It was 2014, and the occasion, Baselworld. That year, amidst the fair’s biggest launches and Swiss watchmaking’s mightiest houses, Louis Vuitton, traditionally better known for fashion than horology, held its own. Its statement piece was the Escale Worldtime, a clever, colorful interpretation of the travel watch featuring a striking hand-painted dial, a white gold case with a sleek silhouette and an instantaneous world-time mechanism adjustable via the crown. A few years earlier in 2009, Louis Vuitton had worked with La Fabrique du Temps on the Tambour Spin Time, but this was its first major watch released in collaboration after acquiring a majority stake in them in 2011. Even in those early days, the Geneva manufacture founded by Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini had already built its reputation as a high complications specialist and is known for its commitment to preserving traditional métiers such as a guilloche and hand finishing.

2014: Escale WorldTime

The Escale Worldtime signaled the seeding of a distinctive vision, one directly grounded in the maison’s heritage of travel and craft. For years after, Louis Vuitton stayed loyal to the Worldtime blueprint when it came to the Escale. There with subtle riffs, such as region-specific colorways, métiers d’art dials and a minute repeater, but always featuring the same underlying case and movement architecture. There was also a minor diversion with the Escale Spin Time in 2016, albeit still clad in the hand-painted livery of its Worldtime predecessor. It was only in 2024 that Louis Vuitton rebooted the Escale as a time-only dress watch, with a reworked 39mm case, crown and lugs. The initial lineup arrived as a quartet: two rose gold references and two platinum executions — one with a meteorite dial, the other a high-jewelry onyx-and-diamond variation. These, in turn, were quickly joined by a tight run of more demonstrative offshoots, including limited editions showcasing guilloché and grand feu enamel. In 2025, vivid stone-dial Escales in malachite and turquoise extended the idea into the case itself while still anchored by the same Escale codes of trunk-inspired geometry and contemporary dress watch proportions.

Fast forward to 2026, and Louis Vuitton continues to stay true to its vision for Escale, building on its twin pillars of travel and craft. “This new chapter for Escale is aligned with the transformation we have been going through over the last four years,” says Jean Arnault, Director of Louis Vuitton Watches. “The challenge for us was to elevate historical icons like the Worldtime to our new craftmanship standard, and the difference is incredible.”

For this year’s LVMH Watch Week, the maison announced the launch of five new additions and four new calibers, beginning with a return to the Escale Worldtime.

Refining the Essence of the Worldtime

“The Worldtime is where the Escale story truly began,” says Matthieu Hegi, Artistic Director of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. “Bringing it back wasn’t just a choice; it was essential to honor the complication that defined the collection.”

Louis Vuitton Escale Worldtime Tourbillon

This is exactly what the maison does with not one but two Worldtime references, now available in platinum for the first time: the Escale Worldtime and the Escale Worldtime Tourbillon. Housed in the updated Escale case launched with 2024’s time-only references, but just marginally larger at 40mm, they bear the beautiful signature Escale lugs inspired by the brass brackets and reinforced corners of historic Louis Vuitton trunks, now mirror polished by hand on both the outer and inner flanks, with polished decorative rivets.

As with the original Escale Worldtime, time is told via three rotating disks: the outermost ring representing the cities, then the jumping hours, and finally the minutes via the markers on the center dial. The city disk is bi-directional and is set via the crown on the first stop; time is set via the second stop.

Three rotating disks: the outermost ring representing the cities, then the jumping hours, and finally the minutes via the markers on the center dial

Louis Vuitton retains the iconic showcase of 24 flags around the world as a miniature hand-painted ring. Here, it frames the fine-grained center dial first seen in 2024’s time-only models. According to Louis Vuitton, the dial pays tribute to the texture of the historic Monogram canvas, and is achieved by stamping. In contrast to the bold graphic palette of the original, it brings a subtle contemporary elegance to the new Escale Worldtime models.

Louis Vuitton Escale Worldtime

The headline act this round, however, is the Escale Worldtime Tourbillon, with a flying tourbillon in the shape of the Louis Vuitton Monogram flower, commanding attention at the center of the dial. “The Worldtime has always been about motion, not just across time zones, but in how the watch feels alive,” says master watchmaker Michel Navas of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. “Introducing the flying tourbillon at its center amplifies that energy. It gives the complication a visible heartbeat.” Indeed, whirling high in its open cage to complete one revolution every 60 seconds, it resembles a beating mechanical heart, mesmerizing and hypnotic, and beautifully showcased through the domed sapphire that pushes the thickness of the watch to 12.8mm (versus the 10.3mm of its sibling).

