The Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Khaki Triptych
Louis Erard has once again called on the watchmaking artist Alain Silberstein, and has reached a new summit: the tourbillon. Not just any tourbillon. A tourbillon coupled with a regulator display. An exclusive tourbillon (78 pieces, in a triptych, with La Semaine Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein and Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein). An affordable tourbillon. A contemporary tourbillon: khaki-coloured, sporty, chic, contemporary.
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.
About Alain Silberstein
“Real happiness is being passionate about one’s work.”
Alain Silberstein was born in 1950. He has had a rather unusual career, beginning as an interior architect and designer in Paris before becoming a watchmaker in Besançon, France, at the end of the 1980s, when he set up his own company. At a time when the disappearance of mechanical watchmaking seemed almost inevitable, he joined the narrow circle of Swiss watchmakers behind a renaissance in mechanical watches with innovative features.
His work pays tribute to the Bauhaus art movement, which traces its roots to Germany in 1919, and to major artists such as Gropius, Itten, Moholy-Nagy, Kandinsky, Klee, Albers, Bayer and Mies van der Rohe, all of whose works continue to influence graphic design, architecture and design in general.
Alain Silberstein has developed a unique style where the geometrical rigour of shapes and mechanical movements play mischievously with a rainbow of evocative colours and innovative materials. It is an artistic and playful approach to high-end watchmaking which sometimes surprises and often beguiles. It is the original approach of a watchmaker and artist who creates singular watches, taking on the challenge of offering a poetic approach to the passing of time and the emotions found in personal and shared times.
Every year for twenty-five years, Alain Silberstein designed and created around a thousand exceptional watches, all made in limited series and numbered, in his workshop at the heart of French-Swiss watchmaking country. Since the closure of his company in 2012, he has turned his talent to working with other watchmaking brands such as MB&F, Romain Jerome and now Louis Erard.
Alain Silberstein continues to explore a watchmaking universe which is somewhere between art and craft, where strict shapes, innovative materials and evocative colours harmoniously come together.
Technical specifications
La Semaine Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Khaki
Reference: 75357TT06.BTT89
Limited edition of 178 pieces
Case
- Material: Microblasted grade 2 titanium & polished grade 5 titanium
- Diameter: Ø40 mm
- Lug width: 22 mm, lug to lug: 47 mm
- Thickness: 11.80 mm
- Glass: apphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides
- Movement visible through the transparent caseback
- Alain Silberstein red lacquered signature crown with Louis Erard symbol
- Caseback engraved with “Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein 1 of 178”
- Water-resistant up to a pressure of 10 bars (100 m/330 ft)
Dial and hands
- Dial: Matt khaki, while transfers, signature Alain Silberstein day disc (“smiledays”) and date at 6 o’clock, flange featuring blue and red indexes
- Hands: Alain Silberstein signature hands: red lacquered hour hand, white lacquered minute hand and yellow lacquered second hand
Movement
- Automatic, Sellita SW220-1 calibre, day/date at 6 o'clock
- Diameter: 11½’’’, Ø25.60 mm
- Height: 5.05 mm
- Number of jewels: 26
- Frequency: 28'800 VpH (4Hz)
- élaboré grade movement, meticulously decorated
- Special openworked oscillating weight with black lacquered Louis Erard symbol
- Power reserve of approx. 38 hours
Functions/Indications
- HMS, mood of the day/date
- 3 central hands
Strap and buckle
- Khaki nylon and microblasted grade 2 titanium, hook-and-loop fastener system for quick adjustment, functional catch spring bars allowing the strap to be changed quickly
- Dimensions: 22.70 mm width, 225 mm length, suitable for a wrist circumference of 140 to 200 mm
MSRP
- CHF 4'000
Technical specifications
Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Khaki
Reference: 85358TT06.BTT89
Limited edition of 178 pieces
Case
- Material: Microblasted grade 2 titanium & polished grade 5 titanium
- Diameter: Ø40 mm
- Lug width: 22 mm, lug to lug: 47 mm
- Thickness: 11.80 mm
- Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides
- Movement visible through the transparent caseback
- Alain Silberstein red lacquered signature crown with Louis Erard symbol
- Caseback engraved with “Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein 1 of 178”
- Water-resistant up to a pressure of 10 bars (100 m/330 ft)
Dial and hands
- Matt khaki with white transfers, black counter at 12 o'clock, white and red transfers, black flange featuring white and red indexes
- Alain Silberstein signature hands: red lacquered hour hand, white lacquered minute hand and yellow lacquered second hand
Movement
- Automatic regulator, Sellita SW266-1 calibre
- Diameter: 11½’’’, Ø25.60 mm
- Height: 5.60 mm
- Number of jewels: 31
- Frequency: 28'800 VpH (4Hz)
- élaboré grade movement, meticulously decorated
- Special openworked oscillating weight with black lacquered Louis Erard symbol
- Power reserve of approx. 38 hours
Functions/Indications
- Hours, minutes, seconds
- Hour hand in a counter at 12 o'clock, central minute hand, seconds hand in a counter at 6 o'clock
Strap and buckle
- Khaki nylon and microblasted grade 2 titanium, hook-and-loop fastener system for quick adjustment, functional catch spring bars allowing the strap to be changed quickly
- Dimensions: 22.70 mm width, 225 mm length, suitable for a wrist circumference of 140 to 200 mm
MSRP
- CHF 4'000
Technical specifications
Le Régulateur Tourbillon Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Khaki
Reference: 89356TT06.BTT89
Only available in the special 78-piece limited edition box
Case
- Material: Microblasted grade 2 titanium & polished grade 5 titanium
- Diameter: Ø40 mm
- Lug width: 22 mm, lug to lug: 47 mm
- Thickness: 11.80 mm
- Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides
- Movement visible through the transparent caseback
- Alain Silberstein red lacquered signature crown with Louis Erard symbol
- Caseback engraved with “Louis Erard x AS 1 of 78”
- Water-resistant up to a pressure of 10 bars (100 m/330 ft)
Dial and hands
- Dial: Matt khaki with white transfers, black counter at 12 o'clock, white and red transfers, cut out at 6 o'clock to see the tourbillon, black flange featuring white and red indexes
- Hands: Alain Silberstein signature hands: red lacquered hour hand, white lacquered minute hand and yellow lacquered second hand
Movement
- Tourbillon régulateur mechanical hand-wound, BCP T02 calibre
- Diameter: Ø31.80 mm
- Height: 6.50 mm
- Number of jewels: 19
- Frequency: 21'600 VpH (3Hz)
- Circular decoration on the movement
- Power reserve of approx. 100 hours
- Tourbillon cage makes a complete rotation every 60 seconds
Functions/Indications
- Tourbillon, hours, minutes, seconds
- Hour hand in a counter at 12 o'clock, central minute hand, seconds hand in a counter at 6 o'clock
Strap and buckle
- Khaki nylon and microblasted grade 2 titanium, hook-and-loop fastener system for quick adjustment, functional catch spring bars allowing the strap to be changed quickly
- Dimensions: 22.70 mm width, 225 mm length, suitable for a wrist circumference of 140 to 200 mm
Le Triptyque Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Khaki
Reference: 33333TT06 (spécial box)
Limited edition of 78 pieces
- Price excl. tax: CHF 22,222.—
For more information, please visit louiserard.com
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