Escale Worldtime Tourbillon

Louis Vuitton Escale Collection

The Louis Vuitton Escale: a journey into the world of high complication.

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.

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 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.

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”.

Subtle references to the trunks’ distinctive design elements are woven throughout. The instantly recognisable 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 presentation trunk, a refined homage to the House’s storied travel heritage.

Now, with the introduction of four new in-house movements 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 complication 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 miniature-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, signalling a new era for this icon.

The second, the Escale Worldtime 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 painted. 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 transportation. Reimagined on the dial, these personalised symbols 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 language,” explains Hegi. “Each one embodies a fragment of our history.”

For the Escale Worldtime 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 platinum, 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 Worldtime Tourbillon. This exceptional model is powered by the in-house calibre LFT VO 05.01, a self- winding movement that adds its namesake complication 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.