Louis Erard x Vianney Halter Le Régulateur
ON the eve of its ninetieth anniversary, Louis Erard has teamed up with one of independent watchmaking’s most beguiling characters to reveal a wonderfully eclectic marriage of the Jura Valley brand’s signature configuration and the inimitable style of Vianney Halter.
If sometimes life gives you lemons then at least you can make lemonade. In one way or another (but mostly one way), 2020 has made sure that every last one of us has received enough fruit to keep us in zingy citrus refreshments for years to come. But just in case it needed a little twist of something unexpected to sweeten the taste, then a cool little wristwatch by Louis Erard with the words Vianney Halter on the dial and a price tag of €accessible will possibly be the tonic to cleanse the taste of the weirdest year in living history from the palate.
The watch in question, Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Vianney Halter is a very lovable fusion of style and format, and is the result of a collaboration between the eccentric, sci-fi loving French artisan and the Le Noirmont based independent watch company.
Another of those quintessentially Swiss brands which dwells just off the beaten track, in between the big mainstream names and the artisanal independent watchmaker, Louis Erard is renowned for its charming but understated timepieces. As is so often the case, in the same way that a country’s real character, personality and indeed charms are to be discovered in the towns and villages along the B-roads, and not on the point-to-point super highways, the same applies to its watch companies.
With a particular penchant for the regulator format, which comprises individual indications for the hours, minutes and seconds on the face of the dial, the brand has invited some of the most influential watch designers to breathe their individual aesthetic style over its Excellence Régulateur base model, each time creating something new and fresh.
Having previously worked on editions with Eric Giroud (pristine minimalism, and of which a few examples still remain!) and Alain Silberstein, whose default flamboyant high art execution of primary colours impressively made it through as a contender in the final selection in the 2020 GPHG awards ceremony, the concept has been a popular one, and further collaborations are rumoured to be in the pipeline.
Seen through the eyes of Vianney Halter, it’s pretty much a given that the design of Le Régulateur once again takes on another very different persona. Describing his involvement in the project to The Watch Press, Vianney explained “My work as a watch maker is never only (exclusively) working at the bench on the mechanism. It is also a vision of horology, including a precise idea of the design. I mean of course the technical design but ALSO the aesthetic design. As soon as I started my own creations, I kept feeling attached to the design world. In my opinion, that is precisely why my style is easily recognisable.”
The watchmaker’s unique style of expressive ‘futur antérieur’ horologic creativity is always abstract, and encompasses influences which range from Jules Verne’s Nemo-esque steampunk (Antiqua, Trio, Classic) to Stanley Kubrick’s science-fiction (Deep Space Tourbillon). One thing’s for sure, his watches are never boring. Neither are they particularly accessible, because the individuality and significance of a hand manufactured Vianney Halter watch puts every one of the handful of pieces he creates each year far beyond the reach of mere mortals.
This collaboration with Louis Erard has provided the watchmaker with both an opportunity and a challenge. Specifically, the chance to connect with those mere mortals was one this son of a railwayman, actually raised in stationary rail carriages on the outskirts of Paris, needed little persuasion to pursue.
On the other hand, exporting his unique styling across to another manufacture, yet maintaining that defining essence which has made him so beloved among serious collectors was new to him, but between the two parties, and with the prospect of a genuinely accessible piece with Vianney Halter’s name on the dial the result is a very desirable little oddity, and even those serious collectors will be clamouring for one of the 178 numbered pieces being produced.
Our initial observation is that while there is no pretence that it was manufactured by the hand of Halter, neither is it some mutually convenient ‘autograph’ edition. Instead we are treated to a genuinely faithful looking piece, whose design and detail has been overseen by the man himself, and to the knowing eye, one which is unmistakably the work of this icon of contemporary independent watchmaking.
With details such as the pen-nib hands in heat flamed blue steel, the knobbly crenellated crown, and the antique italicised font which has been used for the numerals; all signatures of his masterpieces, there’s an abundance of VH nuances to be found. The two-part layered dial features a pair of elevated nameplates for Louis Erard branding at the three, and Vianney Halter’s at the nine, and comprises the bright metallic shimmer of its silvery upper level, which has been finished in a circular brushed grain, with black transfer markings. Cut-out panels to the left, right and in the centre of the bead blasted double dials for the hours and seconds expose a lower layer which has a darker grey mottled finish, accentuating the monochrome contrast and also making the beautiful shade of the blued hands truly pop.
The Régulateur features a long central hand with a finely tapered point to indicate the minutes around the black minutes track, while the hour hand is short and plump in the confines of the upper of the two recessed dials. Beneath the hours, the seconds hand is slender with a decorative overhanging counterweight.
The watch is encased in a rounded 42mm case of polished stainless steel with lugs which curve away towards their ends, and it features sapphire glass top and underneath. Through the caseback the oscillating weight of the self-winding Sellita SW266-1 maintains the movement’s 38 hour power reserve when on the wrist. It is fitted on a blue Oceania nubuck calf leather strap with pin buckle.
Priced at CHF 3’500 the reaction has been swift and decisive, and at the time of publishing it would appear that all 178 pieces have already been claimed. And while it is risky territory to make predictions, it’s highly likely that should one of these pieces surface on the grey market platforms, that original price will look even more like the bargain it was for those fortunate few who were able to get one.
Fact File: Louis Erard x Vianney Halter Le Régulateur
Reference: Le Régulateur by Vianney Halter
Manufacturer: Louis Erard
Gender: Mens/Unisex
Case: Stainless steel
Case dimension: ø 42mm, H 12.2mm
Dial: Silvered with circular brush finish
Movement: Self-winding Sellita SW266-1, 28’800 vib/h
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds
Power reserve: 38 hours
Caseback: Sapphire glass
Water resistance: 50m
Bracelet: Blue ‘Oceania’ nubuck calf leather with pin buckle
Price: CHF 3’500
