The Louis Vuitton Escale collection embarks on a new journey. Long associated with the Art of Travel, escale – “stopover” in French – is synonymous with the romance
of discovery. Relaunched in 2024 with a refined design language and a time-only configuration, the collection now expands to embrace haute horlogerie complications with four new calibres and five new additions to the permanent collection.

Louis Vuitton Escale Worldtime Painting the 24 city flags using the minaiture painting technique on the Louis Vuitton Escale Worldtime

Drawing inspiration from the House’s legendary trunks, the new additions mark a decisive evolution for the Escale. Among them is the return of the emblematic Escale Worldtime, elevated through new savoir-faire and an in-house movement, offered in platinum for the first time. Though each of the five new creations interprets the spirit of travel differently, they are bound by a single thread: the search for coherence between movement, purpose, and design.

“This new chapter for Escale is aligned with the trans-formation 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 stan-dard and the difference is incredible. Details around the case, dial, movement finishing…all the details were carefully thought through. An added touch to this new Escale collection is the clever use of the “Twin Zone” complication, which indicates time all around the world, effortlessly. A clever twist by Michel and Enrico on a decade old complication”.

Louis Vuitton Escale Worldtime Flying Tourbillon Assembly of the star-shaped Monogram flower tourbillon
on the Louis Vuitton Escale Worldtime Flying Tourbillon

Subtle references to the trunks’ distinctive design ele-ments are woven throughout. The instantly recognis-able lugs, inspired by the brass brackets and corners of historical trunks, give the Escale its architectural identity. This connection extends beyond symbolism; each Escale is delivered in a specially designed presen-tation trunk, a refined homage to the House’s storied travel heritage.
Now, with the introduction of four new in-house move-ments from La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the Escale begins its next chapter. These calibres mark a decisive step forward, rewriting the rules of high complications with effortless functionality.
“The new Escale represents functional watchmaking at its finest,” explain Michel Navas, Master Watchmaker and the co-founder of La Fabrique du Temps. “Each calibre was designed with clarity and precision in mind; complications that truly serve the traveller, finished to the highest standards of haute horlogerie.”

THE ESCALE WORLDTIME: RETURN OF AN ICON
The Escale Worldtime, which simultaneously displays 24 time zones, has been a defining model and compli-cation for the Escale collection since its debut in 2014. It returns in 2026 with a pair of platinum models marked by an elevated execution that blends métiers d’art with haute horlogerie.

The first model reimagines the icon with a minia-ture-painted worldtime ring and a grained blue centre dial, refined for greater clarity, that pays tribute to the texture of the historic Monogram canvas. While the worldtime motifs are familiar, the new in-house LFT VO 12.01 movement elevates the complication, signal-ling a new era for this icon.
The second, the Escale flying tourbillon, mirrors the composition yet heightens its artistry. The flags are now rendered in grand feu enamel, while a central flying tourbillon transforms stillness into motion at the heart of the dial.
“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 honour the complication that defined the collection.”

THE WORLD IN LIVING COLOUR
The distinctive dial of the Escale Worldtime showcases 24 flags representing major cities around the world, each individually hand paintedc. Miniature painting is a specialty of La Fabrique des Arts, the dedicated métiers d’art atelier within La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. The work is meticulous; 35 colours are applied one by one using a fine-tipped brush. Between applications, the dial is carefully dried in an oven to set each colour. As a result, it takes an entire week to complete each dial.

The flags themselves take inspiration from historical Louis Vuitton motifs, such as the diamond-stitched malletage trunk lining and the signature Damier canvas. The renowned Monogram Flowers pattern is also reproduced in miniature, alongside the distinctive ‘V’ of Gaston-Louis Vuitton, grandson of Louis Vuitton himself, to represent the city of Paris.
In the age of ocean liners, such markings were more than decoration — they served as emblems of identity, hand-painted on trunks so travellers could recognise their belongings as they journeyed across continents and seas, a tradition that grew alongside the ascent of modern travel and its evolving modes of transporta-tion. Reimagined on the dial, these personalised sym-bols recall an era when savoir-faire met individuality.
“Every Escale Worldtime dial is the work of a single artisan, who works one brushstroke at a time from start to finish,” says Matthieu Hegi. “The flag motifs aren’t just decoration, they’re part of the House’s visual lan-guage,” explains Hegi. “Each one embodies a fragment of our history.”
For the Escale flying tourbillon, the flags encircling the dial are not painted in ordinary pigment but realized entirely in enamel, with each hue applied by hand in a delicate sequence of more than 40 firings in five different layers at temperatures ranging from 730° to 840° C. The vibrant greens and soft pinks are applied last, since these colours are the most fragile and can endure only one or two firings. Once complete, the enamel discs are gently polished to reveal a luminous surface of exceptional depth and brilliance. In total, crafting the dial requires over two weeks (80 hours) of meticulous work by a Master Enameller.

