Jean Arnault (Paris, 25 years old) has a passion for mechanics. It is therefore significant that the revelation that defined his professional career came to him precisely on board a motor vehicle. “I studied mechanical engineering because I have always been passionate about car and aircraft engines. “My first passion was Formula 1, so I decided to study mechanical engineering in London,” he remembers. “I was lucky enough to spend a season at McLaren and took the train to Woking, to the team’s headquarters. During the trip, I started reading watchmaker blogs to become interested in their mechanical details and design. And I couldn’t get out of there.”
The youngest son of Bernard Arnault, the founder of the French luxury giant LVMH, had discovered his calling. And I was in the right place to develop it. Since 2021, Jean Arnault has been director of watches at Louis Vuitton, a division that until years ago was a minority of the luxury brand but has just thrown itself at the table to show its cards. Last July, in a presentation at the Musée d’Orsay, scene of so many artistic revolutions – and against the backdrop of his giant mechanical clock, by the way – Jean Arnault presented his first major project: a clock, but also a tabula rasa gesture. The new drum takes its name from its predecessors, named for the curved and voluminous profile of the case, but it is completely new and replaces all others. “It is the most important launch we have had in the Louis Vuitton watchmaking factory since 2002,” says Arnault. “Not just for the product, but for everything that surrounds it. Above all, the fact that the remaining collections are being withdrawn is an important gesture for the brand. The underlying thinking is that when we bring a watch to market at this price, with this quality and this attention to detail, we cannot have two or three different levels of quality in the same collection.”
The Tambour is Louis Vuitton’s biggest launch since 2002.Laziz Hamano
In a sector marked by an obsession with archives, where the main brands have several simultaneous lines, long-lasting models and gradual updates for different audiences, Arnault’s commitment to Vuitton watchmaking is a three-fold somersault: from now on, the previous Tambour models disappear by one to give way to a new generation of mechanical unisex models that preserve the essence of the collection but increase the stakes, prices and internal coherence. “Unlike an airplane or a car, a watch has no safety or regulatory restrictions, and this allows us much more freedom and creativity,” develops Arnault. “More than any other object, a clock works when it is a whole. That said, it’s a good box with a good memorial and a good bracelet. All at the same time. And I think we did it.”
The campaign images show the watch in monochrome combinations that emphasize this coherence: in steel with a gray dial or in yellow gold with a white dial, as worn by Leo Messi at the Ballon d’Or ceremony in October. The inaugural collection offers few variations because the essence is high-precision design. Arnault draws attention to barely noticeable but fundamental details, such as the first five links of the bracelet. “They are tapered so that they adapt better to the wrist,” he explains. “We had two options: staggered, with straight lines whose angle gradually changes, or with some kind of continuous curve. The net difference between both options is 0.1 millimeters, but 30% of the price. And we chose the curved version because it allows us a more harmonious design. We play at this level.”
La Fabrique du Temps, the watch manufacturer of the French house. © Gerard Uferas
Arnault’s bet isn’t an obvious move, but rather a move to reposition Louis Vuitton as a niche watchmaker. This is confirmed by the prices (19,500 euros for the simplest model), but also by the way it works. The Fabrique du Temps, the house’s watchmaking factory, is the place where these artisanal processes take place, another rarity. “When I first became interested in watchmaking, I thought that all brands worked the same way, with watchmakers making watches from start to finish. I quickly realized that no, most companies work with assembly lines, like in the automotive industry. As soon as I arrived at Louis Vuitton, I saw that the production method and techniques were truly artisanal. In our workshops, the same watchmaker assembles each watch from start to finish. I could almost sign it! It’s unique. “We push craftsmanship to the limit, and that’s not always cost-effective.”
When Arnault talks about his credentials, he quotes Roger Federer, his childhood idol. “It seems like a simple answer, but I have had a passion for tennis since I was a child. And I admire Federer not only for his successes but also for his defeats. He had moments of weakness, but the way he dealt with those defeats always impressed me. “He is a tennis player who always comes back and always tries to win another Grand Slam.” His commitment to positioning Louis Vuitton at the forefront of watchmaking is also an expression of the resilience that runs in the family. “My father always told me the same thing: if the product is good, the results will be achieved. Before I joined Vuitton I didn’t have the vision to understand it, but now I understand it. We don’t expect immediate impressive results with the new drum, as it’s clearly a big step. But one day collectors and our customers will realize that these products are exceptional, that we have made no compromises, and they will begin to understand the philosophy behind them.”
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