La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton reveals new marvels
A car by Louis Vuitton that gives you the time… “Travelling is an art”, as people say, and this saying was the watchword of these exceptional pieces made by Louis Vuitton, Daniel Roth and Gérald Genta. Their reveal during the LVMH Watch Week in Milano caused quite a sensation. New Escale Worldtime models, alongside with creative professions works by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton and novelties by Daniel Roth and Gérald Genta… the unique link between design, Swiss high-watchmaking and creative legacy is striking. In this video: exclusive interviews with Matthieu Hegi, Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini, who explained trade secrets and the vision behind those spectacular timepieces.
DANIEL ROTH, Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton
On the occasion of this 2026 LVMH Watch Week, Daniel Roth unveiled the new skeletonized variation of one of their most emblematic models: the Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton. Taking after the proportions and the architecture of the original Extra Plat model, this variation displays its movement entirely, the new self-winding calibre DR0002SR, exclusively developed for this timepiece.
Although deeply rooted in the historical aesthetic language of the House, this Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton showcases a remarkable evolution: the first complication that isn’t just an archive reproduction since the revival of the brand. Indeed, the Extra Plat model didn’t have a skeletonized variation when Daniel Roth led the House. When he started his independent business, the genius watch-maker considered the Extra Plat model as a complication in its own, renowned for its extreme thinness and the technical challenges it implied. Its refined movement nested in a double-ellipse case largely contributed to the House’s identity and reputation.
During the 1990s, very few quantities of skeletonized watches were released, as tokens of craftsmanship. Water-resistant up to 30 meters, the Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton takes after these precursors. Still produced in restricted quantities every year, the double-ellipse case – 38.6 x 35.5mm – remains, now highlighting a movement entirely visible.
The calibre DR002SR lies at the heart of the watch – a shaped movement conceived and built in-house by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. The mainplate and the bridges were redesigned to bring this lace-like architecture to life, without altering its sturdiness nor its chronometric performances. The movement, made of solid 18ct 5N rose gold, matches the case. It keeps the technical features of the original calibre: a free-sprung balance, a 4Hz frequency and a power reserve of 65 hours.
The skeletonizing design displays the finishing handwork, and especially the reentering angles that are impossible to be machine-worked. The bevelling, polishing and finishing steps are made in-house, according to the traditional standards proper to La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Cherry on top: this remarkable piece is delivered on a beige calfskin leather strap.
CHF 85,000 (ex-tax)
See the technical details of the Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton watch by Daniel Roth.
GERALD GENTA, Geneva Hour Minute Grafite and Marrone
The Geneva collection is now enriched with 2 new watches taking after Gérald Genta’s watchmaking legacy, available in rose gold or white gold. The modernized cushion-shaped case is the main feature of these models.
Inspired by Genta’s 1970s creations, the case displays flowy lines and an atypical geometry – not totally round, nor absolutely square. The gadroons add structure to the outlines, while the alternating polished and satin-finished surfaces enhance the volumes and the finishing work. Each case is made in-house at La Fabrique des Boîtiers.
The dial showcases a two-segment minute track: the outer segment follows the cushion-shaped outline of the case while the inner segment remains strictly circular. This construction induces a visual effect, almost trompe l’oeil, where the hour and minute functions are displayed. These watches, designed by Matthieu Hegi, artistic director of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, present a refined profile and a 38mm diameter. Their single-lug architecture – wider and shorter – enhances the case’s outlines while improving comfort.
The Geneva Hour Minute Marrone features a 4N rose gold case with matching hands. The smoked and grained brass dial comes with a brown leather strap. On the other hand, the Geneva Hour Minute Grafite deals with cooler hues: a white gold case, a silver-shaded dial and a gray calfskin leather strap. The gold hands and indices add a contrasting depth.
Both models are powered by the automatic Zenith Elite GG-005P movement, visible through the sapphire case back. This calibre, made of 158 components, vibrates at a 4Hz frequency and offers a power reserve of 50 hours. The oscillating weight was redesigned in-house, and the whole piece showcases thorough finishing.
CHF 25,000 (ex-tax)
See the technical details of the latest Geneva Hour Minute models.
LOUIS VUITTON
Escale Worldtime and Escale Worldtime Tourbillon
Released in 2014, the Escale Worldtime model was never considered a regular world time watch. From the very beginning, it set the frame of a groundbreaking innovation: the simultaneous display of the 24 time zones organized around a complex dial architecture combining a city disc, an hours chapter and a decorative centre. Today, these two platinum references mark the return of this composition, as their mechanical redesign sets a new milestone for the collection.
The 24 hand-painted flags around the dial of the Escale Worldtime model represent international major cities.
