Louis Vuitton’s newest timepiece is the Tambour Carpe Diem Minute Repeater. The watch’s unique sense of style makes for one heck of an icebreaker—it is packed with macabre symbolism.
The watch’s decorative sensibilities reflect its era in a manner similar to those of other plague-related periods. In spirit, it could’ve been a wildly popular item in 14th-century Europe. Vuitton didn’t roll it out until the light at the end of the tunnel of our particular pandemic was within sight, though. A memento mori, then, but one more playful than grimly pragmatic. Tasteful to the last.
Change is evoked everywhere in the mechanics, enamel and engraving. The snake’s tail is a second hand—retrograde, naturally—and the flower emblem alters, as the skull’s mouth opens to reveal the familiar latin phrase that can be paraphrased as don’t dawdle. Pink gold is the predominant material in use.
Priced at $459K. But you can’t take it with you, baby.
