Louis Erard has handed its Excellence Petite Seconde to seconde/seconde/, the Parisian master of appropriation, in the middle of Halloween night.
La Petite Seconde Louis Horror x seconde/seconde/ is the second collaboration between the two independents. The first, in 2021, led to “Louis Error”. This one, the brand says, has a hint of a ghost. It is a limited edition of 178 pieces, a number Louis Erard calls symbolic: together we are always stronger.
A skeleton seemed the obvious costume, but for seconde/seconde/ it was too horological and too conventional. Instead, a pixelated ghost has swallowed the seconds hand and turns in the round sub-dial at 6 o’clock, glowing green. On the dial, the name now reads Louis Horror, the second word in red.
Everything else, the brand says, is serious. Under the joke is the classic Petite Seconde: a 39mm steel case, a silver opaline dial with a snailed counter, anthracite fir-tree hands and the automatic Sellita SW261-1.
Behind seconde/seconde/ is Romaric André, whose pop appropriations hide, in the brand’s words, “a very real attention to detail and quality of execution”. Louis Erard sees the watch as one more way of making the creative watch popular, “in the noble sense of the term”.
The Basics
Brand: Louis Erard
Model: La Petite Seconde Louis Horror x seconde/seconde/
Reference: 34238AA61.BVA130
Diameter: 39mm
Case material: Stainless steel; domed sapphire crystal, anti-reflective on both sides; see-through case back
Dial: Silver opaline, circular satin-finished zone, snailed counter at 6 o’clock, glossy anthracite indexes, “Horror” in red
Water resistance: 5 bars (50m/165ft)
Strap: Black grained calf leather, blue grained calf leather lining; pin buckle
Limited edition: 178 pieces
The Movement
Calibre: Sellita SW261-1
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds; luminescent ghost seconds hand at 6 o’clock
Winding: Automatic
Power reserve: Around 38 hours
Images courtesy of Louis Erard.