Results for Le Brassus

First Look – The new Louis Erard Le Régulateur Gravé Bleu

Just four months after Louis Erard unveiled its handsome Régulateur Gravé with a black dial, the brand returns with a blue dial. The idea of blending the brand’s classic regulator layout with a sector dial was spot-on; however, adding traditional engraving techniques to the mix was an inspired choice. Joining the permanent and newly created […]

A Closer Look: Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Le Temps Divin ‘Ode to the Four Guardians’

Introducing the Louis Erard x Kudoke Le Régulateur

New: Louis Erard x Kudoke Le Régulateur

Louis Erard releases their largest collaboration yet, this time with Stefan Kudoke. Four new models for a total of 356 pieces.

The Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Le Régulateur Tourbillon, Now in Black

Years from now, someone will look back on this period and write about rise of affordable independent watchmaking. We are truly in a golden age if you happen to favor small brands who are inclined to do adventurous, experimental things. I wonder if anyone will identify Louis Erard’s collaborations with Alain Silberstein as a defining moment in this era of watch enthusiasm. From my perspective, it certainly seems like this relatively small Swiss brand and niche designer (who many thought, mistakenly, had reached a peak in terms of his popularity and influence) stand at the center of a lot of what’s happening in our world today. Limited edition collaborations, the mixing of the high and low, and a focus on accessible watches that are still undeniably special in some way are a huge focus of what’s driving interest in the hobby right now, and while Louis Erard and Alain Silberstein didn’t get there first, it’s hard to deny that their continued relationship isn’t one of the key stories of the last several years.  That relationship continues this week with the launch of the Le Régulateur Tourbillon Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Black. This is the same tourbillon that we saw as part of a limited edition triptych back in October of last year. That watch, and the others in the set, featured an olive green dial, and it was notable that the tourbillon could only be purchased as part of the set, while the other watches were available separately. At the time, the thinkin...

The Rolex Daytona “Le Mans” Anniversary Edition

Hands-on – The Accessible Tissot Le Locle Powermatic 80 20th Anniversary Edition

I won’t hide the reality: finding a genuinely elegant watch at a fair price isn’t the easiest of tasks. Dress watches, while often free of any complications, are not the most represented timepieces within the portfolios of accessible brands. Naturally,  there are some candidates to consider, but finding an affordable dive watch is far easier. In […]

Inside Look: Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Le Régulateur And La Semaine For Stephen Silver (Live Photos)

If there’s one thing that enthusiasts love, it’s access! Here GaryG shares his thoughts on the a set of two limited references by Louis Erard and Alain Silberstein developed in collaboration with Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry that are available now (until sold out).

Introducing the Louis Erard x Label Noir Le Régulateur

Up Close: Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Le Chrono Monopoussoir

An architect-turned-watch-designer who made his reputation with a distinctive, whimsical style, Alain Silberstein founded one of the most prominent independent watch brands of the 1990s. Located in Besançon, the historic centre of French watchmaking, the Alain Silberstein brand went under in 2012 but has since enjoyed a revival thanks to a collaboration with Louis Erard that gave birth to an affordable regulator-style wristwatch. More recently, Mr Silberstein designed a charming pendulum clock. An early Alain Silberstein from the 1990s, this one the uncommon Krono Saphir with a sapphire crystal case Now the designer is back with a set of wristwatches, once again made by Louis Erard, but this time designed from the ground up as an entirely new model. The Le Triptyque Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein is made up of three watches, all having the same case and design cues, but featuring different complications. They are available individually or as a box set. The top-of-the-line model is the Le Chrono Monopoussoir Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein, an automatic, single-button chronograph. The other two watches in the set are priced identically but quite different: La Semaine shows the time along with the trademark Silberstein “Smileday” calendar, while Le Régulateur has a regulator-style display. The Triptyque with the Le Régulateur (left), La Semaine (centre), and Le Chrono Monopoussoir. Photo – Louis Erard We’re only going up close with the mono-pusher chronograp...

