Worn & Wound
Louis Erard and Massena LAB Follow Up on Last Year’s Regulator with a New Monopusher Chronograph
Last year’s Massena LAB collaboration with Louis Erard, a regulator in an unmistakably classic style with variants in gold and rhodium dial executions, was a success for both brands, with the watch being shortlisted for the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. This week, that release gets a follow up in the form of the new Le Chronographe Monopoussoir Louis Erard x Massena LAB, a monopusher chronograph that shifts the design language of last year’s release to a new complication. The driving force behind Massena LAB, to make a style of watchmaking typically reserved for only the most well heeled collectors accessible to anyone, is very much apparent in the new monopusher, as it takes both a complication and visual aesthetic that are often associated with a certain level of opulence and made them quite a bit more approachable. The monopusher is an interesting counterpoint to last year’s regulator. In terms of mechanical complexity, the monopusher has a clear edge, yet the design here is striking in its restraint. The regulator shows its time telling information in a busy cluster of hands and subdials, but with the monopusher we only get one additional register, a 30 minute counter at the 12:00 position. It’s a simple and straightforward execution of a complication that can often be something of an eye chart, and with the single pusher that simplicity is carried over to the chronograph’s literal operation as well. Aesthetically, we get a similar treatment on the ...
