For the second time collaborating with Alain Silberstein, Louis Erard gives the French "watch architect" carte blanche to create a trilogy of watches with his signature design language. Following the 2019 Régulateur watches, which received the Red Dot Award for product design in 2021 and sold out in just a few hours, the watch designer set out to create a trilogy consisting of La Semaine (a one-day date with mood), Le Régulateur II (regulator), and Le Chrono Monopoussoir (single-pusher chronograph). All models in the Le Triptyque Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein feature a new 40mm case with an original design and will be available individually or as a collectible set. Fans of Alain Silberstein's joyful design universe are in for a treat.
Artistic Collaboration with Louis Erard
The Excellence collection, which includes the original Le Régulateur, or "Regulator," was released in 2011 in honor of the brand's 80th anniversary. Despite its unconventional layout, the Regulator model became an unexpected hit for Louis Erard. Created in the style of historical regulators, where minutes take center stage and hours and seconds are relegated to smaller subdials, the Regulator model by Louis Erard has also served as a canvas for three artistic collaborations to date.
The first collaboration with Alain Silberstein in 2019 led to the creation of Silberstein's signature design with playful geometric shapes and primary colors. Then, in the hands of watch designer Eric Giroud, the Regulator acquired an elegant minimalist look. Finally, last year Louis Erard partnered with watchmaker Vianney Halter to create the third joint work.
Bright Times
Parisian Alain Silberstein (1950) has always swum against the tide. Trained as an interior architect, Silberstein became interested in watchmaking and presented his first watches in 1987 at the Basel Fair. The Krono Bauhaus model - unusual for its time with a crown and pushers of three different shapes (red triangle, blue square, and yellow circle) - showed the world that Silberstein was going to have fun with his watch designs. However, it wasn't just about fun: Silberstein was one of the key figures behind the revival of mechanical watches in the 1980s, after the industry was decimated by the quartz invasion. Silberstein was convinced that mechanical watches could be revived with new design solutions that did not try to mimic the conservative classic watches of the past.
By 1990, Silberstein had established his eponymous watch brand in Besançon, producing distinctive watches that used bold primary colors and geometric shapes. Not shy of complications, Silberstein introduced tourbillons and other mechanical intricacies in a new light, with his bold colors even extending to movement components. His style reflected everything from Gropius and his Bauhaus school to artists like Kandinsky, Klee, and Moholy-Nagy. After closing his watch company in 2012, Silberstein collaborated with MB&F (HM2.2 "Black Box" in 2009 and LM1 in 2011), with Romain Jerome, and since 2019 with Louis Erard.
This latest collaboration is quintessential Alain Silberstein. The quirky elements immediately recognizable to his fans, such as the playful smiley faces for weekdays in the La Semaine model, are accompanied by new design codes like the new hour hand depicted as a red circle with a triangular pointer.
As Silberstein summarizes: "Watches are a search for harmony. Just like a choir or a philharmonic orchestra, where you rehearse until you find that certain 'something,' the crystallization. These watches are created to awaken the inner child in each of us, and my work is truly finished only when they make someone smile. Without the carte blanche from Louis Erard, this goal would have been impossible to achieve."
New Case Design
The concept of the "Triptych" is not entirely new. Last year, Louis Erard introduced the Excellence Triptych collection (regulator, small seconds, and single-pusher chronograph) with silver dials. However, these two Triptych collections could not be more different. Marked by a radical departure from the brand's traditional round steel cases, the Triptyque Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein models feature a new 40mm case design, framed by vertical side bars (brancards). Reminiscent of De Bethune's floating lugs or even the skeletonized lugs of Porsche Design's 1919 models, the vertical side bars rejuvenate the collection and give it an interesting architectural look.
Another novelty is the conical crown with a red lacquered tip. The case material is a combination of microblasted grade 2 titanium and polished grade 5 titanium. To emphasize the new architecture, the lugs, case, and bezel have a matte microblasted finish, while the side bars and crown are polished.
Water-resistant to 100 meters, the watches come with a black two-layer nylon strap that threads through the lug's bar with a hook buckle for quick adjustment. The soft, breathable, and lightweight material does not retain moisture, and the spring pins allow for strap changes in no time. (Strap dimensions: width 22.7 mm, length 225 mm, fits wrist circumference from 140 to 200 mm).
