ontinuing its legacy of exceptional watchmaking savoir-faire and audacious creativity, Louis Vuitton travels to the lush landscapes of the Amazon rainforest – and unveils the most complicated watches to date.

A tribute to travel and exploration, the new Escale en Amazonie pocket watch pairs an incredible virtuoso automata and minute repeater with boundary-pushing Métiers d’Art. The maison’s most complicated watch to date, the timepiece personifies the next chapter of extraordinary creations at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Based in Geneva, this unique and fully integrated manufacture brings together exceptional Haute Horlogerie expertise under one roof. This includes Fabrique des Boîtiers (case making), La Fabrique des Mouvements (movement component making), and La Fabrique des Arts (dial making and Métiers d’Art), each of which played a significant role in creating this exceptional timepiece."

The manufacture now introduces the new Escale en Amazonie pocket watch – a unique piece beautifully infused with the maison’s unique spirit of travel representing a stunning horological expression and culmination of Louis Vuitton’s in-house watchmaking excellence.

For Escales Autour du Monde’s debut pocket watch, the maison heads to the Amazon rainforest – a land rich in lush vegetation and wildlife, boasting breathtaking views of waterfalls and rocky terrains. Unparalleled in natural beauty, the famed South American region has now inspired La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, which has imagined a miniature spectacle on the dial, activated by a slide piece at six o’clock. A long wooden pirogue, stacked with Louis Vuitton trunks, glides through luxuriant verdant foliage. The trunks then slowly begin to open, revealing golden LV Monogram flowers, and which catches the eye of playful, inquisitive wild animals: a pair of parrots, their heads and wings cocked in curiosity; a snake with its head and tail swinging enquiringly, as a monkey looks on, gripping an oversized leaf. Presiding over this scene at 12 o’clock is a sculpted gold rose compass, which spins to its own tune. Featuring seven animations, the dial comes alive with a total of 15 moving elements, each stirring to their own motion and pace – and highlighting the beauty of nature.

Until now, pocket watches at Louis Vuitton have only been available to clients by special order, and the maison now launches its first collection of pocket watches – debuting with the Escale en Amazonie.

The endeavour is notably centred on Louis Vuitton’s trunkmaking heritage and savoir-faire, which is rooted in the founder Louis Vuitton himself, who was a professional packer turned trunk-maker. Reliable, functional and handmade with superior materials and unparalleled craftsmanship, the Louis Vuitton trunk was designed to accompany travellers on their voyages to iconic destinations, from vast rivers and oceans to unmissable, faraway routes.

Since 1854, the Louis Vuitton trunk has symbolised the spirit of travel and adventure, embodying the evolution and innovation of transportation throughout history. Whether engineered for rail or automobile travel, to transforming into a camp bed or turning into a float attached to a hot-air balloon, the Louis Vuitton trunk has had a front row seat to the most iconic expeditions and travel destinations.

Mastering trunkmaking for stylish travellers is at the heart of Louis Vuitton’s new Escales Autour du Monde collection of pocket watches. Each pocket watch features miniature Louis Vuitton trunks that have been handcrafted on the dial; there is also a spinning rose compass prominently at 12 o’clock, a guide and symbol for the most daring travellers, while every dial also celebrates a specific mode of transport. The Escale case is also emblematic: synonymous with Louis Vuitton’s original métier and featuring design nods to the trunk, the pocket watch’s Escale case is today crafted in-house at La Fabrique des Boîtiers case-making facility. Also executed here was the gem-setting of 60 baguette-cut stones around the dial – from emeralds, tsavorites, tourmaline and yellow sapphires – all set in eye-catching gradation. Like a miniature Louis Vuitton trunk itself, the Escale case protects the most precious of them all time.

Bringing to life the mesmerising scene of seven animations and fifteen moving elements on the dial, the manual winding LFT AU14.03 calibre, which has been entirely developed in-house and is the most complex mechanical movement ever created by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton to date. Engraved with the LFT stamp, the movement also incorporates a minute repeater that chimes the hours, quarters and minutes. There are also several nods to historic pocket watches. Most noteworthy is the debut of the tourbillon, one of horology’s most beloved mechanisms and which was originally invented to improve the accuracy of pocket watches. Meanwhile, two hands have been placed on the caseback, rather than the face, which allows the dial’s miniature theatre to truly shine in all its glory – and another subtle homage to pocket watch history.

