The present watch sees the unlikely merge of Louis Erard, a brand celebrating its 90th anniversary today and known for its classical watches and Vianney Halter, the enfant terrible of watchmaking who took the world by storm in 1998 with his mind boggling perpetual calendar Antiqua – a steampunk UFO straight out of the whirlwinding imagination of Jules Verne or H.G. Wells- that modified our perception of fine watchmaking.

Halter, as an independent artisan creates only a handful of watches per year, pieces that are already spoken for before completion. The amount of time, energy, skill and work put in each piece means that they come with a high price tag.

Starting from the Antiqua and following up with the Classic and Trio, Halter (with his then design partner Barnes) developed a personal and immediately recognizable design language. A design language that he has managed to perfectly apply to the Louis Erard Regulator.

The present model, limited to 178 piece was launched in 2020 and sold out within hours, demonstrating the hunger of collectors for this type of collaboration.

The dial has a two level architecture with a succession of polished and sand blasted surface finishes. The typography of the numerals as well as the hands are typical Halter and can be found in his own pieces. An extra nod to the Halter design are the notches on the crown resembling the rivet studded crowns of the Antiqua, Classic and Trio.

A surprising modern take on the classic regulator design, the present Louis Erard X Vianney Halter offers an extraordinary opportunity of owning a representative of his remarkable creative genius at a very reasonable price point.