In 1998, Vianney Halter brought a watch to Basel that looked like it had fallen off a Jules Verne airship: the Antiqua, a perpetual calendar of riveted portholes that he called a relic of the future past. Twenty-eight years on, the third collaboration between Halter and Louis Erard brings that steampunk grammar closer to earth than it has ever been. The Futur Antérieur is, visually, the most Antiqua thing Louis Erard has ever made — and at CHF 4,950, it costs roughly a hundredth of what an original Antiqua commands at auction.
The 38mm steel case — 67 components, circular-brushed on top, chamfered everywhere it counts — carries two raised porthole sub-dials set diagonally, each framed by twelve polished gold-toned rivets, plus two riveted crowns on the flank. And here is the mechanical punchline: there are two movements inside. A pair of Sellita SW100 automatics sit side by side, one driving the hours and minutes in the lower porthole, the other doing nothing but spinning the small seconds in the upper one. It is gloriously unreasonable — a two-engine solution to a one-engine problem — and at 8.85mm thick, it wears far more politely than the concept suggests.
Two versions are offered, each limited to 178 pieces: a gold-toned dial on black ostrich and a silver-toned dial on blue ostrich, both with blued-steel Halter hands and casebacks engraved “1 of 178.” For the committed, 78 box sets pair the two at CHF 9,900. Both are available now through Louis Erard and its retailers — though if the fate of the previous two Halter collaborations is any guide, “now” is a word with a short shelf life.
