Results for Louis Erard

New: Louis Erard Excellence Guilloché Main – artisanal hand guilloché

Presenting the Louis Erard Excellence Guilloché Main. Limited edition, checkerboard hand guilloché dial at a modest price. Press Release with commentary.

Louis Erard Makes Traditional, Hand-Executed Guilloche Affordable

Although best known for its collaborations with independent watchmakers, Louis Erard is adept at introducing elements of high-end watchmaking in its accessibly-priced watches. The recent Excellence Email Grand Feu offered a grand feu enamel dial for less than 4,000 Swiss francs. Now Louis Erard is moving on to traditional engine turning with the Excellence Guilloché Main. Limited to 99 pieces, the watch features a chequer guilloché dial with an M.C Escher vibe, and an eminently affordable 3,900 Swiss franc price tag. Initial thoughts Consistently offering affordable timepieces that punch way above their price point, Louis Erard is fast becoming one of my favourite watchmakers. The Excellence Guilloché Main affirms my thoughts about the brand. It is an honest representation of a traditional decorative technique, but different. I find the chequer pattern to be even more striking than the standard guilloché patterns like hobnail or barleycorn. Executed to give it perspective, the pattern has a three-dimensional quality that endows the watch with a sense of depth uncommon on dials as wide and flat as this. And, the heat-blued hands add a welcome pop of colour to the otherwise monochrome palette. The simple functions of just hours and minutes allow the chequer guilloché to be admired in its full glory. I particularly like how Louis Erard prints its brand name on the underside crystal instead of the dial, which further enhances the perceived depth of the watch. That...

Louis Erard Unveils an Affordable ‘Grand Feu’ Enamel Time-Only

Best known recently for its collaborations with independent watchmakers – the Le Régulateur Vianney Halter sold out in a matter of hours – Louis Erard has been gaining recognition for making the style of high-end watchmaking affordable. Continuing with that focus, the brand has just announced the Excellence Email Grand Feu, a time-only wristwatch with a traditional enamel dial in a striking ivory hue. The grand feu, or fired-in-an-oven, enamel dial is fairly difficult to manufacture, resulting in a rejection rate that’s often over half. As a result, such dials are usually only found in high-end watches. It’s Louis Erard’s first use of a fired enamel dial, but true to form, the brand has retained its usual pricing positioning with a retail price of under 4,000 Swiss francs. Initial thoughts Given the frequent enthusiast gripe that watch prices (or values) border on the absurd, it would seem that true value propositions are hard to come by. There are a few exceptions – Tudor, Longines, and a few independents for instance – with Louis Erard increasingly being one of them. The brand offers an honest product, often with one or two elements historically found only in haute horlogerie, for not so much money. The Excellence Email Grand Feu is exactly that. And the dial is particularly appealing in ivory, instead of the usual bright white that is the favoured colour for fired enamel. Notably, the dial is made by Donzé Cadrans, the well-known enamel dial maker ...

New release: Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Vianney Halter with Editorial Commentary (critical)

Louis Erard continues to partner with watchmaking creators, and builds another bridge with high-end watchmaking by working alongside Vianney Halter, an artist whose every creation is a collector’s dream item. Here, the latest novelty is the Louis Erard x Vianney Halter – a 178 piece limited edition, automatic regulator, priced at CHF 3,500. Press releaseRead More

Louis Erard Introduces the Le Régulateur Vianney Halter

Almost exactly a year after the inaugural limited edition designed by Alain Silberstein, Louis Erard has just unveiled its second collaboration, this time with Vianney Halter, the watchmaker best known for a unique, steampunk-inspired aesthetic. Designed by Mr Halter and made by Louis Erard, the Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Vianney Halter is based on the Excellence Régulateur, but dressed up with many of the independent watchmaker’s signature design elements on the dial. Initial thoughts The dial is executed with the distinctive aesthetic found on Mr Halter’s best-known watches, namely the Antiqua and Classic – which were penned by American designer Jeff Barnes. Although the case and dial layout are identical to Louis Erard’s stock regulator model, the typography and hands of Mr Halter are unique enough to make it instantly recognisable. As it is based on the standard model, the Régulateur Vianney Halter has the same strengths and weaknesses. Most obviously, it is affordable and good value, but the case is thick at a little over 12 mm high, meaning it feels slightly chunky. Conceptually, this collaboration functioned exactly like the earlier one with Alain Silberstein, but it feels less complete because of the background of the collaborator. While Mr Silberstein was always a watch designer, Mr Halter is well established as a watchmaker and known as a skilled prototypist. As a result, while the new watch possesses a recognisable Vianney Halter style – and it ...

