Escale Twin Zone

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 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 traditional travel complications. Offered in two interpretations — 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 hidden, 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 adjusted 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.

The Escale Twin Zone masterfully unites technical ingenuity with artistic expression, ensuring perfect coherence between its innovative movement and captivating 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 finish 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 integrated 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 architecture 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 motion. Around it, on the flange, perfectly faceted diamonds 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 sapphire set into the polished case back — a luminous hallmark 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.”