The iconic circular disposition remains on the first Escale Worldtime model. The outer worldtime ring is miniature-painted – one of the manufacture’s specialties. 24 flags represent 24 major cities around the world. Their 35 different colours compose pictures that echo the House’s historical patterns: Damier canvas, diamond-stitched malletage trunk lining, Monogram Flowers, the distinctive “V” of Gaston-Louis Vuitton. The blue grained texture of the dial centre imitates the famous Monogram canvas. This deliberately refined outline is meant to highlight the hour information and enhance the worldtime system’s liability. Every dial was handmade by one craftsperson, by applying each pigment layer by layer… with a single-hair brush!
But the dial hides the main novelty: the LFT VO 12.01 calibre. This automatic movement, entirely in-house made, was specifically designed by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton for this worldtime complication. It allows to set the reference city and the time via the crown, while showing the 24 time zones in a single glance thanks to a jumping hours disc.
The Escale Worldtime Tourbillon model, the second reference, relies on the same general construction but integrates a flying tourbillon located at the centre of the dial. Also powered by the LFT VO 05.01 calibre, this variation required for the movement to be completely reshaped in order to integrate the rotating city disc and the flying cage within a single central shared space. The Monogram flower-shaped cage makes one rotation every 60 seconds, thus deliberately revealing structural components that are usually covered.
For this one model, the outer worldtime ring reaches an unprecedented technical threshold, as the flags of the time zones are here made of Grand Feu enamel. Each colour is hand-painted in a thorough sequence of layering and firings – more than 40 in total – under temperatures ranging from 730° to 840° C. The most fragile tints are applied last to avoid any damage. The piece is then polished in order to get a mirror-like even surface. The making of one dial requires about 80 hours of work.
The two watches are nested in a 40mm case made of platinum, a dense and challenging material rarely used for such complex pieces. A saffron-colored sapphire glass screwed-down to the case back makes up for a discreet signature. It reveals the movements, and especially their 18ct rose gold oscillating weights adorned with remarkable finishing.
See the technical specifications sheet of the Escale Worldtime model – €95,000
See the technical specifications sheet of the Escale Worldtime Tourbillon model – €250,000
Rose gold Escale Twin Zone and Platinum Escale Twin Zone
Ever since the invention of the first travel watches, the industry never stopped addressing this universal issue: knowing the time precisely when travelling the globe. Two great families of watches prevailed over time: the world time watches that could display every 24 time zones at the same time, and the more sober dual-time models dedicated to show 2 distinctive time zones. Yet they both share the same major limit: neither of them can handle atypical 30- or 45- minute offset time zones found in specific regions. With the Escale Twin Zone model, Louis Vuitton introduces an unprecedented solution, bound to redefine what a travel complication is.
The key of this innovation lies in a unique watch architecture. While a classic GMT watch displays a single additional hand, the Escale Twin Zone features two pairs of coaxial hands. The full-bodied hands show the local time, while the skeleton ones indicate home time. What’s more, the watch integrates a minute hand that can be set independently, allowing an adjustment down to the minute, even for non-conventional time zones. A rare technical innovation, that greatly widens the realm of possibility for such a complication.
When at home, the retractable skeleton hands can be hidden, thus providing the legibility of a time-only watch. Only the day/night indicator discreetly hidden at the top of the engraved globe reminds of the dual-time feature. When travelling, the adjustment is entirely made via the crown with two positions, thus maintaining the Escale’s refined outlines. The local hour can be adjusted in 1-hour steps, while the additional minutes hands can be set independently, for ultimate synchronization.
Such sophistication relies on the manufacture LFT VO 15.01 calibre developed in La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Made to coordinate four hands mounted on a single axis, this movement represents a major mechanical challenge – especially because of its ability to handle quarter-hour and half-hour adjustments without being more complex. A technical feat designed for intuitive ergonomics. The 40mm rose gold variation of the Twin Zone vehiculates this travel spirit through its dial engraved with a globe adorned with meridians and parallels and a sun-brushed satin-finishing. The rehaut punctuated with golden nails evokes the historical House’s trunks.
This jewel variation of the Escale Twin Zone model recalls a twinkling starry sky: the aventurine dial mimics moving constellations.
Another high-jewellery platinum edition takes things even further. With a 41mm aventurine dial, more than 300 baguette cut diamonds, an invisible setting and the signature saffron-tinted sapphire as a case back, this variation combines watchmaking accuracy with jeweller’s virtuosity.
See the technical specifications sheet of the platinum Escale Twin Zone model – €230,000
See the technical specifications sheet of the rose gold Escale Twin Zone model – €58,000
Escale Minute Repeater
True highlight of the piece, the dial concentrates a remarkably intense craftwork. The central surface is entirely hand-guilloche worked, with dozens of engravings made with a traditional rose engine lathe in order to get a flammé pattern.
The Escale Minute Repeater model.
The pattern then achieves exceptional regularity in both depth and pressure, leading the eye towards the retrograde minute hand. This dial required up to 60 hours in total, before one last precise colouring process in order to give it this subtle gray hue. The jumping hours aperture, bevelled and polished, provides ultimate legibility, standing firm at 6 o’clock. But the true mechanical genius of the watch lies in the synchronization of timekeeping functions. Every time the hour hand jumps on the dot, the hour disc instantly rotates while the retrograde minute hand softly glides back to 0 thanks to an integrated damping system.