Louis Erard Introduces the Excellence Triptych

Having pivoted to take a more interesting direction – exemplified by its recent collaboration with watch designer Alain Silberstein – Louis Erard is now working on facelifting its more classical watches to give them a more contemporary appearance. The result is the Excellence Triptych, a trio of watches that are simple yet smartly detailed. Made up of a time-only, regulator, and mono-pusher chronograph, the line up is named after a three-panelled painting, perhaps reflecting the artistic interests of Manuel Emch, the former chief executive of Jaquet Droz who is now a consultant to Louis Erard and responsible for the brand’s renewal. The Excellence Triptych (from left): Petite Second, Régulateur, Chronographe Monopoussoir Initial thoughts The Triptych is fundamentally appealing because of its reasonable and affordable pricing, starting from about US$1,600 for the time-only and rising to a still-modest US$3,800 for the mono-pusher chronograph. The intrinsic value is especially strong for the regulator, as the complication is rarely seen in this price segment (though Louis Erard has made it something of a speciality). The Régulateur And the facelift is subtle but significantly, boosting their visual appeal over the earlier generation of watches. Amongst the more obvious tweaks was replacing the Roman numerals with applied Arabics and batons, while also sharpening the lance-shaped hands, giving the watch a more modern look. While the dials are in a muted silver, ...

Louis Erard Introduces the Excellence Regulator with Smoked Dials

Regulators are all about their characteristic dial where the hour, minute and seconds hands are each located on separate axes – with the minute hand being the largest and longest – a layout originally designed for maximum legibility on clock faces in the mid-18th century. The Louis Erard Excellence Regulator revisits this classical design, but now with a fashionable smoked dial – and an eminently affordable price tag. Initial thoughts Regulator watches are simple, but are not common at this price point – the Excellence Regulator costs just 2490 Swiss francs, or about US$2600. Louis Erard, however, has made something of a specialty of affordable regulator watches, most notably with the whimsical Alain Silberstein Regulator launched last year that was styled by the eponymous watch designer for Louis Erard. The value proposition is good, though the dials are definitely reminiscent the fumé dials of H. Moser & Cie, which didn’t invent such graduated-colour dials, but have made them almost synonymous with the brand. Based on the photos, the graduated finish of the Excellence Regulator dials are not quite as not as complex or refined as that on Moser’s watches – understandable and acceptable given the substantively lower price. Smoked dials While the regulator layout is unusual, the smoked dials are the highlight. Offered in vibrant and saturated hues of grey, blue or green, the colour gradually tapers off in intensity, turning almost black towards the edges...

INTRODUCING: The Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Regulator

If you’ve been around watches for more than a few years there’s a decent chance you’re familiar with the watch designs of Alain Silberstein. They’re bold, bright and very much of their time - crazy shapes and primary colours that go to show that Bauhaus design is far from boring. It’s minimalism, but in the most … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Regulator appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Introducing the Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Excellence Regulator

Alain Silberstein adds his signature splash of life into the Louis Erard Excellence Regulator as the Jura based watchmaker looks to kick off a refreshed watchmaking effort.

New release with live pics: Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Regulator

Louis Erard collaborates with the architect and watchmaker Alain Silberstein to create a new regulator watches in SS and Black PVD. Details within.

