NAUTICAL LOUIS VUITTON
Below: Tambour Regatta
Right: Tambour Navy Chronograph and the Tambour Navy Small Second. Both are powered by automatic movements.
AS THE TITLE Sponsor of the America’ s Cup in 2017, Louis Vuitton lends its name to the final Louis Vuitton America’ s Cup Match, as well as to all qualifying regattas, including the Louis Vuitton America’ s Cup World Series, the Louis Vuitton America’ s Cup Qualifies and the Louis
Vuitton America’ s Cup Playoffs. This year marks the tenth America’ s
Cup in which Louis Vuitton has played its role in determining the holder’
s challenger, which this year is the New Zealand team( which emerged victorious after racing the Oracle Team USA in the finals.)
In addition to a slew of accessories and clothing created by Louis Vuitton to celebrate its longtime sponsorship of the America’ s Cup, Louis Vuitton also makes the actual cup, a two-feet-tall silver trophy. The Paris-based House has also created a new cup travel case in which the America’ s Cup will be both transported and presented to this winning team. The trophy travel case features a vivid scarlet V to reflect the new America’ s Cup logo.
That same V also figures prominently into the watches Louis Vuitton has created for Cup. One, the Tambour Automatic Regatta, was initially launched in 2004 and was the first Louis Vuitton watch designed for the Cup featuring Regatta functions. The latest model is a 44mm quartz-powered example with a chronograph, adjustable countdown function, 12-hour alarm function and sporty rubber strap. A strong LV Signature animates the dial while the central V logo is reminder of the firm’ s origins making steamer bags.
The 41.5mm Tambour Navy Small Second features the French tricolor design and is inspired by the world of sailing. The strap on this automatic watch is in Damier Cobalt canvas printed with the America’ s Cup animation signature. A steel-cased 46mm automatic chronograph model with the same color scheme is also new this year. This new watch($ 6,800) is finished with a canvas strap printed with the America’ s Cup signature.
90 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | SUMMER 2017 iWMAGAZINE. COM