Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Olivier Mosset Watch Review
Fresh from the Franches Montagnes, Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Olivier Mosset is the latest collaborative model masterminded by Manuel Emch. On this occasion, he has worked with Olivier Mosset, the American-based, Swiss artist who is synonymous with geometric abstraction and whose work normally resides on the walls of the world’s greatest art galleries. Angus Davies asks one question, ‘Is this a watch or a piece of art?’
Louis Erard depuis 1929
Louis Erard was founded in 1929 and has a rich history of making timepieces. Like many firms it has enjoyed good times and on some occasions faced challenges. During the 1980s, the Swiss firm reimagined the hand-wound Peseux 7001 movement, adding a power-reserve indicator and a regulator.
The regulator has since become synonymous with the Maison. Indeed, these days, Louis Erard offers a broad selection of models equipped with a prominent minute hand. Today, the firm tends to use a Sellita SW266-1 calibre, a self-winding movement that proffers additional wearer convenience.
Regulator watches
The origins of the regulator watch can be traced back to the 18th century when ‘master’ clocks were used as a reference. These clocks would be used for setting other clocks and watches as well as assessing their accuracy. Back in the day, a regulator would typically have a large, dominant minute hand.
Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Excellence Regulator (2019)
In 2019, Manuel Emch joined Louis Erard as the firm’s Artistic Director and Strategist. He hit the ground running. Having barely removed his coat, he thumbed the pages of his little black book and made contact with Alain Silberstein, the French architect, designer and watch industry veteran. Silberstein came with vast experience in conceiving eye-catching watches.
Just a few months after Emch’s arrival, the brand from Le Noirmont unveiled the Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Excellence Regulator, offered in two variants, each limited to 178 pieces. The watch subscribed to two defining elements, common to many examples of Silberstein’s work: Bauhaus-inspired styling and the use of colourful geometric shapes.
Louis Erard and collaborations
Since their first collaboration, Emch and Silberstein have worked together again on several occasions, most recently in 2023 with Le Triptyque Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Khaki.
Emch’s strategy to work with third parties has proved a wise decision. Louis Erard has since collaborated with several luminaries of watchmaking, including Eric Giroud, Konstantin Chaykin and Vianney Halter. However, Emch has not restricted his focus to just watchmaking’s A-listers, he regularly collaborates with artisanal specialists as well as designers operating in different fields eg atelier oï. Underpinning, each creation is the notion of accessibility with all references delivering an impressive quality-price ratio.
Olivier Mosset – Swiss artist
Now, a new collaborative timepiece has just been released, fresh from the brand’s atelier in the Franches Montagnes. Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Olivier Mosset, as its name implies, is a regulator timepiece, the horological genre that has been popularised by Emch. However, this Louis Erard model is very different from its antecedents.
Oliver Mosset is a Swiss artist who lives in Tucson, Arizona. A prominent figure in the postwar abstract painting scene, he was a founder of the B.M.P.T group, along with Daniel Buren, Michel Parmentier and Niele Toroni. This creative quartet, based in Paris, defied conventional artistic ideas, enjoying freedom from representational qualities in art, commonly known as geometric abstraction.
Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Olivier Mosset
Emch approached the artist and suggested they work together. The resultant piece blurs the boundaries between a watch and a work of art. The ‘shiny’ black lacquered dial and 42 mm black PVD-treated steel case serves as a reminder of the artist’s famous monochrome paintings. The shiny appearance of the black dial inlaid with silver glitter is juxtaposed with the matte case, creating a delightful counterbalance.
So far, so watch. But look at the hands, how do they impart time? The hands are arranged along a north-south axis; hours, minutes and seconds, respectively. Each hand is the same length with just a small circular aperture at one end indicating the prevailing time.
Watch or art?
The raison d’etre for a regulator was to display the minutes unambiguously, with a prominent hand and a crisp minute track. Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Olivier Mosset turns this idea on its head. However, it all makes sense, this watch is not so much a watch as a piece of art.
Limited to 178 pieces, this model is ideally suited to life on a gallery wall. Indeed, each piece comes with a red seal bearing the words ‘work of art – do not wear’. And, to be honest, I suspect few people will wear this watch.
With several Louis Erard watches trading on the pre-owned market for prices above list, there is every reason to expect the value of Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Olivier Mosset to increase. Who knows, one day you may see an example of this watch in the MoMa (Museum of Modern Art), positioned adjacent to several other works by the Swiss artist.
Further reading
Technical specification
- Model: Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Olivier Mosset
- Reference: 85237NN62
- Case: sandblasted stainless steel, diameter 42 mm, height 12.25 mm; water resistance 5 ATM (50m), sapphire crystal to front and exhibition caseback
- Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds
- Movement: Sellita SW266-1 calibre, automatic movement, frequency 28,800 vph (4 Hz), 31 jewels, power reserve 38 hours
- Strap: two black Baranil calf leather bracelets with tone-on-tone stitching, black calf leather lining, sandblasted stainless steel pin buckle with black PVD treatment, functional catch spring bars enabling the strap to be changed quickly. The handwritten signature of the artist, Olivier Mosset, is on one of the two straps.
- Price: CHF 3,750 (RRP as of 30.1.2024)
- Limited Edition: 178 pieces