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 wa.