Fashion houses are often only as strong as consumers’ nostalgia for their heyday. As more time passes between a brand’s peak and its current incarnation, the connection to what it once represented can become increasingly tenuous. In some cases, that link barely holds at all. Balenciaga is a perfect example of a brand that leaned so heavily on its laurels that it fell on its ass.
Thankfully, that isn’t the case with Louis Vuitton. The maison’s durability has come from its ability to evolve without losing sight of what made it relevant in the first place. Marc Jacobs is often credited with bringing Louis Vuitton into a modern context when he launched its first ready-to-wear collection in 1998, but the throughline has always been consistent: an emphasis on craftsmanship, materials, and design rooted in the principles established by Louis Vuitton in 1854. That same approach is clearly evident at this year’s LVMH Watch Week, where each release shows that the label is heavily invested in expanding Louis Vuitton’s legacy of craftsmanship into everything under the label’s umbrella.
First up, we have the Escale Worldtime, which returns this year in a platinum case with a dial ring featuring 24 hand-painted city flags, each impressively applied at La Fabrique du Temps, the watch manufacture owned by Louis Vuitton that has been the catalyst for much of the brand’s advancement in watchmaking under their own name in recent years. If you are more interested in the Flying Tourbillon version, instead of the automatic, the Escale Worldtime swaps the painted flags for Grand Feu enamel and a star-shaped Monogram flower at the center of its dial. Both have an almost mid-century look on the wrist, with the flag detailing nodding to the clean lines and “golden age of air travel” that has been long associated with the 1950s and early 1960s. Each Escale Worldtime runs on new in-house calibers (the self-winding LFT VO 12.01 and LFT VO 05.01) with 62-hour power reserves and 18k rose gold oscillating weights.
For frequent travelers, one may be more interested in the Escale Twin Zone, which solves the challenge of non-standard 30- and 45-minute offset time zones. Four hands share a single axis, letting local and home time be adjusted via the crown. The rose gold model has a silvery sunburst globe dial engraved with meridians and parallels, while the platinum and diamonds version features a deep blue aventurine dial. Both watches are powered by the in-house LFT VO 15.01 caliber with a 68-hour power reserve.
The Escale Minute Repeater has a hand-guilloché dial that catches the light from every angle and has an almost modernist take on Art Deco with its contrasting light and dark grey radiating “flammé” pattern. The Escale Minute Repeater promises an 80-hour power reserve with a LFT SO 13.01 caliber and has been designed to synchronize jumping hours at six o’clock with a retrograde minute hand and the striking mechanism, which, I am told, is a fantastic bit of horological engineering.
Next, we have the Escale Tiger’s Eye, which is limited to just 30 pieces and undoubtedly takes inspiration from the 1970’s and 80’s opulence within jewelry and fashion at the time. The polished tiger’s eye dial is complemented with a yellow gold case and Savannah brown saffiano leather strap, both of which enhance the natural beauty of the stone’s chatoyancy. The Tiger’s Eye runs on a LFT023 caliber movement, which features a 22k rose-gold micro-rotor and a 50-hour power reserve.
The Tambour Convergence Guilloché features concentric waves and sunburst rays carved into the dial, playing just as much with movement as with light when worn on the wrist. In fact, the carved lines go three times deeper into the rose gold dial to ensure clarity after polishing and a deeper contrast within the visual effect. Beneath the decorated dial, the self-winding LFT MA01.01 movement provides a 45-hour power reserve.
Then there’s the Camionnette clock, my personal favorite because it leans into the notion that luxury can have a sense of humor. Inspired by early 20th-century delivery trucks, it’s both toy-like and undeniably sophisticated, with a balance wheel tucked in the driver’s cabin and time displayed on rotating cylinders where the engine would be. Developed with L’Epée 1839, it’s powered by an 8-day manual movement – now let’s see my Porsche do that.
The watches are now available to purchase, with more information found on Louis Vuitton’s website. Prices for these releases range from $28,800 to $350,000. While I can’t say much for your finances, I can say that I do speak a little bit of French and “Contact Concierge Services” is the polite way Parisians say “You’re probably too poor to afford these, désolé.”
Brett Braley-Palko
2026-01-20 17:00:00