ESCALE IN PLATINUM
For the first time, the Escale Worldtime is offered in plat-inum, bringing a new sense of weight and presence to the collection. A discreet saffron-coloured sapphire set into the case back serves as a quiet signature of this precious metal.
“Platinum carries a certain weight, both literal and symbolic,” explains Matthieu Hegi. “It’s a metal that has long commanded respect in the workshop, admired for its beauty and feared for the difficulty it poses.”

ENGINEERED FOR TRAVEL
The Escale Worldtime is powered by the new calibre LFT VO 12.01. Conceived and manufactured entirely in-house at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, this self-winding movement embodies the manufacture’s dedication to traditional haute horlogerie. The Worldtime caliber provides an easy way to read the time across 24 different time zones, with both the reference city and the time conveniently adjustable via the crown. The jumping hour disc further improves clarity, allowing the time to be read effortlessly on the dial.

Alongside the classic model, a second reference debuts: the Escale flying tourbillon. This exceptional model is powered by the in-house calibre LFT VO 05.01, a self-winding movement that adds its namesake com-plication at the centre of the dial.
Placing the flying tourbillon at the centre of the Escale Worldtime dial required a complete rethinking of the calibre’s architecture. The movement development team at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton had to integrate two complex mechanisms — the rotating city disc and the tourbillon — within a shared space, a feat that demanded exceptional precision and spatial ingenuity.
The result is a star-shaped Monogram flower tourbillon that makes one revolution every sixty seconds, its flying cage revealing components that are typically hidden from view. The open design enhances the play of light, drawing the eye to the centre of the dial.
“The Worldtime has always been about motion, not just across time zones, but in how the watch feels alive,” says Michel Navas. “Introducing the flying tourbillon at its centre amplifies that energy. It gives the complication a visible heartbeat.”
Both models exhibit the savoir-faire of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton thanks to their open case backs that reveal the movement and their 18k rose gold oscillating weight, finished to the House’s exacting standards.

Louis Vuitton Escale Twin Zone Mounting of the fourth watch hand on the Louis Vuitton Escale Twin Zone

THE ESCALE TWIN ZONE: A NEW LEVEL OF PRECISION FOR THE UNIVERSAL TRAVEL COMPLICATION
For decades, travellers have sought a convenient way to keep track of time as they traverse the globe. Faced with this problem, two enduring solutions emerged. On one hand, world time complications manage to display the time in each of the 24 major time zones at the same time. On the other hand, dual-time watches indicate two specific time zones with elegant simplicity. Yet neither of these approaches effectively handle the 30- and 45-minute offset time zones found in specific regions.
The Louis Vuitton Escale Twin Zone addresses this long-standing challenge with a simple yet complex, refined mechanism that expands the language of tra-ditional travel complications. Offered in two interpre-tations — a warm rose gold model and a haute joaillerie platinum edition — the Twin Zone embodies both precision and versatility for the modern traveller.
ANY TWO TIME ZONES, ONE DIAL
The Escale Twin Zone features two sets of hands mounted on a single axis — an architecture never seen in GMT watches, which only add only an extra hour hand. The Twin Zone goes further, solving this limitation with the addition of an independently adjustable minute hand that allows precise to-the-minute

adjustment across all global time zones, including those with non-standard offsets. The full-bodied hands indicate local time, while the skeleton hands indicate home time.
While staying at home, the skeleton hands can be hid-den, giving the dial the calm legibility of a time-only watch — only the discreet day/night indicator at the top of the engraved globe hints at its multi-time zone capability.
The full capability of the Twin Zone reveals itself the moment of arrival in a new destination. Adjusting to local time is intuitive, simple, and fast, achieved by a gentle pull of the crown. When traveling between any of the 24 standard time zones, the local hour hand can be adjusted forward or backward in discrete one-hour steps — the skeletonized minute hand remains hidden.
When needed, the additional minute hands can be adj-usted independently, allowing any two time zones in the world to be displayed with to-the-minute precision. The day/night indicator, linked to home time, enables the wearer to know at a glance whether it is day or night in his home country. Adjustment is made entirely via the crown with two positions, maintaining the Escale’s clean case profile.

