Latest Review
Today, Americans sit down at their Thanksgiving table with their friends and family, and consider all that they’re thankful for. Good health, a warm home, great company, and a delicious meal will top many lists, as they should. But if you’ll allow a quick thought experiment (really, all of this is just one big thought experiment, if you think about it) and narrow the focus of thanks to the watch world, I’d have to say that the singular event of the last few years that I’m most thankful for is whatever transpired during the first meeting between the team at Louis Erard and watchmaker Vianny Halter. It led to a collaboration that launched a thousand other collaborations (slight exaggeration, but maybe not), and brought an affordable indie brand and a Capital I Independent watchmaking legend together in a genuinely interesting way. There’s a compelling case to be made that the first Louis Erard x Vianney Halter collaboration was the seed of many similar LEs to come, from Louis Erard and other brands, so it makes sense that just like that first collab, their second drops on Thanksgiving weekend, bringing one of the most interesting stories in contemporary watches full circle.
While the first collaboration with Halter felt like one of his watches in spirit, the new Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Vianney Halter II takes steps to make the physical object feel more like a watch that could have come out of Halter’s workshop. Using Halter’s iconic Antiqua as inspiration, the new limited edition seen here incorporates a decidedly steampunk aesthetic that Halter is well known for, in a design that borrows much of his industrial, retro-futuristic design sensibility.
I’m a massive fan of Louis Erard’s collaborative Régulateur releases and own a few myself, but if there’s a gripe to be had with the series it’s that they all basically adhere to predetermined design constraints based on the movement used and the Louis Erard’s standard case size and shape. This second Halter limited edition is one of the few Régulateurs to greatly expand on the format, with a case measuring 43mm as opposed to the standard 42mm, and a dial that’s been turned several degrees counter clockwise, aiding in giving the whole package a bit of the deconstructed look that the Antiqua is known for. The case and crown have also been given rivet accents, which is another clear Halter design cue.
The dial is where the action is, though, and this release consists of two editions, one a “retail exclusive” and the other an “e-commerce exclusive.” The former features rhodium plated chapter rings and a red-gilt base dial, and the latter is its inverse, with a rhodium plated base and red-gilt chapter rings. The familiar regulator layout is slightly askew thanks to the movement being rotated, and finds the hour register, normally at 12:00, now residing at 11:00. Similarly, the running seconds scale is hovering near 5:00. The outer minute track and interior hour and seconds displays are all raised from the base layer of the dial, which should offer some impressive depth. Louis Erard says that these dial elements have been given haute horlogerie inspired finishes, including polished and diamond cut angles and satin brushing in multiple orientations.
This is another fun entry in a series of limited editions that I’m personally still very excited about. Seeing how other watchmakers, designers, and artists play with the Régulateur format is always interesting, particularly when someone like Halter gets free rein to make significant changes to the platform to better suit his vision. It reinforces the idea underscoring all of the collaborative Régulateurs: that each is a true collaborative creative effort.
Each variant of the Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Vianney Halter II is limited to 178 pieces. The retail price is CHF 4,444. Louis Erard
