Massena LAB & Louis Erard Collaborate On Their Very Own Le Régulateur

The horological studio Massena LAB is known for their collaborative prowess, cleverly integrating their unique design ideas and out-there concepts with other brands. We’ve seen Massena LAB link up with the likes of Habring, Uni-racer, Ming and more numerously Unimatic. Today, Massena LAB announces another collaboration under its name and this time it’s with the Jura, Switzerland based watch brand Louis Erard. The collaborative piece is dubbed the Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Massena LAB and blends the Louis Erard Le Régulateur with a familiar Massena LAB design.

The Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Massena LAB comes in two different dial versions; gold and rhodium. The gold dial variant uses a 2N gold frosted plating and takes after the previous “Old School” Massena LAB collaboration with independent watchmaker Luca Soprana. The rhodium dial variant uses, well you guessed it, a rhodium plating which adds an eye-catching sparkle to the dial (Rhodium plating is known for its luster in addition to hardening the coated metal). The Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Massen LAB also draws inspiration from marine chronometers dating back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries which explains the metallic-y aesthetic.

Le Régulateur translates to “The Regulator” and that is exactly what we get in the geographical layout of the hours, minutes and seconds hands. For those unfamiliar (me included prior to this article), a Regulator watch displays the three time-telling hands on separate points on the dial. The reasoning for such a layout is so that no hand obstructs the time-telling of another hand. The Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Massena LAB displays the hour using the roman numeral cardinal-hour marked subdial at 12 o’clock. The subdial directly opposite at 6 o’clock displays the running seconds marked by arabic numerals in 10 second intervals. This leaves the minutes hand which utilizes the main dial display. Both subdials are rhodium plated and are smoothly finished to provide increased legibility. And speaking of legibility, all hands are finished in blued steel, an elevated aesthetic touch that Louis Erard says is inspired by l’heure bleue, or blue hour, for the color the sky turns as the sun dips below the horizon in Watch Valley.

The case seems to be well executed as far as construction and finishing goes. A side profile of the Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Massena LAB displays how smooth the lugs transition into the midcase and then how the midcase transitions into the polished bezel. For those curious to how this Le Régulateur measures up, the case spans 42 mm, is 12.25 mm thick and has a lug width of 22 mm. Turning the case over puts into view the Sellita 266-1 automatic movement via a sapphire display caseback.

My experience with Louis Erard has been solely limited to the funky Alain Silberstein collaboration piece that Zach Weiss owns. What I wasn’t aware of was that Louis Erard offers more restrained, classically-designed and if I may add, handsome examples of the Le Régulateur within their Excellence Collection. The Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Massena LAB collaboration elevates the Le Régulateur that much more.

The Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Massena LAB is limited to only 178 pieces in each dial variant, retails for $3,950 and will be available on both online locations, as well as select Louis Erard retailers. For more information, check out Massena LAB and Louis Erard.