In-Depth: Montblanc Manufactures Le Locle and Villeret

Over the past two decades, Montblanc has evolved from a pure-play luxury pen maker into a serious contender in watchmaking. The company’s venture into watches began quite modestly in 1997, when it rolled out a line of watches powered by outsourced movements. But it was the 2007 integration of Minerva, a fabled maker of chronographs and stopwatches, that gave Montblanc bona fide watchmaking prowess. And by virtue of its own heritage, Minerva also bestowed a degree of legitimacy on Montblanc, along with an extensive archive of historical designs ready to be mined. Watchmaking prowess Le Locle, and then Villeret Earlier in the year I got to explore all facets of Montblanc’s watchmaking with a visit to Montblanc’s twin watchmaking facilities in Le Locle and Villeret. Both sit in the Vallee de Joux, the historical heart of Swiss watchmaking, and are about a 45-minute drive from each other. Each factory is dedicated to a distinct class of watchmaking – simpler and entry-level watches at Le Locle, and haute horlogerie at Villeret. Together, the two factories give Montblanc a unique diversity that has translated into three price categories of watches. Le Locle is responsible for both the first category, entry-level watches powered by Sellita-based movements, and the second, those equipped with mass-produced, in-house movements. Unsurprisingly, the facility produces tens of thousands of watches annually, all manufactured and assembled on an industrial ...

A. Lange & Sohne: Tourbograph Pour le Merite

The Lange Tourbograph is one of my favourite watches of all time…the complication is exquisite…a fusee chain tourbillon with split seconds chronograph. Created initially to be launched in 1994 together with the other iconic timepieces to showcase the new A. Lange & Sohne, this watch was so complicated, that it was decided to delay theRead More

TEAM PICK: Andy Green’s favourite stories of 2016

Continuing with our series of Team Picks, it’s Andy Green who has the reins today, wrangling the three gems he enjoyed reading most on T+T in 2016. HANDS-ON: Size does matter, the 2016 IWC Big Pilot Edition “Le Petit Prince” BY: Felix Scholz PUBLISHED: May “The title alone had me. Also, Felix pretending to know cars is … ContinuedThe post TEAM PICK: Andy Green’s favourite stories of 2016 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

F. P. Journe Announces Special 30th Anniversary Tourbillon Limited Edition

There is no watchmaker, independent or otherwise, quite like Francois Paul Journe –a notable iconoclast; famously perfectionistic; famously idiosyncratic in approach; famously irascible; a man who sees himself as the spiritual heir to the great French watchmaking traditions and masters of the late 18th and early 19th century –Berthoud, Breguet, Janvier, Le Roy. F. P. […]

Introducing the Chopard L.U.C XPS 1860 Officer Limited Edition for Hodinkee

A new LE from the Dink, this time a classy dress watch from Chopard with a hunter caseback.The post Introducing the Chopard L.U.C XPS 1860 Officer Limited Edition for Hodinkee appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Hands-On: The Chopard L.U.C 1860 In Aeruse Blue

If there's a watch that seemingly stole the hearts of many collectors this year at Watches and Wonders, it's definitely Chopard's new blue-dialed L.U.C 1860 dress watch. The funniest part is that the new model is really only a dial color change. That's it. And yet, among a sea of new designs and complications, Chopard managed to pull off something much larger than its description on paper, and ended up being one of my personal favorite releases from the show. If you're familiar with the previous, now-discontinued salmon dial version of the L.U.C 1860 released back in 2023, well, chances are you already know much about this watch. But its identical specs are very much a good thing, as I think Chopard has really hit a home run with the 1860 as a proper, compact, and thin (8.2mm) dress watch amongst its larger L.U.C. movement-powered siblings.  The 36.5mm case in Chopard's Lucent Steel alloy is very safe in its design, with smooth, curved lines and a fully-polished, rounded bezel and top lugs. While there aren't any little extra design touches that add any additional flair, the sides are vertically brushed to create a bit of contrast. Is the case boring as a result? Certainly not in my eye, as its subdued character works well in the 36.5mm format and, most importantly, it serves as a very nice frame for a spectacular dial. That dial, produced by Chopard's in-house dialmaker Metalem, is an absolute home run. And it surprises me to say this, given that I typically don't care a...