Louis Vuitton Escale Twin Zone, set with diamonds Diamond setting of the case of the Louis Vuitton Escale Twin Zone

The Escale Twin Zone masterfully unites technical ingenuity with artistic expression, ensuring perfect coherence between its innovative movement and cap-tivating design. The silvery globe dial of the rose gold model is engraved with fine and polished meridians and parallels, distilling the House’s travel heritage into a subtle yet dynamic visual motif. Its sunburst satin fin-ish captures and reflects lights with remarkable depth, bringing the globe’s cartography to life with every turn of the wrist.
Framed by a delicate opaline flange, the minuterie is punctuated with gold studs that recall the nails of the lozine bindings on Louis Vuitton’s trunks, anchoring the Twin Zone within the House’s century-long narrative of travel and savoir-faire.

A NEW STANDARD FOR TRAVEL COMPLICATIONS
The Escale Twin Zone’s innovative functionality is inte-grated into the LFT VO 15.01, a new in-house calibre developed at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton.

Developing a movement with four hands mounted on a single axis presented a unique challenge: unlike a conventional GMT display, the Twin Zone’s archi-tecture requires the technical coordination of a fourth hand, requiring precise adjustment. Equally complex is the quarter-hour and half-hour adjustments, allowing the wearer to align home time with complete accuracy, even in regions that deviate from standard offsets.
“The idea was to make a travel watch that works for everyone, not just those in the usual 24 time zones,” says Michel Navas. “The Twin Zone allows for half-hour and quarter-hour offsets without adding complexity for the wearer.”
“Functionality and architecture go hand in hand,” adds Matthieu Hegi. “The hands are mounted on a single axis to preserve the clean geometry of the dial, while the day/night indicator sits discreetly at the top of the globe. It’s a complication that respects the aesthetic codes of the Escale while quietly expanding its capabilities.”

PRECIOUS IN PLATINUM
In addition to the rose gold model, a platinum high jewellery edition joins the collection. Bathed in the luminous radiance of platinum, the new reference evokes the starry night sky, its aventurine dial alive with flecks of light that recall constellations in mo-tion. Around it, on the flange, perfectly faceted dia-monds amplify this celestial glow, their presence adding structure and rhythm to a composition that feels both architectural and ethereal.
The meticulous gemsetting on the dial features 120 baguette-cut diamonds set around an aventurine centre engraved with meridians and parallels. Blue studs on the baguette-set dial flange denote the hours, mirroring the deep blue of the aventurine to create a sense of visual harmony that unites every element of the dial.

This celestial rhythm continues outward to the case and bezel, which are set with 170 baguette-cut diamonds, including three rows of invisibly set stones on the case band, a rose-cut diamond crown, and 11 additional baguette diamonds on the folding buckle. The case also features a final flourish: a single saffron-coloured sap-phire set into the polished case back — a luminous hall-mark denoting the platinum case. This union of haute joaillerie and haute horlogerie exemplifies the House’s vast expertise.
“The gemsetting is executed with the same precision and intent as the movement itself,” says Matthieu 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.”