Each model is limited to 178 pieces, with 78 sold in a collector's box containing the entire capsule and a digital illustration signed by the artist. The La Semaine and Le Régulateur models are priced at CHF 3,500, the Chrono Monopoussoir at CHF 4,500, and the collector's box at CHF 11,111. The collector's box set also includes a personal, non-fungible token guaranteeing the authenticity of the limited edition.
La Semaine Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein
The simplest of the trilogy, La Semaine, is inspired by the original Smileday display that Silberstein equipped many of his watches with. Replacing the name of the day of the week with a smiley face, the small face in the oval aperture changes from sad (Monday) to happy as the week progresses. As in Silberstein's original models, the white oval aperture is located above the date window at the "6 o'clock" position.
The dial is matte black with a raised flange for the minute hand, highlighted with white markers and more prominent rounded yellow markers at 5-minute intervals, and a red marker at the "12 o'clock" position. The lower part of the dial features the aforementioned date window, smiley aperture, brand logo, and name in white. The hour hand is in Silberstein's new design and is a red circle with a red triangular pointer, minutes are indicated by a blue arrow hand, and seconds by a yellow serpentine arrow hand. All three hands are lacquered.
The automatic ETA 2836-2 movement can be seen through the transparent case back with an open-worked Louis Erard rotor.
Quick Facts: Diameter 40 mm x thickness 11.60 mm (lug-to-lug 47 mm) - microblasted grade 2 titanium and polished grade 5 titanium - water resistance 100 m - black matte dial with Silberstein Smiledays signature hands and designer, date at "6 o'clock" - automatic caliber ETA 2836-2 - 28,000 vph - power reserve 38 h - hours, minutes, seconds, day of the week, date - black nylon strap - Ref. 75357TT02.BTT88 - CHF 3,500
Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein, Part II
The star of the Excellence collection from Louis Erard received a second update from Alain Silberstein. Despite its resemblance to the 2019 version, with a prominently marked minute scale and small subdials for hours and running seconds, the power reserve indicator was removed, leaving a cleaner and more balanced dial.
As in the La Semaine model, minutes are displayed on a flange with white, yellow, and red indices and a long hand with a blue tip. Hours are placed in a silver opaline subdial at noon with black-red indices and a bold red triangular hand, while running seconds are displayed in the lower subdial with Silberstein's signature yellow serpentine hand. The movement is the automatic Sellita SW266-1 (élaboré grade) with a Louis Erard rotor and a 38-hour power reserve.
Quick Facts: Diameter 40 mm x thickness 11.60 mm (lug-to-lug 47 mm) - microblasted grade 2 titanium and polished grade 5 titanium - water resistance 100 m - black matte dial with minute flange, silver matte counter at "12 o'clock" for hours, second hand at "6 o'clock" - Silberstein signature hands - automatic Sellita SW266-1 (élaboré grade) - 28,800 vph - power reserve 38 h - hours, central minutes, seconds - black nylon strap - Ref. 85358TT02.BTT88 - CHF 3,500
Le Chrono Monopoussoir Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein
The new single-pusher chronograph design by Silberstein is 3 mm smaller than the model presented in the silver Triptych collection of 2020 and stands out with a red chronograph button inside the conical crown. Having the same 40mm diameter as the other two models in the new Triptych collection, the chronograph movement explains the thicker case at 13.9 mm. The raised flange matches the chronograph's second hand, tracked by Silberstein's signature yellow hand. On the matte black dial, the new red circular hour hand with a red triangular indicator, long blue minute hand with an arrow, and silver 30-minute counter at noon stand out in contrast.
The automatic Sellita SW 500MPCa movement (based on Valjoux 7750 architecture) is visible through the case back. The designation MPCa refers to the mono-pusher variant of the standard Sellita SW 500. This is again an élaboré grade movement with 25 jewels, 28,800 vph, a 48-hour power reserve, and a custom-made open-worked Louis Erard rotor.
Quick Facts: Diameter 40 mm x thickness 13.90 mm (lug-to-lug 47 mm) - microblasted grade 2 titanium and polished grade 5 titanium - water resistance 100 m - black matte dial with seconds flange, silver matte counter at "12 o'clock" for 30-minute counter - Silberstein signature hands - automatic Sellita SW 500MPCa (élaboré grade) - 28,800 vph - power reserve 48 h - black nylon strap - Ref. 74359TT02.BTT88 - CHF 4,500
For more information and to order, please visit louiserard.com.