Introducing: The New Chopard L.U.C. Chopard Strike One In Titanium (Live Pics)

What We Know Among the more attractive releases from Watches and Wonders this year is the new Chopard L.U.C. Strike One Titanium, now with a beautiful new dial treatment. In ethical 18k rose gold with salmon-colored galvanic treatment, with a hand-guilloché central medallion with a honeycomb motif, the Strike One is a watch that may fly under the radar for some. Not a minute repeater, not a grande et petite sonnerie, but rather a beautiful watch that chimes once at the top of the hour (a sonnerie au passage), it's still got a very romantic quality about it. Despite being a chiming watch, Chopard has (as they usually do) minimized the size as much as possible with a 40mm by 9.86mm case in Grade 5 titanium. That light metal should help emphasize the chime's sound, with the hammer on the dial side visible through an aperture for the full experience. Even better, the gong is made of sapphire and is connected in a monobloc construction (one piece) to the dial crystal to emphasize sound transmission. The dial itself is capped by a snail-shaped chapter ring and has rhodium-plated hour markers and hands, plus anthracite-colored printed transfers. This is all powered by the L.U.C. 96.32-L. With a two-barrel construction and micro-rotor, you get 65 hours of power reserve, automatic winding, and a 4Hz beat rate, all chronometer-certified by COSC, with Poinçon de Genève-certified quality. Chopard really shows bigger brands how to do it when it comes to finishing, so this is the kin...

First Look – The Chopard L.U.C. Strike One in Titanium with Salmon Dial

Thirty years ago, Chopard’s co-president, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, opened the Manufacture in Fleurier. The first in-house calibre, L.U.C 1.96, a slim automatic micro-rotor movement, made its debut inside the L.U.C XPS 1860 the following year. Rapidly ascending the complications ladder, in 2006, Chopard celebrated the tenth anniversary of its Manufacture with the release of the L.U.C […]

First Look – The Chopard L.U.C XPS Prussian Blue in Lucent Steel

Chopard celebrates 30 years since the founding of its Manufacture in Fleurier, and the L.U.C collection, named after Louis-Ulysse Chopard, continues to highlight the brand’s most technical and refined timepieces. Among the anniversary releases, the new L.U.C XPS Prussian Blue presents an evolution of the sector-dial model in green introduced in 2024. This new edition […]

Blue Steel: Chopard L.U.C 1860

To mark 30 years of its Fleurier manufacture, Chopard has introduced a new variant of the watch that started it all. The new Lucent steel L.U.C 1860 adds a blue dial to the brand’s flagship time-only dress watch. The L.U.C 1860 is short on novelty, being merely a new colour for a model that debuted in 2023, but the incremental improvements result in a sleek and sophisticated steel dress watch. Initial thoughts The L.U.C 1860 is very traditional dress watch in the sense that nothing feels exaggerated. At the same time, it doesn’t feel boring thanks to its guilloché dial and the obvious quality of the movement within. While there are some who believe that a proper dress watch must come in precious metal, the popularity of the steel-and-salmon L.U.C 1860 released in 2023 proves there’s an alternate perspective.   The brand’s proprietary ‘Lucent’ steel makes the watch more accessible, especially in the age of near-record gold prices. Despite the use of a comparatively humble material, the case finishing remains high-end - though the design is generation behind the new case profile introduced for the Grand Strike. Since the original L.U.C 1860 debuted in 1997, it has always been a small watch. For a time, that left it out of step with consumer preferences, especially in the early 2000s, but tastes have once again shifted back in favour of smaller cases. In this context, the vintage-leaning 36.5 mm size feels just right. That said, while it makes sense for Chopar...

