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 at a very reasonable price, 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.
In a limited edition of only 99 pieces comes the new Louis Erard Excellence Guilloché Main II continuing to reinvent the traditional Métiers d’Art with this second hand guilloché dial. It is exactly the same technique that Breguet popularized in the 18th century, but Louis Erard hasn't stopped at this classic framework, opening up new territory for expression: exclusive, innovative, and contemporary. For this Louis Erard, the logo isn't even printed on the dial. It's all in the pattern with concentric large diamonds, opened out like perspective, black flat spaces, and lines engraved in the metal. This is the second time Louis Erard has reinterpreted the art of guilloché since their first timepiece Excellence Guilloché Main was released in 2021. An art where the craftsman’s hand meets the mechanism: a manual lathe with cams determines the designs, while the hand guides the chisel —a mark of exceptional watchmaking whose origins date back to the 16th century.
Guilloché is the art of decoration and repetitive patterns. Traditionally, guilloché is used to create variation, as in music: the theme or motif creates the starting point, then the rhythm or associations are woven in. Traditionally, guilloché is based on a repertoire of patterns and there are nearly 80 of them, and these patterns constitute the scale on which everything else is composed. But Louis Erard changed the rules under the artistic and strategic impulse of Manuel Emch —former CEO of Romain Jerome and industry veteran.
He wanted this second opus of Excellence Guilloché Main to be a 100% original creation, starting from the design, and utilizing all the resources of artisan dial-maker Fehr in La Chaux-de-Fonds to enhance and modernize traditional guilloché.
Guilloché is no longer a question of decoration; it’s a subject in and of itself: a large diamond, an ace of diamonds, with a kinetic feel. It's no longer a question of revisiting an old aesthetic, but of putting the technique at the service of contemporary composition. And artistic references are not far: an air of op art and Neo-Geo plastic; space between lines and flat sections, in the style of Frank Stella; a playful Victor Vasarely pop-art touch.
The dial is also a display of strength since its creation relies on an unprecedented approach. In the end, everything about this piece is innovative. The operating range —the sequence of operations necessary for production— had to be assembled from scratch, from the first black varnishing to the final rhodium plating after the guilloché.
The guilloché itself required all the dexterity of the guillochage the same artisan who made the 2021 dial, she produces the 99 dials piece by piece, each one taking several hours of work on the manual guilloché rose engine lathe. Not to mention the engineers, who had to invent and manufacture new cams —large metal stencils that the lathe translates into a design and scales down to the scale of the dial— to achieve this unprecedented result. The matte black varnish dial is signed “Swiss Guilloché Main” with no Louis Erard brand logo and equipped with hands in blued steel.
The watch is powered by the Sellita SW261-1 automatic movement with an hour and minute function. This 31-jewel movement with a special open-worked oscillating weight beats at a frequency of 28,800 vph and provides a power reserve of only 38 hours. The movement is visible via the display case back.
Limited to 99 pieces, the Louis Erard Excellence Guilloché Main II Limited Edition is cased in a polished stainless steel case measuring 42 mm in diameter and delivered on a black-grained calf leather strap with tone-on-tone stitching and blue grained calf leather lining in Louis Erard blue. The watch can be purchased through Louis Erard’s website.
Sticker Price CHF 3,900 Swiss Francs —approximately $4,200 USD. For more info on Louis Erard click here.
