Renowned for its luxury travel heritage, Louis Vuitton has expanded its identity across fashion accessories and high horology. One of those examples is the Louis Vuitton Escale pocket watch collection, created by the prestigious La Fabrique du Temps. These pocket watches feature exclusive in-house movements, including the LFT AU14.03 calibre with over 700 hand-finished components, and incorporate celebrated complications such as a minute repeater, one-minute tourbillon, 8-day power reserve, and animated automata, as well as exceptional métiers d'art using techniques like grand feu enamel, paillonné enamel, micro-sculpture, and gem-setting to depict artistic scenes inspired by destinations such as Mount Fuji, the Amazon, and Alaska.

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The Maison has now expanded this Escales Autour du Monde series with the new Escale en Alaska. This unique pocket watch combines a minute repeater, one-minute tourbillon, and jacquemart automaton in what the Maison describes as the most complex pocket watch ever created by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Following the Escale en Amazonie and Escale au Pont-Neuf, the latest creation honours the frozen landscapes of Alaska through a blend of high watchmaking and métiers d'art.

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Also Read: Where fashion meets horology

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The dial is inspired by Alaska's Margerie Glacier beneath the Northern Lights and recreates a vibrant Arctic scene featuring a blue whale, an orca, and families of penguins. The jacquemart automaton brings the landscape to life through nine animations and 17 moving elements. The whale rises from the sea, the orca opens its mouth to reveal white gold teeth, penguins flap their flippers and waddle across the ice, while an iceberg slowly drifts across the dial carrying Louis Vuitton trunks that open to reveal Monogram flowers. A rotating gold compass rose at 12 o'clock and a 0.05-carat LV Monogram Star-cut diamond travelling across the sky as a shooting star complete the animated display.

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Also Read: Louis cruises with De Bethune for its third collaboration timepiece

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Crafted in-house by La Fabrique des Arts, the dial showcases Louis Vuitton's decorative expertise through grand feu champlevé, cloisonné, and miniature enamel, combined with extensive hand engraving and painting. Creating the icy landscape required 32 different enamel colours and more than 35 successive kiln firings to achieve the desired depth and colour transitions.

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The 50 mm × 19 mm 18K white gold case, produced by La Fabrique des Boîtiers, features hand-engraved Arctic-inspired motifs on its sides and is water-resistant to 30 metres. The gradient bezel, inspired by the colours of the Arctic landscape, is set with 41 baguette-cut coloured sapphires (2.85 carats), 16 baguette-cut diamonds and one LV Monogram Star-cut diamond (1.24 carats combined), along with eight baguette-cut tourmalines (0.42 carats). Time is displayed on the reverse of the watch with skeletonised blued hands, allowing the front to remain dedicated entirely to the animated artwork.

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Powering the watch is the manufacture Calibre LFT AU14.03, a manually wound movement developed specifically for pocket watches. The movement operates at 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz) and delivers an impressive 8-day power reserve. It is hand-finished with engraved bridges, numerous hand-bevelled interior angles, polished steel components, gold wheels, gold chatons, and traditional Côtes de Genève decoration.

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The Louis Vuitton Escale en Alaska is delivered with an 18K white gold chain, a bespoke leather travel bag inspired by Louis Vuitton's historic luggage, and a matching presentation trunk. Produced as a unique piece, the pocket watch is available on request, with pricing disclosed privately.

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Images: Louis Vuitton