Since the renaissance of mechanical watches began in the late 1980s, numerous watch brands have concentrated on watches in the upper price class. However, there has always been a growing number of well-informed watch fans searching for watches manufactured according to traditional Swiss watchmaking practices at affordable prices. This is generally the clientele that Louis Erard speaks to.

Louis Erard is named for the company founder, who started up a small movement reassembly business in 1929 and remained behind the scenes for his entire working life as a supplier to other watch manufacturers. It was Erard’s grandson Paul who first put together a complete collection of his own watches to form an independent brand.

Louis Erard is known in the modern era for its well-priced timepieces containing additional complications. One style that the company has been particularly known for since 2003, when Alain Spinedi joined as director, is the regulator, an interesting time display highlighting precision by featuring a central minute hand and subdials for hours and seconds in a very large and legible way.

Le Régulateur II Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein

Louis Erard has succeeded in bringing the regulator dial with its large, sweeping minute hand forward into the modern era thanks to several elements in the Excellence collection, but mostly by using the comfort of a reliable Swiss automatic movement. The regulator – a style deriving from nineteenth-century precision clocks used for timing purposes – was miniaturized and popularized in the wristwatch by Chronoswiss in the 1980s. It remains a style used occasionally by other brands, but it is not something you see every day.

2019: a new chapter of accessible excellence

In 2019, 90 years after its founding, Louis Erard embarked upon a new era following the arrival of Manuel Emch (previously of Jaquet Droz and Romain Jerome) to the board and as strategic advisor; Spinedi is now retired but remains as a shareholder.

“Everything that makes high-end watchmaking – whether it’s craftsmanship, artisanship, names, concepts, or ideas – we want to be the ones to offer it at an incomparable price,” Emch recently told me during a personal interview. “We want to be open and collaborative, we want to have people inside and outside the industry working with us. Like a house, not a tower – we have enough ivory towers in our industry – so think of us as an open house. And that’s what you’ll see in the collections . . . this idea of very famous names that people have always wanted to own or afford, we had the idea to work with them – and not just watchmakers. This was our idea from the beginning.”

The 2021 Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein collection (L-R): Le Régulateur II, La Semaine, and Le Chrono Monopoussoir

The timing could not have been more fortuitous, and the first designer picked to give carte blanche for the look of a new limited edition could not have been better chosen: Alain Silberstein.

Alain Silberstein at the De Bethune suite during Geneva Watch Days 2021

Silberstein, whose own eponymous watch brand had gone under in 2012, has remained fresh in the consciousness of watch fans thanks to collaborative pieces with MB&F (Legacy Machine Alain Silberstein and HM2.2 Black Box) and Romain Jerome’s Subcraft Jump Hour under Emch, though that latter piece did not look like one of his at all. Though those collaborations did not necessarily feature the same feel for geometry and color that Silberstein’s own brand did, they became popular, critically acclaimed, and sold-out haute horlogerie limited editions.

Emch choosing Silberstein to kick off things at Louis Erard after their collaborative success with the Subcraft Jump Hour at Romain Jerome was an inspired no-brainer. And the vibrant, uplifting watch that ensued proved impossibly well received, both critically and commercially.

One of the two versions of Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein of 2019

Silberstein had never before designed a regulator watch, and his first, the Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein in two colorways limited to 178 pieces each, was a runaway hit. Entered into the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève’s 2020 Challenge category, it lost to the 2020 version of the Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight. But I’ll bet that was something of a tough choice for the jury.

However, there was a great consolation prize: this watch won a Red Dot design award in 2021.

“The market has evolved from market to brand to product. Today’s there’s a ‘product’ at Audemars Piguet; there’s a ‘product’ at Patek Philippe – these are what everyone wants more than the brand. So it’s more down to what we essentially are: creators of products, creators of exceptional watches. We’re creating objects. The mentality is changing, and we’re understanding that more and more,” said Emch.

Vianney Halter, Alain Silberstein, and more

In the midst of the pandemic in late 2020 as Europe was experiencing full lockdown mode, Louis Erard released a second collaborative Le Régulateur model, this time with independent watchmaker Vianney Halter. It was no less acclaimed and popular, its limited edition of 178 pieces also selling out immediately. Halter, a watchmaker, designed the dial, hands, and crown of this edition.

Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Vianney Halter on the wrist

This was both preceded and followed by a number of other attractive collaborative timepieces, all marked by sensible and practical offerings such as quick-change straps and a new loyalty program for those who buy through the website.

In June 2021, three more Silberstein collaborations “dropped,” breaking the internet and solidifying the obviousness of Louis Erard’s new direction. This Triptyque, as the brand calls it, comprises three watches, each limited to 178 pieces. Seventy-eight of these are earmarked for sale in a collector’s box containing the three watches in addition to a digital artwork (NFT) signed by Silberstein. The watches are again individually accessibly priced, with the collector’s box coming in at 11,111 Swiss francs.

Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Triptyque (L-R): Le Régulateur II, La Semaine, and Le Chrono Monopoussoir

The Triptyque comprises La Semaine (CHF 3,500), Le Régulateur II (CHF 3,500), and Le Chrono Monopoussoir (CHF 4,500), a one-button (monopusher) chronograph.

Those paying attention may have noticed a couple of different things. For one, the case of these three watches is very different to the original Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein: it now consists of a frame with vertical sidebars called brancards flanked by a conical crown.

Le Régulateur II Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein

This is pure architecture resulting in geometric simplicity with effects created by contrast and play with shape. The materials (grade 2 and grade 5 titanium) and finishes (microblasted and polished) as well as water resistance to 100 meters and a soft, breathable, lightweight nylon strap with a quick-fit, Velcro-like closure make these watches sporty without being overly so. This strap also means a perfect fit for every wrist without any fuss.

La Semaine, my favorite of the three, references Silberstein’s own work with its “smileday” function in which the days do not have names but are symbolized by playful smiley faces. The wearer gets to choose the face for that day based on their own mood. I have always found this function to be one of the best of his little inventions, and it instantly lifts my mood to see it.

Bad mood today? La Semaine Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein on the wrist

Le Régulateur II is a new variation on the 2019 collaboration between Silberstein and Louis Erard but costs CHF 600 more. I assume this price increase is related to the new case design and the new automatic Sellita caliber used here instead of the manually wound Peseux 7001 base of the first edition. Other changes are cosmetic and relate to the colors used – like blue for the large arrow-shaped minute hand instead of yellow. The power reserve is also absent here, which is certainly related to the change in caliber.

Le Chrono Monopoussoir Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein

Finally, Le Chrono Monopoussoir features central hour and minute hands (as usual) along with the chronograph second hand, while the 30-minute counter is at 12 o’clock. As on the La Semaine model, the monopusher chronograph incorporates the designer’s new signature hour hand: a red circle topped off by a triangle pointer.

The limitation number of 178 (the so-called angel number) for each of the collaboration pieces is symbolic for Emch signifying “being strong together and developing/building together both on a human and also a financial way which is the idea of any collaboration.”

If you do not catch these editions on the days of their drops, you’re probably going to be out of luck unless you’re willing to pay a lot more for the watches. “We’ve noticed the secondary market prices up to three and four times our retail price,” Emch noted.

“It brings the whole brand up. Today, if you don’t have a secondary market price, you don’t have a first market price. The secondary market defines the first market, and it’s not the price tag that defines the value of the watch, it’s the price people are willing to pay. This is not my strategy, but it’s a great side effect for brand building. It just makes people understand how good these products are.”

Le Régulateur II Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein

In short, the strictly limited nature of these expressive watches coupled with the irresistibly attractive (practically unbelievable) prices are making them the watches to have right now. Long may these collaborations continue as they make me smile.

For more information, please visit www.louiserard.com/creations/excellence/le-triptyque-louis-erard-x-alain-silberstein.

Quick Facts Louis Erard Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein
Case: 40 x 9 mm, black PVD-coated stainless steel
Movement: manually winding Caliber ETA Peseux 7001 with regulator modification, 42-hour power reserve, 21,600 vph/3 Hz frequency
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds; power reserve indication
Limitation: 178 pieces (sold out)
Price: CHF 2,900
Remark: three-year warranty

Quick Facts La Semaine Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein
Case: 40 x 11.6 mm, microblasted grade 2 titanium and polished grade 5 titanium
Movement: automatic Caliber ETA 2836-2, 38-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph/4 Hz frequency
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds; date, smileday
Limitation: 178 pieces (sold out)
Price: CHF 3,500
Remark: three-year warranty and quick-change strap function

Quick Facts Le Régulateur II Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein
Case: 40 x 11.6 mm, microblasted grade 2 titanium and polished grade 5 titanium
Movement: automatic Caliber Sellita SW266-1, 38-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph/4 Hz frequency
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds
Limitation: 178 pieces (sold out)
Price: CHF 3,500
Remark: three-year warranty and quick-change strap function

Quick Facts Le Chrono Monopoussoir Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein
Case: 40 x 13.9 mm, microblasted grade 2 titanium and polished grade 5 titanium
Movement: automatic Caliber Sellita SW500 MPCa, 48-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph/4 Hz frequency
Functions: hours, minutes; chronograph
Limitation: 178 pieces (sold out)
Price: CHF 4,500
Remark: three-year warranty and quick-change strap function

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