After the Sporty Tambour, Louis Vuitton’s Time-Only Remake Continues with the Escale
Back to basics, part two.
Over the years, Louis Vuitton has continued to impressed with its high watchmaking: whimsical automata, dizzying Spin Time, exotic métiers d’art, and such. Thing is, a hodgepodge of horological flex does not build a distinct identity. That all changed with the revolutionary remake of the Tambour in 2023. Finally, Vuitton has a foundational watch with a wholly original design that can seriously stand against and alongside traditional luxury timepieces, sans the razzle-dazzle of high complications.
The journey back to basics continues this year with the Escale, on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. Once again, it is a complete remodel, this time involving luxuriously textured surfaces and aesthetic codes anchored in the Maison’s legendary travel trunks. Four new models mark the debut — two in rose gold with textured dials, and two in platinum with ornamental stones.
The hallmark of the Escale lies in its stylised lugs, which resembles the angled form and riveted exterior of the trunk’s bracketed corners. These brass reinforcements are echoed on the dial through polished and hand-applied quarter-hour markers, which also secures the central dial and outer minute track. The minute track itself is studded to evoke the nails of the lozine running along the trunk exterior. An octagonal crown is topped with a dome, again echoing the shape of a trunk rivet.
The central dial on the rose gold models is stamped to create a finely grained surface that conveys the tactile suppleness of Vuitton’s Monogram canvas. In one platinum model, meteorite etched with otherworldly striations take centre stage; in another, jet black onyx shine from a ring of baguette-cut diamonds on the bezel.
The Escale is powered by the same time-only movement as the Tambour, Vuitton’s first in-house automatic calibre designed by La Fabrique du Temps. Through the see-through caseback, a rose gold micro-rotor decorated with the Maison’s motif generates up to 50 hours of power reserve. Also on the periphery of the caseback is a slim cartouche engraved with a serial number, similar to the serial number plates that identify each Vuitton trunk.