Watches & Wonders: The Chopard L.U.C. 1860 Chronometer, Like the Original from Three Decades Past, May be Worth The Wait

Louis-Ulysse Chopard founded his eponymous watch company in 1860, but it took over 100 years for the brand to truly come into its own. In 1996, and after three years of development, the company debuted its own in-house movement. The wait seemed to have been worth it. The L.U.C 96.01-L immediately drew acclaim for beautiful finishing, embracing the microrotor, and COSC certification. It, and the subsequent L.U.C. 1860 dress watch, marked a sea change from reliance on third parties to true independence, arriving at a resurgence in fine mechanical watchmaking. Thirty years later, the L.U.C. family has expanded into dozens of variants, complications, and movements. But at 2026’s Watches & Wonders, Chopard pays tribute to 30 years of in-house manufacturing with a continuation of that vaunted original. The L.U.C 1860 Chronometer uses the same dial and microrotor movement from 1996, albeit with their own upgrades and unique design tweaks.  The intricate white-gold dial features guilloché finishing in the center, emanating in scalloped waves from the Chopard logo and nameplate. The concentric circles are separated by thin bands of white gold, and delicate spear-shaped markers point inward, toward the dauphine hands. At 6 o’clock, the small-seconds dial echoes the twin-circle pattern of the overall dial, and Chopard specifically mentions the lack of a date window “to preserve purity.”  Where the first L.U.C. 1860 had a white dial with gold accents, this Chronometer wears...

Live from WWG: new from Chopard L.U.C

Chopard celebrated their 50th anniversary of the L.U.C back in 1996. Here is the celebration watches. Karl-Friedrich Schuefele started the L.U.C manufacture in 1996 with the L.U.C movement. In 2025, Chopard released the L.U.C Grand Strike which we have covered last year. This year, we have the latest continuation of the L.U.C 1860 with anRead More

First Look – The Superb Chopard L.U.C 1860 Chronometer, now in Blue

Chopard marks the 30th anniversary of its first in-house movement produced in the brand’s Fleurier Manufacture. A pivotal moment for Chopard, the calibre 1.96 was released in 1996 and is still regarded as one of the finest ultra-thin micro-rotor movements today. The first watch to feature the calibre was the L.U.C 1860, presented in a […]

New: Girard-Perregaux La Esmeralda Tourbillon “A Secret” Eternity Edition

Girard-Perregaux celebrates the Year of the Horse with an interesting watch they christened as the La Esmeralda Tourbillon "A Secret" Eternity Edition.

Hands On: Chopard L.U.C. Grand Strike

The 30th anniversary of the Chopard L.U.C. manufacture was one anniversary among many this year, but it will likely be remembered thanks to the Grand Strike, the most complicated watch in Chopard’s history and its first grande sonnerie. Building on the successful Full Strike minute repeater architecture and making full use of the brand’s patented sapphire gongs, the Grand Strike is a chronometer-certified two-train clock watch with a push-button minute repeater. In this context, the presence of the tourbillon is almost a footnote. Initial thoughts I can count on one hand the number of brands that have created their own grande sonnerie wristwatch. It’s one of the few things in watchmaking that’s proven challenging enough to still be rare, even in the days of computer-aided design (CAD) and advanced manufacturing technology like wire erosion. For this reason, the grande sonnerie has a towering cultural presence among watchmakers and collectors, looming above all other complications. For Chopard, the Grand Strike represents the culmination of 30 years of the L.U.C. manufacture, the brand’s haute horlogerie division. The first impression of the Grand Strike is one of extraordinary depth. There’s not much of a dial, save for the minutes scale etched on the inside of the sapphire crystal, and the small concentric sub-dials for the dual power reserve displays. This depth shrinks the watch visually, and it feels dense and compact despite its rather large 43 mm size and...