LVMH Watch Week: Louis Vuitton Introduces The Escale Twin Zone, The First GMT Watch For Every Time Zone On Earth

If you travel, there are basically three ways to keep track of time (four, I suppose, if you count being on vacation and disdaining to wear a watch at all, which has its own compelling logic). These are, viz., wearing an ordinary watch, wearing a GMT watch, or wearing a worldtime watch. Generally speaking the intrepid jet-setter prefers the latter of the two options if said jet-setter cares about watches at all; the first option has a certain fatalistic appeal but it is always nice to know what time it is at home (at least) when you are abroad.

The worldtime watch generally shows the time in 24 time zones around the world simultaneously, which has a certain God’s eye view charm but which also may be more information than you need or want. The GMT watch is the pragmatist’s favorite: two time zones, no extras (unless you count a 24 hour two way bezel which gives you three time zones, if you so choose). There are a few downsides to both these time honored solutions; one is that there are more than 24 time zones and there are several that do not have full hour offsets from GMT. India is one (GMT+5:30) Nepal is another (GMT+5:45) and the Northern Territory of Australia (GMT+9:30). Another is that worldtimers by and large do not take Summer and Winter time into account (although there is at least one very complicated watch that does so). GMT watches generally have local time hour hands which can be adjusted forwards or backwards in one hour increments, and so they work just fine for any time zone with a full hour offset, but will not show correct local time in any time zone – like the aforementioned – where the offset from GMT (I should say UTC, to be correct) is not a full hour.

The new Escale Twin Zone solves this problem with elegant simplicity.

Unlike conventional GMT watches, the Escale Twin Zone has two full sets of hands – one set of hands for local time and another (skeletonized) for home time. Both sets of hands can be adjusted from the crown. For ease of use, the local time hour hand can be adjusted forwards or backwards in one hour jumps. However if you find yourself in a location where the offset from GMT/UTC is fractional, you can set the local time minute hand from the crown as well, which lets you use the watch in any time zone in the world and for that matter, lets you use it in any time zone you could imagine as well.

There’s a day/night indicator for home time located under the 12:00 marker, which corresponds to the North Pole on the globe engraved on the dial – a very clever integration of a useful complication into the overall design, and one which makes the globe functional as well as ornamental.

The solution is apparently so obvious that it seems strange that no one has thought of it before, but like the Escale Worldtime Central Tourbillon, it involves making significant changes under the dial, to support being able to set both the local and home time to the minute. In particular, the keyless works for winding and setting, as well as the motion works which drive the hands, had to be redesigned from the conventional solutions.

The new Escale Twin Zone is being offered in two versions: one in 18k rose gold, and a gem-set model in platinum. Both watches are 40mm in diameter, which makes them very well suited to actual use while traveling; something very much in line with Louis Vuitton’s tradition of making equipment for travelers that is both beautiful and useful (okay, maybe the Virgil Abloh airplane bag is more exuberant than utilitarian but hey, man doth not live by bread alone). The gem-set model is decorated with 170 baguette-cut diamonds, with an aventurine dial, and the day/night indicator for both watches is in opaline and blue lacquer.

As with the Escale Worldtime models, the Twin Zone impresses on a number of levels. As a design, it has all the appeal of the Escale collection, with its subtle nods to Louis Vuitton’s history as a luggage manufacturer. And, as a practical aid to travel, it breaks new ground – the sort of thoughtful analysis combined with mechanical ingenuity which has helped really put Louis Vuitton and La Fabrique du Temps on the radar of serious enthusiasts in the last few years.

The Louis Vuitton Escale Twin Zone: cases, 40mm x 12.52mm, 50M water resistance, in 18k rose gold or platinum, the platinum model respendent with 170 baguette cut diamonds and an aventurine dial; on the gold model, silver sunburst satin finished center dial; both watches with engraved meridians and parallels and an opaline and blue lacquer day/night indicator. Movement, caliber LFT VO15.01, automatic, running at 28,800 vph in 26 jewels with 68 hour power reserve; dual time with both hours and minutes; 18k rose gold oscillating weight. Prices, $57,500 or $239,000 (and no prizes for guessing which is which).