicated high horology brand (think Ferdinand Berthoud within Choppard). The LV brand itself comes with a lot of baggage. “Fashion watch” is a pejorative, and you’d probably consider LV a fashion brand.
(It’s not really even a LV issue: Hermes watches are probably underrated.)
I really like this boots on the ground type of article from you. You have managed to capture a true representation of the place, and heap praise where deserved and still address the elephants in the room. I feel like this is an ideal template for what honest Watch journalism should look like and can be a force for good. Bravo choma
F. I appreciate this article quite a bit. LV is definitely striking on the innovation notes that many collectors seem bemoan is missing from more historical brands in recent years. Dial color alone isn’t new or innovative, it’s just another color. Yet LV seems to be over looked because they don’t have “history” or are just “buying their way in.” I know I’m going to get blasted for this next portion. I attended a LV event about this time last year that was specifically for the new Tambour automatic. I didn’t even notice the ETAchron regulator, I was distracted by the micro rotor and level finishing that I wasn’t expecting to see by LV. The bridge finishing etc… was a surprise. So was how well I felt the integrated bracelet fit. I do agree a free sprung balance would make a larger impact. My biggest hang up actually wasn’t that regulation, I didn’t even pick up on it at the time, it was that it was a “fashion watch” at a the cost of some nice watches from “proper watch makers”. It sounds absolutely stupid to myself typing this now. Those were my emotions at the time, and still are a tiny little bit if I’m honest. Not to the extent that they were then, far, far less. The emotion about fashion watch is silly. It’s purely due to all the things discussed in the SDC articles. Status amongst peers (eye roll) story etc…. Again it sounds very immature and down right childish to say out loud how much some these thoughts and emotions influenced me about something I objectively found to be very nice. An honest assessment of my feeling and thoughts back then were. “Damn, this good, I kind of like it…like wow.,” “what do people think if they see LV on the dial, fashion watch?” “If I owned this tambour what would the watch community think of me….that I’m uneducated?”
Thanks for sharing an honest assessment of the LV after spending time with them. You never know what may end up on a wrist in the future.
I bet you are expecting me to make a comment on LFdT, nope. It’s about Chopard and the 1.96. Guess who ran that factory as his first job in watchmaking??
Jean-Frederic Dufour, who you might have heard of
People don’t want to wear a handbag company on their wrist (logo has is their impediment). But agree they need to invest in R&D to come up with their own chronometre blue, nautilus etc as a loss leader and make available to a few hundred people vs the Kari or Akrivia made for VVIPs
That’s an interesting point around why they don’t get more credit re: their watchmaking. The ability is there. And even the basic Tambour isn’t *bad*.
I personally think LVMH would benefit from a dedicated high horology brand (think Ferdinand Berthoud within Choppard). The LV brand itself comes with a lot of baggage. “Fashion watch” is a pejorative, and you’d probably consider LV a fashion brand.
(It’s not really even a LV issue: Hermes watches are probably underrated.)