Louis Vuitton Escale Minute Repeater Final encasing of the Louis Vuitton Escale Minute Repeater

THE ESCALE MINUTE REPEATER: THE SOUND OF TRADITION
The Escale Minute Repeater brings a new emotional register to the Escale universe. While the Worldtime and Twin Zone embody the art of travel through pur-poseful functionality, the Minute Repeater is a resonant expression of the House’s watchmaking savoir-faire
ENGINE-TURNED ELEGANCE
Though defined by the complexity of its in-house cal-ibre, the Escale Minute Repeater’s beauty begins with the dial. The interplay between legibility, geometry, and traditional savoir-faire is deliberate, with subtle references to the House’s iconic trunks. Discreet details reinforce this connection: the minute track echoes the trunks’ signature brackets, complete with nail-like markers at its extremities. Here, traditional guillochage takes centre stage, marrying this centuries-old decora-tive technique with a contemporary architectural layout.
The centre dial is handmade on a traditional rose en-gine, adorned with a flammé guilloché pattern that radiates from the centre to catch and reflect the light. Executed through multiple passes of the tool with unwavering delicacy, the motif achieves exceptional regularity in both depth and pressure, creating a luminous surface that subtly draws the eye toward the retrograde minute hand. In total, the guilloché dial requires up to 60 hours of skilful savoir-faire. A subsequent coloring process

is then meticulously performed to impart the dial’s distinctive grey hue.
The large aperture for the jumping hours is bevelled and polished for a bassiné effect to illuminate the hour disc and enhance legibility. The aperture’s thoughtful positioning at six o’clock ensures that the hour is never obstructed by the position of the retrograde minute hand.
The synchronization of timekeeping functions has been carefully conceived to delight the connoisseur. As the hour jumps forward precisely at the top of each hour, the retrograde minute hand glides back to zero with measured grace, its motion tempered by an integrated damping system.

CRAFTED TO RESONATE
Inside the signature Escale case is the calibre LFT SO 13.01, a manually wound calibre born from the shared watchmaking heritage of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton and gérald genta, and developed by Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini, both of whom worked with gérald genta’s in the 1990s.
The combination of a minute repeater and jumping hours is a rare accomplishment in modern watchmak-ing, given the challenge of synchronizing two indepen-dent time-calculation systems — one dedicated to the

striking mechanism, the other to the jumping display
— in a manner that is both reliable and energy-efficient. Their perfect alignment ensures that sight and sound remain in harmony, underscoring the technical mas-tery of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Drawing on decades of experience building complications, honed through years of collaboration with the design maestro Mr. Genta, Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini developed solutions to guarantee perfect harmony between the time that is seen and that which is heard.
Every acoustic element of the calibre has been tuned to perfection. The black-polished hammers and gongs are hand-shaped, cut, and adjusted to ensure optimal vibration and amplitude, meticulously tuned by ear to achieve a crystalline chime of remarkable clarity and volume. The sound of the minute repeater can be heard clearly thanks to a nearly silent centrifugal governor, secured by an octagonal bridge that recalls Mr. Genta’s inimitable aesthetic, bridging the legacies of Louis Vuitton and gérald genta in a tangible way.
Beyond the technical virtuosity of the LFT SO 13.01, the movement requires over four weeks to assemble and finish, meeting the highest standards of haute horlogerie. Finishing details include traditional Côtes de Genève, hand-bevelled and polished anglage throughout, and delicate snailing on the base plate, with each surface revealing the artisanal discipline that defines La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton.
“From the outset, we wanted the complication to feel effortless,” says Michel Navas. “The jumping hour display and retrograde minute hand give the repeater a clarity that isn’t often associated with such a complex mech-anism. It’s a contemporary way of expressing a very traditional complication.”

At first glance, the Escale Minute Repeater conceals its complicated nature. Close inspection reveals the slide for activating the minute repeater is integrated into the design of the lugs, a subtle but meaningful departure from conventional minute repeater design. This inno-vative approach presented a significant development challenge, as it required rethinking the mechanism to ensure both functionality and aesthetic harmony. The result is a seamless design that preserves the ele-gance of the timepiece while maintaining the technical excellence of the complication.
“Hiding the slide within the lug was a deliberate gesture,” explains Matthieu 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.”
RETURNING HOME
Together, the new additions to the Escale collection chart a course between traditional haute horlogerie and the spirit of travel.
The Worldtime paints a map of memory — a poet-ic atlas rendered in colour and light. The Twin Zone embodies precision in its purest form, displaying two time zones simultaneously with to-the-minute accuracy and effortless legibility. The Minute Repeater gives this harmony a voice, translating motion into sound.
Each watch expresses the same ideal: coherence between design, function, and feeling. Within La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, that ideal becomes a singular language
— one where excellence in craftsmanship and the spirit of travel move as one.