The center flying tourbillon in the shape of the Louis Vuitton Monogram flower

Thickness of the Louis Vuitton Escale Worldtime Tourbillon pushes to 12.8mm

But the shift of the flying tourbillon from the 6 o’clock position, where it is traditionally located, to the center of the Escale Worldtime dial is no simple task. In fact, it required a complete rehaul of the movement architecture to integrate the rotating city disk and tourbillon within a shared space. “The central flying tourbillon takes the center stage and requires space, meaning that all the components of the rotating discs (and the one jumping to indicate the hours) and the base movement were moved on the peripheral side of the piece,” Navas elaborates. The movement itself is meticulously finished, featuring an 18K rose gold oscillating weight that is showcased through the open casebacks for both Worldtime references, versus the closed caseback of the 2014 version.

The 18K rose gold oscillating weight that is showcased through the open casebacks

Both calibers — the LFT VO 12.01 and LFT VO 05.01 for the tourbillon — are developed entirely in-house at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Beating at a very respectable 4Hz, their power reserve has been upped to 62 hours from the 38 hours of the original.

Elsewhere, the upgrade is similarly evident, as is the precision and attention paid to details. The ring of flags on the outermost dial, for instance, is each meticulously painted by hand, one color at a time, in a painstaking process that takes over a week per dial. “Every Escale Worldtime dial is the work of a single artisan, who works one brushstroke at a time from start to finish,” says Hegi.

The flags themselves reference various motifs in Louis Vuitton’s rich history, from the instantly recognizable Monogram flower pattern to the graphic “V” of Gaston-Louis Vuitton, here used to represent the city of Paris. “The flag motifs aren’t just decoration; they’re part of the House’s visual language,” Hegi elaborates. “Each one embodies a fragment of our history.”

For the Escale Worldtime Tourbillon where the flags are rendered in grand feu enamel, the time taken and, indeed, the difficulty of the process practically double. To achieve the desired results, each dial must undergo more than 40 firings in five different layers at temperatures ranging from 730°C to 840°C. All in all, it takes a master enameler two weeks to complete just one dial.

Indeed, the devil is in the details and in the new Escale Worldtime references, they translate into a reserved elegance and sensibility aligned with the times — in the fine finishing, the grained dial that subtly references the maison’s heritage, and yes, in the Monogram flower of the flying tourbillon versus a mere stamped logo. As Arnault points out, “Details around the case, dial, movement finishing … all the details were carefully thought through.” The Escale Worldtime is still an extraordinary striking watch with its colorful parade of flags and unique way of telling time, but like good French wine and George Clooney, it has matured finely indeed.

Intentionally or not, it marks a coming of age of sorts for LVMH Watches, a subtle flex and reminder of how far the division has progressed in both vision and technical capabilities since launching the original Escale Worldtime 12 years ago.

Tech Specs: Louis Vuitton Escale Worldtime

Movement Self-winding Caliber LFT VO 12.01; 62-hour power reserve
Function Jumping hours, minutes and world-time with day/night indication for 24 time zones
Case 40mm x 10.3mm; platinum with open caseback, water resistant to 50m
Dial Grained; hand-painted city ring with flags featuring Louis Vuitton’s signature motifs
Strap Blue calf leather strap with black calf leather lining and platinum pin buckle
Price CHF 80,000

Tech Specs: Louis Vuitton Escale Worldtime Tourbillon

Movement Self-winding Caliber LFT VO 05.01; 62-hour power reserve
Functions Jumping hours, minutes, central flying tourbillon and world-time with day/night indication for 24 time zones
Case 40mm x 12.8mm; platinum with open caseback set with 1 saffron sapphire, water resistant to 50m
Dial Grand feu enamel city ring with central tourbillon in the style of LV’s Monogram flower
Strap Blue calf leather strap with black calf leather lining and platinum pin buckle
Price CHF 203,000

Navigating Two Worlds Through Mechanical Artistry

The evolution and progress of Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking is also borne out in the rest of the new Escale timepieces that the maison has lined up for this year’s LVMH Watch Week.

It is beautifully evident in the new Escale Twin Zone, which Arnault calls a “clever twist by Michel and Enrico on a decade-old complication.” Dual-time watches typically feature an additional hour hand on the dial to tell time in a second time zone. But say you are cruising down the Yamuna River at the crack of dawn, wanting to share that prized sunrise of the Taj Mahal in the moment with your partner halfway across the globe. You’ll need more than your regular GMT watch to get the timings right. This is because a small handful of countries operates on non-standard time zones that deviate from conventional hour offsets. India, for instance, is on UTC+5:30; parts of Australia, such as South Australia, are at UTC+9:30. And if you are in Nepal, at UTC+5:45, it is a full 45 minutes off from standard time zones.