This precise choreography is based on the manually wound movement designed by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Combining a minute repeater with a jumping hours feature is a major challenge, as 2 different time-calculation systems must work in unison. This results in a perfect alignment between the time display and the chime, ensuring that the time that is shown is the one that is heard.
The focus given to acoustics almost reaches the attention of a music instrument tuner. The hammers and gongs are cut and polished by hand, then ear-tuned in order to achieve a clear and loud crystalline chime. A nearly silent centrifugal governor ensures a regular tempo, thus enabling the chime’s crystal-clear sound. This movement requires more than 4 weeks of assembly and finishing work – hand-polished angles, Côtes de Genève waves and beading.
Ultimate detail: the minute repeater slide usually displayed on the case is now hidden in the design of the lugs. A daring aesthetic choice that required the mechanism to be completely reshaped, but that now makes the activation of the chime feel like a secret gesture.
€350,000
See the technical specifications sheet of the Escale Minute Repeater model.
Escale Tiger’s Eye
This new variation limited to 30 copies sets a new milestone after the Escale models made out of turquoise and malachite. The 40mm case imitates the aesthetic codes of the Escale collection directly inspired by the Maison’s specialty: the lugs mimic trunk rivets, and the case is segmented. Although here, the case band presents a groundbreaking particularity – it is carved in a single block of tiger’s Eye, a dense yet fibrous gemstone renowned for its structure both sturdy and fragile in some places. The perfect monolith ring nests a dial carved out of the same material.
For the first time in the Escale line, Louis Vuitton marries this gemstone with yellow gold. This isn’t just for the sake of aesthetics: this precious metal composing the lugs, the bezel, the case back and the crown plays a structuring role – it protects the stone’s internal stress areas while its glinting surface contrasts the depth of the stone.
Machining the tiger’s Eye gemstone represents the true technical challenge of this watch. Engineers of La Fabrique des Boîtiers had to completely reset cutting and polishing procedures, as the stone presents fibrous areas that are particularly sensitive to microcracks. Each ring is then machined with microscopic tolerance before being thoroughly hand-polished. Identifying the direction of the fibres, avoiding natural inclusions and adapting to the unpredictable nature of the material necessitates a constant human intervention when the machines reach their limits. The final assembly doesn’t depart from this strict level of demand: the dial and the case are paired one by one according to the orientation of the shiny stripes. Each watch is unique.
The sapphire case back reveals the calibre LFT023 certified chronometer by the Observatoire Chronométrique de Genève. Equipped with a 22ct rose gold microrotor, it provides a power reserve of 50 hours. The finishing – sand-blasted bridges, polished chamfers – extend the marriage of textures introduced by stone and metal.
€55,000
See the technical specifications sheet of the Escale Tiger’s Eye model.
Louis Vuitton Camionnette
The familiar early-20th century silhouette of the Camionnette Louis Vuitton is now reborn as a kinetic watchmaking object. This creation encapsulates an integrated watchmaking architecture especially developed for this purpose.
The Swiss mechanical movement with manual winding calibre is designed and made by L’Epée 1839. With a total of 218 components, it offers a power reserve of 8 days – a remarkable performance for such a three-dimensional item subject to volume, legibility and stability constraints. Here, the balance wheel is far from hidden: seated on the driving seat, at the item’s heart, it thus becomes the pumping organ of the whole piece.
Time is indicated by 2 independent rotating cylindres respectively dedicated to the hours and the minutes. Pad-printed, they spin at different speeds and are located under the hoof, where one would expect to see an engine block. The automobile parallel is held until the end: the movement’s escapement, centered in the cab, can be seen through the windows and the domed roof.
The structure of the Camionnette is made out of light yet sturdy aluminium. The saffron and blue hues, the rims decorated with Monogram Flowers, the LV-stamped tyres and the plate reading “LV 1854” give immediate visual clues, without ever disturbing the watch’s time functions.
A key detail completes this functional purpose: the miniature trunk hidden in the boot. Far from a funny reference, it packs the clock’s winding key whose shape is inspired by Louis Vuitton trunk’s historical L-shaped plates – evoking the starting handle of vintage cars, it is here to ensure the energy transmission.
With this luxury edition limited to 15 copies, the Camionnette crosses a new threshold. The aluminium parts are replaced with gilded metal, while the mechanical compounds remain the same.
A LV Monogram Starcut diamond as a hood ornament, snow setting on the radiator grille, diamonds set on the rims and the headlights, baguette-cut sapphires on the rear lights: every gemstone takes part of this crazy structure.
The single hand-guilloche work of the Damier canvas motif, with alternating settings on the sides, required 15 hours of work. Stunning!
See the technical details of the Louis Vuitton Camionnette table clock – €68,000
The gilded metallic model costs €650,000 – Limited edition to 15 copies
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