Louis Erard Introduces the Regulator by Alain Silberstein (With Live Photos)

Louis Erard has been around for some 90 years, but for much of that time the brand produced watches for other labels. A decade ago, shortly after new owners took over, Louis Erard began to move slightly upmarket with mechanical watches featuring proprietary modules. But most of its designs were plain or derivative. And so Louis Erard could have been just another brand making mostly anonymous looking watches. But recently Louis Erard recruited the talented Manuel Emch – best known for reviving Jaquet Droz and then running RJ-Romain Jerome until 2017 – as an advisor and suddenly things have brightened up – literally. Louis Erard has just announced the Alain Silberstein Regulator, a surprisingly affordable wristwatch created by the watch designer famed for his whimsical, Bauhaus-inspired style – captured here in photos taken by a Swiss collector for SJX (scroll to the bottom to read my thoughts on the watch after seeing them shortly after this was published). Since Mr Silberstein’s eponymous company went bust in 2012, he has created watches for MB&F; and RJ-Romain Jerome. Despite the diversity of the brands he has worked with, Mr Silberstein versatile yet distinctive style manages to ease into each brand’s house style. Illustrating the magic of Mr Silberstein’s creativity, the new watch is based on one of Louis Erard’s signature models, the Excellence Regulator, which is ordinarily available with a grained or guilloche silver dial featuring Roman numera...

New: Louis Erard x Monica Bonvicini NOT FOR YOU

The king of collabs Manuel Emch strikes again! This time at Art Genève with artist Monica Bonvicini. Here is the watch to be known as NOT FOR YOU.

First Look – Louis Erard Enters the Integrated Sports Watch Arena with its New 2340 Collection

Once the domain of high-end brands, the integrated sports watch genre is on fire and the market is flooded with thousands of models, ranging from downright affordable ones, such as Tissot’s PRX, all the way up to AP’s Royal Oak, and everything in between. A somewhat unexpected move, the latest player to take the plunge […]

Owner’s Review: Evolving as a Collector with the Louis Erard Heritage

Watch collecting is filled with stories of love at first sight, which I guess makes sense considering the hobby revolves around looking at watches. Stare at enough stranger’s wrists, browse enough boutiques and partake in enough endless scrolling sessions, and it’s only a matter of time before cupid’s horological arrow strikes. If your watch consumption habits are as excessive as mine, you’ll likely be struck on a regular basis. Knowing when to embrace these moments through distant appreciation and when to splurge by breaking out the credit card is a balancing act that comes down to personal finances and individualized collecting goals. Have stacks of cash and enjoy rotating through dozens of watches? Sounds like a green light to hit that buy button whenever your heart desires. Writing monthly checks for your kid’s extra curricular activities that are high enough to make even your inflated grocery expenses blush? We have plenty of room for you in the strapped for cash parents club, where we maintain concise collections that prioritize frill free practicality over opulence. As a proud member and self-designated ambassador of the latter group, I’ve set a limit of $300 for individual purchases. Yes, it sounds low, and compared with most of the collectors that are likely to appear in your Instagram feed, it is. But armed with patience and a penchant for bargain hunting, it’s really not all that limiting and has allowed me to embrace love at first sight with two B...

Review with new video: Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Vianney Halter II

We requested for samples to be sent to us as loaners for review. Here are our thoughts after spending two weeks with the watches.

Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Vianney Halter II Introduces A New Steampunk Chapter

The Louis Erard 2300 Chronograph Sport

Introducing the Louis Erard x Kudoke Le Régulateur

New & Reviewed: Le Régulateur Tourbillon Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein

Another collaboration with Alain Silberstein. And yet another chance for a collector to own this Le Régulateur Tourbillon.

Geneva Watch Days 2023: The Louis Erard x The Horophile La Petite Seconde Metropolis

Louis Erard and Konstantin Chaykin Partner to Create the Le Régulateur “Time Eater”

Introducing the Louis Erard x Label Noir Le Régulateur

A Meeting of Minds – Louis Erard x Massena Lab

Louis Erard and the Alain Silberstein Renaissance

New: Louis Erard Excellence Guilloché Main II

ouis Erard continues its streak of superb, modestly priced watches with their play on the dial with their latest release - the Excellence Guilloché Main II.