Louis Vuitton Escale Twin Zone

For such inconvenient scenarios, the Escale Twin Zone offers an elegantly simple solution, and that is with the addition of an independently adjustable minute hand, allowing for the precise setting of time, regardless of which time zone you are in. That means all 38 time zones, including 30- and 45-minute offset time zones found in specific regions. The minute hand for the second time zone is indexed to the minute of the first time zone and jumps in 15-minute increments when setting the watch.

The minute hand for the second time zone is indexed to the minute of the first time zone and jumps in 15-minute increments when setting the watch

“Functionality and architecture go hand in hand,” says Hegi. “The hands are mounted on a single axis to preserve the clean geometry of the dial.” To distinguish the two pairs of hands and minimize clutter on the dial, full-bodied hands indicate local time while skeleton hands tell home time. When not in use, the latter tucks neatly behind its full-bodied cousin and disappears entirely from view, and the Twin Zone takes on the guise of a time-only watch. No one will be the wiser. Perhaps the sole giveaway is the discreet day/night indicator at 12 o’clock.

The discreet day/night indicator at 12 o’clock

A new in-house Caliber LFT VO 15.01 was developed for the Twin Zone by La Fabrique du Temps. “The idea was to make a travel watch that works for everyone, not just those in the usual 24 time zones,” says Navas. “The Twin Zone allows for half-hour and quarter-hour offsets without adding complexity for the wearer.” Adjustment is done intuitively via the crown in two positions, and the local hour hand can be adjusted both forward and backward.

The in-house Caliber LFT VO 15.01

Continuing the travel theme and in a measured nod to the lineage of both the Escale family and Louis Vuitton, the dial is a silvery sunburst satin-finished globe bearing finely polished meridians and parallels, framed by an opaline fringe. On the platinum high-jewelry edition, the aventurine dial is similarly engraved and festooned with baguette-cut diamonds on both the flange and bezel, as if to mimic the night sky in the Australian outback lit with stars. Three rows of invisibly set stones encircle the caseband, and along with a rose-cut diamond crown and 11 additional baguette diamonds on the folding buckle, it makes for 302 diamonds of around 10 carats in grand total. Blue studs on the dial flange, meanwhile, denote the hour.

Louis Vuitton Escale Twin Zone in platinum high-jewelry edition

Three rows of invisibly set stones encircle the caseband

“The gem setting is executed with the same precision and intent as the movement itself,” says Hegi. “With more than 300 diamonds in total, the watch offers extraordinary presence. It’s a true expression of our savoir faire in both haute horlogerie and haute joaillerie.”

Tech Specs: Louis Vuitton Escale Twin Zone

Movement Self-winding Caliber LFT VO 15.01; 68-hour power reserve
Functions Hours, minutes, day/night indicator and dual time zone
Case 40mm x 12.52mm; 18K rose gold or platinum with diamond-set bezel and crown; water resistant to 50m
Dial Silver sunburst or aventurine with diamonds
Strap Arroyo grey saffiano calf leather or blue calf leather
Price CHF 49,000 (rose gold) and CHF 194,000 (platinum)

The Clarity of a Chime

Whether it is in the pairing of high watchmaking savoir faire, métiers d’art or high jewelry, Louis Vuitton is clearly on track to elevating the Escale collection. The Escale Minute Repeater is another compelling example of the maison’s rapidly maturing watchmaking savoir faire and technical authority.

Louis Vuitton Escale Minute Repeater

In high horology circles, the sound of music has long held our attention, from the earliest days of watchmaking to last year’s hit parade of chiming timepieces. Of the lot, minute repeaters, where the watch strikes the hours, quarters and minutes on demand, is perhaps the most popular. But it is far rarer to find a minute repeater paired with jumping hour display and retrograde minute hand. This is because of the challenge involved in synchronizing the two independent time-calculation systems. One is dedicated to the striking mechanism, while the other controls the jumping display. Both are power hungry, demanding significant amounts of energy. Above all, they require precision and absolute synchronicity to ensure that you see exactly what you hear, and vice versa.

In the Escale Minute Repeater, what you do see at first glance is a striking center dial featuring a luminous flammé guilloché pattern. Hand turned on a traditional rose engine, a painstaking process that takes up to 60 hours, it radiates out from the center towards the retrograde chemin de fer minute track that’s shaped like the brackets on a Louis Vuitton trunk. The jumping hour display, meanwhile, sits unobstructed at 6 o’clock, in a large aperture that’s beveled and polished for a gentle bassine curvature.

The luminous flammé guilloché pattern center dial

“From the outset, we wanted the complication to feel effortless,” says Navas. “The jumping hour display and retrograde minute hand give the repeater a clarity that isn’t often associated with such a complex mechanism. It’s a contemporary way of expressing a very traditional complication.”

