Louis Vuitton’s Metiers d’Art presented three new Escale models Cabinet of Wonders watches.
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The special watches are limited editions of 20 pieces each and they take inspiration from Japan. They are titled Koï’s Garden, Snake’s Jungle, and Dragon’s Cloud. The same movement LFT023 powers all three Escale watches. That mechanical movemen left place for Vuitton's artist to make big embellishment on them. The 22-carat micro-rotor is adorned with a Japanese wave motif. The LFT023 consists of 120 components, has a 50-hour power reserve, and beats at frequency of 4 Hz. Masters took a good approach taking a proven mechanism and working on it to create what's more a piece of art than a functional machine.
As a part of the same group, watches share some characteristics like Vuitton wanted you to collect them all. All watches have dimensions of 40 mm x 12.04 mm, and each case’s side showcases a Japanese wave. The difference is the Koï’s Garden and Snake’s Jungle's 18-carat white gold cases, while the Dragon’s Cloud is in 18 carat pink gold. All three watches are water resistant to 50 m. There's no doubt that the characteristcis were selected to please a range of buyers, from those with smaller hands to those who usually prefer bigger calibers.
The crowns on each model are different. The Koï’s Garden features an onyx crown, the Snake’s Jungle an nephrite jade crown, and the Dragon’s Cloud a red gemstone crown. The Snake’s Jungle also has a hand engraved bezel. Maybe most interesting feature is an open caseback for you to enjoy the movement, and every watch has an engraving "1 to 20", just to remind you from time to time that you have something special and limited. We would certainly like to see more open casebacks in other manufacturer because it is such an attractive feature.
The three dials are different. The dial of the Koï’s Garden edition consists of a white old base, hand engraved by La Fabrique des Arts. They used precious and ornamental stones, quartz, and diamonds. The Snake’s Jungle is the work of several artisans. The handiwork of Rose Saneuil is one particular highlight using several materials, from wood to straw. The dial of the Dragon’s Cloud is the work of Fanny Queloz. The hand hammered metal base and the engraved dragon are simply stunning. The more you look at them the more you are discovering and our advice would be to hurry and try to catch at least one of them. ■
A strong storm that originated over the Pacific has tracked through the Great Basin and is currently transitioning across the Rockies to redevelop across the central High Plains later today into early Saturday morning.