For a brand renowned the world over for its steamer trunks, what better name for a flagship watch collection than Escale, meaning stopover, although globetrotting travellers likely won’t be the only ones to fall for one of the latest Escale watches. Crafted in platinum, its meteorite dial, a marvel of contrasting textures and natural nuances, conjures up that most fabulous of voyages, into the cosmos.
Watchmaking’s companion crafts, the métiers d’art, are also along for the ride, illustrated for example by the Escale Cabinet of Wonders Snake’s Jungle. Louis Vuitton embarks us on a journey to the depths of a verdant bamboo forest where a snake, resplendent in rich greens and blues, rears its head, its mouth wide open to reveal forked tongue and sharp fangs. Its mesmerizing gaze seems fixed on the monogram, that of Gaston-Louis Vuitton, in gold and nephrite jade that hovers above it. As for the bamboo forest, it has been hand-executed in an intricate marquetry of wood, parchment and straw.
The second artistic offering, Escale à Asnières, introduces an element of the maison’s storied history, as the dial of this unique pocket watch depicts the Vuitton family home in Asnières, a leafy suburb of Paris, where the journey began. This exquisite creation is also a mechanical masterwork. The movement not only drives the hour and minute hands around the engraved and enamelled dial; it also triggers seven mechanical animations, from the spinning carriage wheels to the coachman’s arms, and powers the mechanism that chimes hours, quarters and minutes.
But how to keep track of time when travelling from the cosmos to Asnières and from Asnières to a tropical jungle? The answer comes courtesy of a world time watch, designed to simultaneously display 24 time zones on one dial. The ultimate travel companion. Louis Vuitton’s Escale Worldtime boasts a hand-painted dial, brought to life by colourful geometric designs inspired by the monograms which, for centuries, have decorated the legendary Vuitton trunks.
All travel requires a means of locomotion. Louis Vuitton obliges with a clock, created in collaboration with L’Epée 1839, in the form of a hot-air balloon. Part table clock, part desk toy, the Montgolfière Aéro displays hours and minutes on numerals carried by two discs at the ballon’s base. Each of the transparent glass inserts is handcrafted with extreme precision to fit the brass frame, ready to carry a miniature replica of a Vuitton trunk to new adventures. Inspired by the 1906 Aéro trunk, it conceals the winding mechanism for the skeletonised movement above it.
Five Louis Vuitton timepieces, each testament to the beauty of travelling in style…
