Traditionally, popular complications such as chronographs, calendars, sonneries and even the lauded tourbillon — which is not a complication per se, but a regulating device — have a stranglehold on the watch community’s attention. Yet this is often at the expense of other watchmaking evolutions and innovations, such as regulator watches or watches with a regulator style dial, which often fall into this latter category of somewhat neglected creations.
What exactly are regulator watches? They are, strictly speaking, not complicated watches since they do nothing more than show the time in a distinct manner. A regulator watch is typically a watch that has one large hand in the center indicating the minutes, with the hours and seconds shown on separate smaller subdials. This curious aesthetic — where the hours, minutes and seconds are segregated on the dial — has afforded contemporary watchmakers opportunities for artistic creativity and technical innovation. Nevertheless, regulator watches have remained relatively uncommon and are rarely the stars of the show in watch launches.
But in the last two years or so, things have changed somewhat. Regulator watches have gained significant visibility, thanks to the remarkable resurgence of Swiss watch brand Louis Erard and its artistic exploits. The brand has given life to a handful
