Louis Vuitton Dresses Up Its New Escale In Turquoise Or Malachite

Louis Vuitton introduced its time-only Escale dress watch last year to mark the collection’s 10th anniversary. We found the rose gold and platinum models with their trunk-inspired design and attractive grainy dials quite charming. RJ characterized them as dress watches that didn’t look like your typical grandfather’s watch. Well, the same is true of the two limited editions that the brand is introducing today. Apart from a beautiful malachite or turquoise dial, the platinum cases also feature a stone-ornamented case band.

The new Escale Ornamental Stones models cost €65,500 before taxes, and Louis Vuitton will only make 30 pieces of each version. Read on for a quick first impression.

The new Louis Vuitton Escale Ornamental Stones

Stone dials are a big trend these days. Look, for example, at Dennison, which won the Challenge Watch Prize during last week’s GPHG with its Natural Stone Tiger Eye in Gold. However, we don’t often see watch cases made of stone. Today, Louis Vuitton introduced its time-only Escale with both a stone dial and a stone case band. That is also why its dimensions are slightly different from last year’s versions. The platinum case, including the stone ornament, is now 40mm wide, which is 1mm wider than last year’s version. That’s because the stone needs to have a certain thickness to increase its sturdiness.

You can choose between green malachite and turquoise. The stones have been carefully picked to look as good as they can on both the dial and the case band. The part with the most visible turquoise veins will always be positioned in sight rather than underneath the strap, for example. In the case of the malachite, the case band always features horizontal lines, just like the dial. Other than the stone ornaments, the time-only Escale still features its characteristic trunk-inspired lugs and cardinal hour markers. It also has hour and minute hands made of white gold in combination with a PVD-coated titanium seconds hand to increase the movement’s power reserve.

The malachite version comes on a green Saffiano leather strap, while the turquoise version features a gray one in the same type of leather. Both have a matching platinum pin buckle.

A saffron-hued Easter egg

With the octagonal, signed, and grippy crown at 3 o’clock, you can wind and set the in-house LFT023 automatic caliber inside. Through the sapphire case back, you can also admire its 22K rose gold micro-rotor and beautifully grained bridges with sharply polished bevels. You’ll also see some of its 32 jewels and get a peek at the barrel that holds a 50-hour power reserve. The case back attaches to the case with six screws and keeps the Escale water resistant to 50 meters.

Because this version of the Escale is made (partially) of platinum, it also features a nice little Easter egg in the form of a saffron-hued sapphire on the case back.

First impression

The new Louis Vuitton Escale Ornamental Stones has a unique design with its stone-ornamented case band. It’s truly impressive to see the hand-selected and hand-finished malachite and turquoise pieces shining there. It’s almost as if the watch’s dial and midcase are connected through a heart of stone. Of course, they aren’t, but the thought of it makes me smile. I’d prefer a dress watch to be slightly smaller for my 17cm wrist, but for people with larger wrists, this 40mm size will do just fine.

What do you think of the new Louis Vuitton Escale with a stone dial and mid-case? Let me know in the comments below.