Comprising a total of 555 components and with an automata module that powers each moving element on the dial, the Escale en Amazonie’s LFT AU14.03 calibre is crafted with the most exceptional artisanal workmanship, echoing the dial’s beauty. Here, a single watchmaker has worked on the movement’s assembly from start to end, and then meticulously finishes each element with the most extreme attention to detail. Many of these components are notably hidden away and not even visible, yet the beauty of the movement remains paramount. Take for example the incredible bevelling work: with a total of 646 inner angles, bevelling highlights the edges of components and bridges – even the teeth on the wheels – presenting a wonderful play of light and reflection (some components can take up to 10 hours of work alone).

Truly no element of the movement is overlooked, whether the snailling on the barrel, the hand engraving on the bridges, or the painstaking hand finishing to bring forth a mirror polish on numerous components including all the screws, the monobloc gongs, the tourbillon cage, and the ratchet, the latter of which was sculpted into a concave shape and which took three weeks alone to finish. Preciousness was also a consideration, and for the first time the prongs for the ruby settings are in yellow gold, while the wheels connecting the tourbillon are in solid gold. Elsewhere, the movement’s upper section, where the bridges are visible, feature the celebrated Côtes de Genève finish, while the hands are blued using the traditional flame technique. In all, 500 hours in total were required to assemble and hand finish this historic, groundbreaking movement, presenting the most beautiful finishes ever done at Louis Vuitton and the best of what the watch industry is capable of.

Together these two exceptional artisanal features – a captivating landscape on the dial rendered in incredible detail, coupled with the mechanical vision on the caseback, again sculpted with painstaking artistry – presents a double perspective that magnificently celebrates the work of the hand, not unlike a painting.

The meticulous artistry found on the movement of the Escale en Amazonie continues on the dial, courtesy of incredible, groundbreaking Métiers d’Art. Requiring hundreds of hours of work, not to mention years of development and innovation, the level of hand-craftsmanship and expertise showcases La Fabrique des Arts’s commitment and dedication to pushing the boundaries of Métiers d’Art today.

Engraving mastery is key to this creation, and which brings a whimsical, life-like character to each moving element of the pocket watch. Thanks to the extraordinary manual workmanship of engraving and expertise at La Fabrique des Arts, depth and dimension– are infused onto the dial’s landscape scene – and achieved through masterful execution of bas-relief gold engraving on very thin layers of gold. Consider the snake for example: not even a centimetre in length, it is sculpted with hundreds of scales across its body, capturing the reptile’s inherent movement and articulation. The parrots’ engraved feathers also seem to almost flutter in the wind, their claws perched on a branch as if prepared to take flight in an instant. Meanwhile, the treasure-topped canoe was among the hardest elements to realize, challenging the artisan to chisel the gold at various depths and slowly bring forth a wood bark effect. Each element required 140 hours in total – and also had to be crafted to extreme lightness. Each element – a key part of the dial’s theatre, after all – had to sway with its own ease, grace and natural motion.

Finally, the Escale case itself also echoes the wonders found on the dial. Carved and hand-sculpted with detailed and graphic motifs that recall the Amazon, the case engraving required an additional 60 hours of hand-craftsmanship.

Two time-honoured enamel techniques – namely miniature enamel and paillonné enamel – were used on the Escale en Amazonie, and which highlight La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of Métiers d’Art creativity.

The first task was selecting the range of hues that best captured the Amazon’s spectacular landscapes of rich vegetation. A total of 31 colours were ultimately chosen, in varying shades of green, blue, brown and white. This was complemented by three types of enamel – translucent, opaque and opalescent – that feature unique properties for light transmission, and which produce a wonderful play of light, brilliance and depth. Finally, no less than 30 firings were required to achieve the dial’s exact, rich tones, with the risk of breakage or damage ever-present with each firing.

