When Louis Vuitton unveils new-look Escale watches to mark 10 years since the collection debuted, you can’t help but pay attention – especially when they immediately (and unexpectedly) change up the dress watch game entirely.
The law abiding among us might disagree but these days rules seem to only exist so they can be broken – or altered. The same applies to dress codes, more specifically with which watch you should wear, when.
Dressing up for a special occasion (a wedding, a party, an inaugural therapy session) used to warrant wearing your smartest, most refined wristwear – aka a dress watch. The Cartier Tank is very much the de rigueur choice right now and a Patek Philippe Calatrava is probably the pinnacle – albeit nearly impossible to get hold of without spanking £50k. So clearly this is where Louis Vuitton sees potential for itself because on first look, the new Escale (French for ‘stopover’) is a very appealing alternative – sitting between Cartier and Patek when it comes to price, accessibility and vibes.
Before Louis Vuitton had its La Fabrique de Temps watchmaking facility (it was opened in 2011), at best you could describe its timepieces as fashion watches. Then once the facility was up and running, the watches veered on the other side of the spectrum – tending to be super technical and very expensive.
“They didn't have much in the area where, really, the majority of the watch business lives – what I would describe as upper middle,” says watch expert James Dowling, before suggesting that both this Escale and 2023’s relaunch of the Tambour (both with new, impressive LFT 023 in-house movements) are Vuitton’s attempt at staking its place in a marketplace they've previously stayed away from.
“I would describe this new Escale very much as a pivot,” adds Dowling. “It is moving them away from where they were – competing with Richard Mille at one end and Michael Kors at the other end – to the middle to upper ground of accessible luxury. They're not really trying to take on Patek [Philippe] and Audemars [Piguet], but they're certainly taking on brands like Czapek and Parmigiani Fleurier.”
When the first Escale watch was created in 2014, Louis Vuitton’s watch artistic director, Matthieu Hegi, wanted a model that would be an obvious choice for the house – “round, timeless, anchored in Vuitton's DNA and inspired by its long-standing expertise: the trunks,” he says. “The new Escale is an extension of this spirit, with an even softer bezel and back, pleasant to touch as well as to the eye. And the finishes are even more advanced with satin finishing on the top of the fasteners,” he adds, with the lugs and certain details on the dial (like the quarter-hour markers) notable nods to LV’s iconic trunk design.
The new releases are a welcome departure from the Escale’s unnecessarily busy and, in some cases, OTT past pieces. Instead, at 39mm, we’re now looking at four time-only, three-handed versions that are lowkey, and fit the bill of being a future classic. Each one is on a leather strap and there are two rose gold cases with the two platinum models taking things up an extra notch thanks to diamonds on the bezel and stone dials. “The dial is classic but also very versatile which allows a multitude of animations in both colours and materials,” adds Hegi, with all four versions boasting different textured finishes.
Having been asked by Jean Arnault, LV’s director of watchmaking marketing and development, to review these new Escale pieces early on in the process of making them, Dowling says it was less the individual pieces and more the direction that he was taking the brand in that excited Arnault the most.
“There is a great degree of discretion in these watches, which we normally see as an Hermès thing,” adds Dowling. “Vuitton is much more You know I'm here – the use of the monogram, the use of the blossom [motif] is everywhere, so it is really interesting for these watches because they're almost the opposite of that.”