A 2022 Favourite: The Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Le Semaine Blanche Watch
Wednesday - 04 January 2023
The charismatic Le Semaine Blanche Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein watch brings together the humour of the Swiss watchmaker and its innovative approach to unique timekeeping whilst also underscoring the signature design elements adopted by Alain Silberstein in this unusual collaborative effort that now marks a three-year partnership between the two and counting.
Much like its accompanying Le Régulateur Blanc Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein watch, the Le Semaine Blanche Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein watch is a fresh and contemporary design that brings to life a playful mix of colour, bold design and quirkiness. Its key features are a three-handed display, a tonneau-shaped frame around a circular case and a weekly planner developed by Mr Silberstein that replaces the name of the days with a changing smiley motif. The watch bears a simple message behind its design; that time is ever-flowing and is an expression of evolving emotions throughout the days.
Manuel Emch, CEO and artistic director of Louis Erard first collaborated with Alain Silberstein back in 2019, creating a limited edition watch of just 178 pieces. The watch was met with resounding success and the two companies responded to this with a further three models. The La Semaine Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein Blanc watch offered a simple three-handed display alongside a ‘smiledays’ display. The Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein watch extended the brand’s speciality – the regulator watch, with hours, minutes and seconds displayed in different parts of the dial. The last member of the trio was the Le Chrono Monopoussoir x Alain Silberstein – a monopusher chronograph presented in a unique collaborative style. This year, two new models have been released - the Le Régulateur Blanc Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein watch and the Le Semaine Blanche Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein watch – the latter of which we’re going to look at in more detail today.
The Le Semaine Blanche Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein watch is part of a duo and is limited to 178 pieces worldwide. The Le Régulateur Blanc Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein and the Le Semaine Blanche Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein come together in a presentation box showcasing two mechanical variations - each displaying time differently. The Le Semaine Blanche Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein watch taps into Louis Erard’s whimsical and quirky sense of humour, creating a playful option to enjoy when wanting to add a bold, focal point to any attire. The regulator version, however, is equally as eye-catching with its vivid shots of colour across a white dial.
Louis Erard describes the uniting of the Swiss watchmaker and famous designer and architect Alain Silberstein as a Copernican encounter. Louis Erard was in search of his future, whilst Alain Silberstein was looking for his present. With the smiley weekday calendar version of the new Louis Erard and Alain Silberstein collaboration, every day of the week has its own face and its own mood. Last year when Louis Erard released its2021 models, they were crafted from grade 2 titanium and grade 5 titanium. Both offer a lightweight option for the wrist – the grade 5 titanium creates a high gleam when polished, whilst the grade 2 was micro-blasted for a somewhat more contemporary feel. This trio was an unusual blend of shapes and colours – all three of them boasting matte black dials with matching black nylon straps. Louis Erard has kept many design elements the same in this new duo including the exterior elements, yet these models feature matte silver white displays and are fitted on grey nylon straps.
The new Le Semaine Blanche Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein watch features a 40mm case crafted from micro-blasted grade 2 titanium and polished grade 5 titanium. Its robust yet lightweight 200-meter water-resistant housing protects the Sellita SW220-1, which provides the hours, minutes and seconds of the day alongside a weekday calendar presented in a range of smileys. The ‘smiledays’ weekday calendar is presented alongside the date feature at 6 o’clock, surrounded by a grey minute track around the edge of the dial. Similar to the Le Régulateur Blanc Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein watch, this iteration features a red marker at 12 o’clock and remaining blue indexes for the rest of the locations around the dial – this time representing the main hours as opposed to the minutes. The hours are depicted by a vivid red circular hour hand with an arrow-shaped point, whilst the minute hand takes the form of a blue arrow-tipped hand with a flat linear base. The small seconds are represented by a bold yellow lacquered “squiggle” hand and all elements on the dial are protected by a tough pane of scratch-resistant and anti-reflective sapphire crystal glass – a material that is sealed to the back of the case, offering a view of the automatic movement at play.
To complete the look of the Le Semaine Blanche Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein watch, limited to 178 pieces worldwide, a grey nylon strap is fitted to the timepiece. The strap also features a hook and loop fastener and micro-blasted grade 2 titanium functional catch spring bars for the easy switching over of one strap to another.
To explore the rest of our Louis Erard watch collection, you can take a look at our range here at Jura Watches.