Miniature enamel was notably used to breathtaking effect on the dial’s backdrop, like the waterfall that incorporates varying hues of white, green and blue. These colours are expertly blended and applied to create a blurred effect, evoking a real waterfall, which is especially complex to achieve via enamel art. The palm trees are likewise painstakingly rendered in different shades of miniature enamel, creating a sense of visual depth and scope.

Another challenging endeavour was the crafting of paillonné enamel across the dial. This technique is especially difficult since paillonné enamel requires the placement of delicate gold leaf that can easily tear, with individual strips of gold foil pallions placed between each LV Monogram flower, and also carefully set on each miniature piece. Blending seamlessly with the rest of the dial’s graphic elements, the paillonné enamel also notably gives the river a golden shimmer and lifelike transparency.

Miniature enamel also enlivened each animated element on the dial – from the snake and monkey to the canoe itself – producing mind-boggling detail and life-like character for the animals. Due to the tiny scale of the engraved elements, the utmost precision was required for this task. Any unnecessarily thick layers or drips of enamel would have impeded their inherent movement. Consider the monkey: seven colours of precisely applied miniature enamel ensured the correct thickness; this also produced a gorgeous, rounded cabochon effect – a feature that’s highlighted by the delightful, tiny expression on the monkey’s face.

Elsewhere, depicting the parrots’ range of colours also required exceptional patience and experience, further challenged by the use of bright red enamel, among the most fragile of enamel colours. The artisans also had to master the use of miniature translucent enamel: five layers of the material were applied on the leaves, for example, to bring out infinite details like tiny veins. Meanwhile four layers of translucent enamel were applied on the snake, in a subtle graduation of colours, set on small, interwoven parts.

Also worth a mention is the watch’s sapphire glass, which for the first time at Louis Vuitton, is adorned with miniature enamel. Illustrating lush green foliage on the glass and adding further intrigue and drama on the dial below, the workmanship creates an original and rare sense of dimensionality and depth. Five colours of miniature enamel were applied, and which on sapphire glass is especially precarious: once fired, the colour is immediately permanent, requiring perfect application on the first attempt and no room for error.

The story of the Escale en Amazonie culminates in one-of-a-kind leather goods that pair exclusively with the watch – and which embrace Louis Vuitton’s spirit of travel. In addition to a hand-crafted gold chain for the pocket watch, the timepiece also comes with a bespoke trunk as well as an exceptional and truly unique doctor’s-style bag. Inspired by a circa 1906 Motor’s bag from Louis Vuitton’s archive, and which was created at the turn of the century to meet the fashion for automobile travel, the bag has been especially designed to hold a pocket watch prominently front and center on the bag. Like the Escale en Amazonie matching trunk, the piece is created in a rare and green leather that is perfectly colour matched to the pocket watch.

The maison’s most complicated watch and complex movement created to date, the Escale en Amazonie required a total of 1,000 hours of work by expert watchmakers, engravers and enamellers, representing 2.5 years of work. A truly exceptional canvas for avant-garde creativity, this spectacular and extraordinary debut of the Escales Autour du Monde collection marks the most exciting chapter yet for La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Unique piece

Movement

• LFT AU14.03 caliber: mechanical movement with manual winding developed and assembled by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton
• Functions: Jacquemart mechanism with 7 animations, minute repeater, tourbillon, hours and minutes
• 555 components
• 8 days of power reserve
• 21 600 vibrations per hour (3Hz)
• 72 jewels

Case

• 18K white gold case, engraved on the side with motifs echoing the story of the dial
• 18K white gold bezel set with coloured stones
• 18K white gold crown and suspension ring
• 50.0 mm diameter
• 19.0 mm thickness
• Domed sapphire crystal with enamel and anti-reflective treatment
• Water-resistant to 30 m

Dial

• Hand-engraved (monkey, leaves, parrots, snake, compass, canoe, and trunk)
• Enamel techniques, including paillonné enamel and miniature enamel, handcrafted

Gemsetting

• 60 baguette-cut precious stones and coloured stones for 3.85 carats (31 emerald stones, 13 tsavorite stones, 11 tourmaline stones and 5 yellow sapphire case)

Bag and trunk

• Special high watchmaking bag and trunk in exotic leather

Chain

• 18K white gold