ReviewThe Optical Illusionists: Louis Erard’s Excellence Guilloché Main I And II
Louis Erard’s Excellence Guilloché Main I and II put hand-guilloche dials—the epitome of luxury—within reach, for these two stunning examples of métiers d’art are deceptive, not just in terms of their looks
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For almost a century, Louis Erard have been making fantastic timepieces, without compromising on their quality. However, the brand gained traction only about 20 years ago, when their watches became more accessible, while also remaining a canvas for stunning crafts that were once considered the forte of more established and exclusive brands. Now known for their beautifully-decorated and impressive yet affordable watches, Louis Erard have made it their mission to deliver uncompromising quality, which is also rather accessible. The 99-piece-each limited editions of the Excellence Guilloché Main I and the Excellence Guilloché Main II are mesmerising examples of this mission. These hand-guilloche dials are traditional enough to make one appreciate the detailing that goes into haute horlogerie, yet trippy enough to be contemporary accessories, even with formal attire.
Exclusivity Of Traditional Skills Made Accessible
Louis Erard revisited traditional crafts of enamelling with their Excellence Émail Grand Feu, with a dial made with traditional enamelling—an art thus far reserved for more exclusive brands. Like their beautiful enamelled dials, their Excellence Guilloché Main watches are also a contemporary take on traditional artistic craftwork.
First introduced by Abraham-Louis Breguet in the 1700s, hand-guilloche dials soon began to represent the epitome of luxury, and were only offered by top brands such as Breguet, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, and Parmigiani, among others. This was because guilloche is a very complicated process that requires the guillocheur to undergo many thousand hours of training to be able to engrave intricate patterns onto the tiny canvas of a watch dial. While the actual engraving is done by machine—the manual guilloche rose engine lathe—the process is called hand guilloche because the artisan must apply the right pressure to the dial every time to get the desired result. The slightest distraction, deviation, or change in pressure will result in the artisan having to start over. Whew!
The Trippy Excellence Guilloché Main I
Naturally, it took several hours of work to produce each dial of the Excellence Guilloché Main I by dial-maker Fehr in La Chaux-de-Fonds, a firm that ‘regards its guilloche workshop as a precious treasure’. So as to keep all 99 dials uniform, each was handmade by the same seasoned artisan. The result is a hypnotic geometric pattern—an optical illusion of sorts—that draws the viewer in. And at various angles, and with varying levels of light on the dial, the pattern gives off different hypnotic effects.
With only a barely-there, basic minute track towards the periphery of the dial, there’s nothing else that takes attention away from this gorgeous geometric guilloche pattern. Louis Erard’s distinctive blue fir-shaped hands—a nod to their surrounding coniferous forests at twilight—are the only other decoration on the dial. Even the brand’s logo has been etched onto the underside of the sapphire crystal glass that protects the dial.
The 42mm case of the Excellence Guilloché Main I houses the automatic mechanical calibre Sellita SW261-1, which is also visible through the exhibition caseback. The watch is mounted on an easily-interchangeable black calf nubuck leather strap.
The All-New Excellence Guilloché Main II
For the second guilloche dial, delegate board member Manuel Emch wanted an entirely different—yet original—output. And so, new cams—large metal stencils used in the lathe to trace the design—had to be made from scratch. Also, the entire operation had to be recalibrated, from the first black varnish to the rhodium plating at the end. The guillocheur from Fehr, who made the dials on the Excellence Guilloché Main I, was roped in to create 99 new dials for the Excellence Guilloché Main II.
The second guilloché dial has a geometric rhombus structure towards the centre, surrounded by concentric circular-patterned lines. Giving the appearance of a pyramid as viewed from above—or from directly under the apex, depending on the perspective—the Excellence Guilloché Main II is as much of a psychedelic optical illusion as its older sibling. The coniferous timekeeping hands and the minimal minute track on the periphery remain the same as the Excellence Guilloché Main I. However, the complete lack of branding is prominent in its absence in the Excellence Guilloché Main II—the watch is so obviously a Louis Erard that they don’t even need to label it anymore. Now that is a good imprint.
The polished steel 42mm case, water-resistant to 50m, features an open caseback, with a view of the Sellita SW261-1 movement, much like its predecessor. The black, grained calf leather strap comes with blue, grained calf leather lining in Louis Erard’s signature ‘magic hour’ blue, with easy interchangeability.
Quality Swiss Tradition Within Reach
Louis Erard was started almost 100 years ago to honour traditions from the birthplace of Swiss watchmaking—the Jura mountains. While still following the vision of their eponymous founder, the brand continue to reinterpret traditional techniques in contemporary forms, as the Excellence Guilloché Main I and II watches prove. Yet, the quality of these timepieces seem to be in open defiance of their pricing, making high-end traditional Swiss crafts accessible to anyone with an appreciation for it. Here’s hoping for more ‘excellence’ from the house of Louis Erard.
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Louis Erard Excellence
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Louis Erard Noirmont Métiers d'art
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