A meeting of minds returns for an encore grounded in the quest to democratise watchmaking.
Louis Erard and Massena LAB first teamed up for Le Régulateur, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. Their second joint effort, Le Chronographe Monopoussoir, follows close on the heels of this successful debut, and continues to explore a shared approach to the creation of accessible collector’s watches.
This time round, the four-handed collaboration is a monopusher chronograph, showing hours and minutes, and a thirty-minute counter at 12 o’clock. As with Le Régulateur, its dial is inspired by the marine chronometers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, especially those by master horologists Ferdinand Berthoud and Antide Janvier.
What makes this timepiece worth far more than its asking price, however, is its superlative finishing that is achieved entirely by hand. The outer flange is rhodium-plated with circular satin-finish and diamond-cut corners, and its counter is silvered opaline. This serves as an attractive foil to the frosted texture of the main dial and its leaf-shaped hands in blued steel.
Inside the polished, stainless-steel case with a diameter of 43mm resides the Sellita calibre SW500MPCa with 48 hours of power reserve. Visible through the sapphire caseback, the automatic movement features a custom rotor with the Louis Erard signature. Le Chronographe Monopoussoir Louis Erard x Massena LAB is produced in a limited series of 178 pieces in two variants: 100 in gold and 78 in rhodium.
