It was already written. It was meant to be. But we still cannot get over it. This new edition, Louis Erard X Alain Silberstein, is no longer just the result of a meeting, a moment of friendship or a flash of creativity. It is a manifest work. The story of Louis Erard, the story of Alain Silberstein and the story of their collaboration, which has already seen three episodes (the first edition in 2021, followed by a first triptych with a day/date, a regulator and a monopusher chronograph, and then a diptych with a day/date hand and a regulator), and of which this is the epitome.
Let’s take a closer look. The Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Khaki Triptych is a set of three watches. Two of them are available for purchase individually, in a limited edition of 178 pieces – a number that Louis Erard has embraced as a mantra, meaning that together we are stronger – 78 of which are reserved for the triptych set: La Semaine Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Khaki; Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Khaki. The third is an edition that is even more special and unique in many ways: Le Régulateur Tourbillon Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Khaki, available only in a triptych box, limited to 78 pieces. That’s right: a tourbillon. The pinnacle of fine mechanical watchmaking, invented by Breguet’s father, the summit of watchmaking, according to Alain Silberstein, the inaugural gesture for Louis Erard. Breguet had developed the tourbillon to defy the laws of terrestrial gravitation (the watch’s regulating mechanism is housed in a cage that rotates around itself and distributes the oscillations of the balance wheel over 360 degrees); Louis Erard and Alain Silberstein put it into orbit.
Moving forward. This is the first time that Louis Erard has presented a tourbillon, and it is perfectly in line with the positioning of the brand from the Franches-Montagnes region, which aims to make the inaccessible accessible. The gesture does not stop there, as the Tourbillon is paired with a Regulator, symbolising the chronometric science that Louis Erard has made its own signature. For Alain Silberstein, the tourbillon has another meaning. In his lexicon as a watch architect, there are several types of time: social time, hours and minutes (the second is mainly there to show that the watch is working); cultural time, calendars; personal time, symbolised by his famous smileys (a particular expression for each day of the week). For him, the tourbillon symbolises a different kind of time: ” The time that never stops “. Throughout his career, Alain Silberstein has often used the tourbillon, notably since the mid-1990s in classic configurations, like the 6 o’clock tourbillon on an open dial, very similar to the one we present here.
Yet another element must be added: the manufacturer of the tourbillon, Olivier Mory, BCP Tourbillons, in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Olivier Mory is a behind-the-scenes personality who trained in mass production watchmaking before becoming interested in fine watchmaking. He has built a bridge between the two worlds, making the inaccessible accessible. Let’s face it: The Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Khaki Triptych (of which the tourbillon is a part) retails for 22,222 francs, a fraction of what tourbillon watches normally cost on the market.
But what good would the story be without some style? This new trilogy says it all. It comes in khaki, khaki on the dials, khaki on the straps. The underlying message is summed up in two words: modern watchmaking. For the designers – Alain Silberstein and Manuel Emch, Artistic Director and CEO of Louis Erard watches – khaki is simply THE colour of the moment, the one that “most strongly embodies the spirit of Louis Erard”. Once again, Louis Erard’s motto comes true: Together we’re always stronger.
