====== Louis Vuitton ======
**Louis Vuitton** is a famed luxury goods maker, founder of the [[LVMH]] group, and launched a high-end watch line in [[2002]].

===== Overview =====
Louis Vuitton was founded in [[1854]], opening the first shop for luggage and travel items in Paris. In [[1987]], Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy were combined to form [[LVMH]], then the world's largest producer of luxury goods. The company was controlled by [[Bernard Arnault]] under his Arnault Group after a hostile takeover in [[1988]]. LVMH continued to grow, with major acquisitions in the area of watchmaking including [[Benedom]] ([[1995]], including [[Favre-Leuba]] and their Swiss high-end watchmaking workshop), [[Ebel]], [[TAG Heuer]], and [[Zenith]] ([[1999]]), [[Bulgari]] ([[2001]]), and [[Hublot]] ([[2008]]).

The first Luis Vuitton-branded watch line, [[Louis Vuitton Tambour|Tambour]], was launched in [[2002]], rivaling offerings from [[Chanel]], [[Ralph Lauren]], and others. This remains the primary watch line for Louis Vuitton to this day. The company leveraged the high-end watchmaking expertise of Les Ateliers Horlogers (formerly [[Ebel]]'s "Private Label Development" arm) in [[La Chaux-de-Fonds]] along with third parties like [[BNB Concept]] to develop higher-end watches throughout the decade.

In [[2010]], Louis Vuitton launched its first in-house movement, the [[Louis Vuitton Spin Time|Spin Time]]. LVMH subsidiary Hublot had purchased the assets of [[BNB Concept]] in early [[2010]], and this inspired Louis Vuitton to purchase BNB spin-off [[La Fabrique du Temps]] in [[2011]]. The company merged this with casemaker [[Léman Cadrans]] and their existing La Chaux-de-Fonds workshop in [[2014]] to create **La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton**, a high-end watch [[manufacture]]. This enabled the company to compete at the highest levels of the industry.

Louis Vuitton launched the [[Louis Vuitton Escale|Escale Worldtime]] watch in 2014, a complicated offering. Their [[2016]] [[Louis Vuitton Voyager Flying Tourbillon|Voyager Flying Tourbillon "Poinçon de Genève"]] achieved the [[Geneva Hallmark]].

===== Collections =====
  * [[Louis Vuitton Escale|Escale]] - Travel-themed watches mainly with [[worldtimer]] functions.
  * [[Louis Vuitton Tambour|Tambour]] - The original model line
  * [[Louis Vuitton Voyager|Voyager]] - Modern travel watches with [[GMT]] functions


{{tag>Watch_brands LVMH Watch_brands_Switzerland Watch_brands_France FHH}}