Louis Erard have teamed up with Portuguese artist Bernardo d’Orey to create the Marqueterie de Paille, a wristwatch exploring the rare handcraft of straw marquetry – which is what Marqueterie de Paille translates to from French. It’s a limited edition of 25 pieces, with each dial taking Bernardo over 12 hours to produce over the span of multiple days due to the absolute precision and concentration required.
Marquetry is one of the techniques that falls under the umbrella of “Metiers d’Art”, the premier hand-crafted artistic techniques that create some of the most breath-taking dials around and which includes crafts such as enamelling, micro-painting and miniature sculpture. It involves the precise cutting and arranging of natural materials into a continuous geometric pattern. The most common material used is wood (as seen in the Louis Erard Excellence, though straw is not an unusual material to use either. Rarer versions include mother-of-pearl or in the case of Ulysse Nardin, silicon.
Marquetry is often compared to mosaic but mosaic is a technique that uses stone or ceramic and there’s a significant visual difference between them due to the tolerances involved. Often in mosaic the gaps between the pieces are as much a feature of the pattern as the stone itself, but in marquetry the material always sits flush with the material around it and there are no gaps. It makes for a single, continuous pattern formed from disparate parts. Something which is emphasised on the Marqueterie de Paille through the use of different colours and the fact that the grain of each piece of straw is at juxtaposed angles compared to the surrounding pieces.
There’s something gently soothing about the colour palette used across the dial here. The gentle shades of teal and blue mixed with jewel tones of sapphire in an imitation of a fumé gradient where the display transitions from light to dark as you move from the centre to the outer edge. It feels almost glacial and ice-like with the way it fractures across the face of the watch. Minimal but not minimalist, as there’s a lot going on that warrants close inspection.
It’s housed in a 39mm diameter stainless steel case with a thickness of 12.82mm, putting it on the larger end of the dress watch spectrum but still firmly within that spectrum. Inside the case is the Sellita SW261-1 automatic movement with 38-hour power reserve and élaboré grade finishing. The movement is visible through a grey, smoked exhibition caseback.
The Louis Erard Marqueterie de Paille is limited to 25 pieces at a price of CHF 4,500 (approx. £4,100) excl. tax. That makes it more exclusive than the aforementioned Excellence Marqueterie, which was limited to 99 pieces at CHF 3,900 (approx. £3,550) – a reflection of the effort and precision executed by Bernardo. I do find myself enjoying Louis Erard’s artistically focussed watches and this has jumped to being one of my favourites for its combination of craft, understated simplicity and colour.
Price and Specs:
More details at Louis Erard.
