Louis Erard celebrates 2022, the year of the figure two (or nearly), with a special edition of two pieces made with two times two hands: Louis Erard and Alain Silberstein – Le Diptyque. Two inseparable names since their first collaboration in 2019, two watches that became collector’s items as soon as they were released, such as the triptych that followed. This new diptych continues the trend, with two new variants, Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Blanc and La Semaine Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Blanche. Two times 178 pieces.
2022, year of the figure two. Couple, duo, tandem. History is written by two, the adventure is lived by two: Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein. Since the pair joined forces, nothing has been the same and it is not likely to stop. Copernican encounter: Two ex machina. Louis Erard was looking for his future while Alain Silberstein was looking for his present. The two times were one and the two destinies were united, inseparable, as at the beginning of a saga.
And the saga continues. Manuel Emch, CEO and artistic director of Louis Erard, has once again invited Alain Silberstein to continue the collaboration started in 2019. The fusion of the two worlds has this time given birth to a diptych. Two mechanical variations: a regulator, an original complication from Louis Erard, and a Smiley weekly calendar, Alain Silberstein‘s emblematic calendar — every day has its face, its mood, its humour. A work in two parts, symbolic, allegorical, heraldic.
Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Blanc
La Semaine Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Blanche
The two references are produced in a limited series of 178 pieces, a number whose meaning is reinforced from collaboration to collaboration: together we are stronger. Fifty-six watches in a special diptych box set will be available at the exceptional price of CHF 7,777.
The individual sale price is in itself remarkable: CHF 4,000. Entry price on the collector’s watch – the previous chapters of the Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein collaboration have already proven this with a sustained rating on the secondary market. A price that also signs Louis Erard’s profession of faith: to be the access point to exceptional watchmaking, through capsule editions with contemporary creative artists, and special series dedicated to métiers d’art.
Apart from the white dial and the light grey strap, this diptych takes up the exterior elements of the 2021 triptych version – which was sold out as soon as it was released. A case composed of a tubular container in microblasted grade 2 titanium and transparent caseback, fixed on a vertical sidebar called “brancard” in polished grade 5 titanium and flanked by a signature conical crown stamped with the Louis Erard symbol. The strap is made of special nylon, breathable, ergonomic and adjustable for perfect wearing comfort.
Is it still necessary to introduce Alain Silberstein? Artist, designer, watchmaker architect. A pioneer of the creative watch at the end of the 1980s. A leading figure in the fusion of art and watchmaking. Head of independent watchmaking, inveterate risk taker, Alain Silberstein left the circuit too early due to the economic setback of the 2010s but returned to the race through the great door of collaborations and once again has become immensely popular through Louis Erard.
Is it still necessary to introduce Louis Erard watches? Maison du Noirmont, independent by its roots and by vocation. A model of resistance: built in the middle of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, a survivor of all watchmaking crises, faithful to its commitment to fine, affordable traditional watchmaking. Louis Erard would not be the brand we know today without the impetus of Manuel Emch, artistic and strategic director.
This diptych tells this double story and concentrates all its energies. Simple and unconventional, like disconcerting evidence. It’s as if the two had lost their heads.
More collaborations will follow.
Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Blanc ref. 85358TT01.BTT83
Limited edition of 178 pieces
Recommended retail price: CHF 4,000
Movement
- Automatic regulator,
- Sellita SW266-1 calibre,
- 11½’’’, Ø25.60 mm, height: 5.60 mm,
- 31 jewels,
- 28,800 VpH (4Hz),
- élaboré grade movement, meticulously decorated, special openworked oscillating weight with black lacquered Louis Erard symbol,
- approx. 38 hours of power reserve
Functions
- HMS
- Hour hand in a counter at 12 o’clock, central minute hand, seconds hand in a counter at 6 o’clock
Case
- Microblasted grade 2 titanium & polished grade 5 titanium,
- Ø40 mm, lug width: 22 mm, lug to lug: 47 mm, thickness: 11.60 mm,
- 2 pieces,
- sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides, movement visible through the transparent caseback,
- water-resistant up to a pressure of 10 bars (100 m/330 ft),
- Alain Silberstein red-lacquered signature crown with Louis Erard symbol,
- caseback engraved with “Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein 1 of 178”
Dial
- Opaline (matt silver) with counter at 12 o’clock, grey and red transfers,
- flange featuring blue and red indexes
Hands
- Alain Silberstein signature hands: red lacquered hour hand, blue lacquered minute hand and yellow lacquered second hand
Strap
- Grey nylon and microblasted grade 2 titanium,
- hook-and-loop fastener system for quick adjustment,
- functional catch spring bars allowing the strap to be changed quickly
- Dimensions: 22.70 mm width, 225 mm length, suitable for a wrist circumference of 140 to 200 mm
La Semaine Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Blanche ref. 75357TT01.BTT83
Limited edition of 178 pieces
Recommended retail price: CHF 4,000
Movement
- Automatic, Sellita SW220-1 calibre,
- day/date at 6 o’clock,
- 11½’’’, Ø25.60 mm, height: 5.05 mm, 26 jewels,
- 28,800 VpH (4Hz),
- élaboré grade movement, meticulously decorated, special openworked oscillating weight with black lacquered Louis Erard symbol,
- approx. 38 hours of power reserve
Functions
- HMS, mood of the day/date
- 3 central hands
Case
- Microblasted grade 2 titanium & polished grade 5 titanium,
- Ø40 mm, lug width: 22 mm, lug to lug: 47 mm, thickness: 11.60 mm,
- 2 pieces,
- sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides,
- movement visible through the transparent caseback,
- water-resistant up to a pressure of 10 bars (100 m/330 ft),
- Alain Silberstein red-lacquered signature crown with Louis Erard symbol, caseback engraved with “Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein 1 of 178”
Dial
- Opaline (matt silver),
- grey transfers,
- signature Alain Silberstein day disc (“smiledays”) and date at 6 o’clock,
- flange featuring blue and red indexes
Hands
- Alain Silberstein signature hands: red lacquered hour hand, blue lacquered minute hand and yellow lacquered second hand
Strap
- Grey nylon and microblasted grade 2 titanium,
- hook-and-loop fastener system for quick adjustment,
- functional catch spring bars allowing the strap to be changed quickly
- Dimensions: 22.70 mm width, 225 mm length, suitable for a wrist circumference of 140 to 200 mm
Le Diptyque Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein ref. 11111TT01.DIPTYQUE (special diptych box set)
Recommended retail price: CHF 7,777
ABOUT ALAIN SILBERSTEIN
“Real happiness is being passionate about one’s work.”
Alain Silberstein was born in 1950. He has had a rather unusual career, beginning as an interior architect and designer in Paris before becoming a watchmaker in Besançon, France, at the end of the 1980s, when he set up his own company. At a time when the disappearance of mechanical watchmaking seemed almost inevitable, he joined the narrow circle of Swiss watchmakers behind a renaissance in mechanical watches with innovative features.
His work pays tribute to the Bauhaus art movement, which traces its roots to Germany in 1919, and to major artists such as Gropius, Itten, Moholy-Nagy, Kandinsky, Klee, Albers, Bayer and Mies van der Rohe, all of whose works continue to influence graphic design, architecture and design in general.
Alain Silberstein has developed a unique style where the geometrical rigour of shapes and mechanical movements play mischievously with a rainbow of evocative colours and innovative materials. It is an artistic and playful approach to high-end watchmaking which sometimes surprises and often beguiles. It is the original approach of a watchmaker and artist who creates singular watches, taking on the challenge of offering a poetic approach to the passing of time and the emotions found in personal and shared times.
Every year for twenty-five years, Alain Silberstein designed and created around a thousand exceptional watches, all made in limited series and numbered, in his workshop at the heart of French-Swiss watchmaking country. Since the closure of his company in 2012, he has turned his talent to working with other watchmaking brands such as MB&F, Romain Jerome and now Louis Erard.
Alain Silberstein continues to explore a watchmaking universe which is somewhere between art and craft, where strict shapes, innovative materials and evocative colours harmoniously come together.
ABOUT LOUIS ERARD
Based in the Jura mountains, the birthplace of watchmaking, Louis Erard embodies the values of Swiss mechanics, the tradition that keeps its promises. Combining luxury, timelessness and elegance, this independent brand is renowned for its mechanical watches and, in particular, its iconic regulators. A collection on which the brand, founded by Mr. Louis Erard in 1929, built its reputation.
Today, continuing the work of its founder and honouring watchmaking tradition, the Maison is reinterpreting the codes in a contemporary language. Louis Erard continues to set itself apart from mass-market brands. Inspired by high-end watchmaking, the brand draws on its values to enhance its mechanical timepieces.