For the LFT SO 13.01, the new manual winding in-house caliber that powers the Escale Minute Repeater, Louis Vuitton tapped on the combined expertise of Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini at La Fabrique du Temps, as well as the watchmaking know-how of Gérald Genta, another crown jewel in the LVMH high horology universe that was acquired by the group in 2000. Chiming watches were well loved by Mr. Genta and the minute repeater was, in fact, one of his favorite complications. Both Navas and Barbasini, too, have worked with Genta, and this experience is brought to bear here.

The manual winding in-house caliber LFT SO 13.01

The movement is a beauty with traditional Côtes de Genève, hand beveled with polished anglage throughout and delicate snailing on the baseplate, while the hammers and gongs are black polished, hand shaped, cut and adjusted, and carefully tuned for a crystalline chime. As a subtle tribute to Genta, the inertia wheel has been crafted in an octagonal shape, his favorite form. Beating at 3Hz, the LFT SO 13.01 offers a power reserve of 80 hours.

To activate the minute repeater, look to the side of the lugs, where the slide is concealed within the emblematic trunk-inspired Escale horn located at 8 o’clock. “Hiding the slide within the lug was a deliberate gesture,” explains Hegi. “It respects the silhouette of the Escale and makes the activation of the repeater an almost private act; the complication is revealed only to the wearer.”

Louis Vuitton Escale Minute Repeater

Tech Specs: Louis Vuitton Escale Minute Repeater

Movement Manual winding Caliber LFT SO 13.01; 80-hour power reserve
Functions Jumping hours, retrograde minutes and minute repeater
Case 40mm x 12.3mm; 18K rose gold with open caseback
Dial Luminous flammé guilloché pattern
Strap Beige calf leather strap with 18K rose gold folding buckle
Price CHF 295,000

A Pedigree Cast in Stone

The last member of the Escale family to make its debut for LVMH Watch Week is the Escale Tiger’s Eye. Following on the heels of last year’s gorgeous turquoise and malachite examples, this latest iteration pairs a tiger’s eye dial and a singular stone ring framed by a yellow gold case.

Louis Vuitton Escale Tiger’s Eye

Traditionally, tiger’s eye has been valued more for the discernment it demands rather than outright rarity. The stone is formed when fibrous crocidolite is replaced by silica over time, leaving behind the unmistakable band of light that shifts with every movement. Long before it became decorative, tiger’s eye was worn as a talisman for protection, clarity of thought and resolve. At its best, it is mesmerizing, with warm golden brown tones that carry an almost watchful quality. For the craftsman, working with it is exacting and requires intuition and utmost skill. Color, fiber direction and how the stone responds to light must all align, and when they do, it dances with light as if alive.

And that’s exactly what you will find in Louis Vuitton’s Escale Tiger’s Eye, which continues to showcase the maison’s mastery in watchmaking savoir faire. The charge of machining a single monolithic stone ring for the case falls on La Fabrique des Boîtiers, the case-making atelier of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. As tiger’s eye is very dense and fibrous, extreme care, skill and precision are required to minimize breakage. Once fitted on the case, the angled and riveted lugs, as well as the overhanging bezel and caseback help protect the stone ring against accidental knocks. The maison’s artisans must next carefully select and pair ring with dial for the most complementary match, a painstaking process dependent on equal parts observation and intuition. Ultimately, the results are unique as no two watches will bear the same stone markings.

On the dial-side, a brushed gold circular minute track with polished studs frames the stone, which is doubly secured by four riveted bracket hour markers. Sleek yellow gold dauphine hands and a PVD-coated titanium seconds hand keep fuss to the minimal and attention focused on the stone dial. As in earlier iterations, the movement used remains the Caliber LFT 023 with rose gold micro-rotor and Monogram flower-shaped barrel, beautifully showcased through the open caseback. Beating at 4Hz, it presents 50 hours of power reserve and is COSC chronometer-certified.

A brushed gold circular minute track with polished studs frames the stone

Tech Specs: Louis Vuitton Escale Tiger’s Eye

Movement Self-winding Caliber LFT 023; 50-hour power reserve
Functions Hours, minutes and seconds
Case 40mm x 10.34mm with domed glass; 18K yellow gold with tiger’s eye middle case; water resistant to 30m
Dial Tiger’s eye dial and golden flange
Strap Savannah brown saffiano calf leather with 18 carat yellow gold pin buckle
Price CHF 46,500

The Escale’s Heritage of Travel, Crafted by Time

With this year’s releases at LVMH Watch Week, the Escale collection comes fully into its own, building on the momentum of the past two years and extending well beyond the single emblematic Worldtime of 2014. Across its various executions, there is a shared visual language — such as in the sculpted case and the travel-inflected design codes that reference the maison’s heritage. At the same time, each launch explores a different register of craft and watchmaking from métiers d’art dials to technically ambitious complications. It is a maturity just coming into its own, bolstered by the watchmaking rigor of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. We can only surmise that the best might well be yet to come.