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Louis Erard Gravée Main: Hand-Engraved Steel Métiers d’Art Made Accessible

THM Desk
18 Aug 2025 |
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SUMMARIZEarrow down

Louis Erard has always stood a little apart in the indie world. Under Manuel Emch, the brand became less about just making watches and more about making statements—especially through its Métiers d’Art series. For those new to the term, Métiers d’Art translates to “artistic crafts”: centuries-old decorative techniques like guilloché, enameling, marquetry, or engraving, traditionally reserved for museum pieces or six-figure watches. What Louis Erard does differently is take these rare skills out of the ivory tower and make them wearable, collectible, and—relatively—accessible. Presenting yet another successful collaboration - The Louis Erard Gravée Main.

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“What I love most about these collaborations is how a minimalist watch becomes something completely different at the artist’s hand. Starting from the clean lines of the Noirmont, baroque floral motifs take over the entire object. It’s steel, yet it feels alive. Gravée Main is all about contrast: lavish ornamentation clashing beautifully with pure design. This watch is unique, not just in what it shows, but in what it says. It speaks of time, art, legacy, as well as resilience, the duty to protect and transmit rare crafts. Artistic crafts should be worn, live, and passed on. That’s our mission.”
Manuel Emch

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Manuel Emch and the artist behind the metal - Maksym Shavlak

The Gravée Main is perhaps the clearest example yet. Engraved by hand in Ukraine by Maksym Shavlak, a watchmaker and artist known for transforming antique timepieces into modern hybrids. Using his tools, he gives new life to steel.At first glance, it looks like the clean, architectural Noirmont case the brand is known for. But then the details emerge: every inch of steel—case, bezel, lugs, crown, even the buckle—has been engraved entirely by hand. Not with lasers or machines, but with the same tools goldsmiths used centuries ago. Each watch demands more than 50 hours of work from the engraver, and because it’s all done freehand, no two are alike. Each cut, each curve, carries the signature of a human touch.

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The case, bezel, lugs, crown, even the buckle—has been engraved entirely by hand.

That’s the magic of hand engraving. It’s not just surface decoration—it’s sculpting depth. Light shifts differently across every line, creating shadows and highlights that make the watch feel alive. Steel is notoriously difficult to work with, but here it almost softens under the artisan’s hand, transformed into a canvas of swirling baroque floral motifs inspired by 18th-century clocks.

“Case engraving is more than decoration, it’s a way to make metal speak.
What began as a series of design exchanges over a year ago became a full creative partnership. Gravée Main is the result. It all started with a meeting, a conversation, a spark of shared vision. I showed Louis Erard what I was doing. They saw something raw and real in my work. They didn’t just want to use engraving as a visual decoration, they wanted to rethink the entire watch around it. Give it space. Let the steel speak.”

Maksym Shavlak

Balancing this ornate surface is a minimalist dial—polished black lacquer, Roman numerals, and rhodium-plated pear-shaped hands. It’s a deliberate contrast: pure lines overlaid on a riot of engraved steel. Ornamentation meeting restraint. History meeting modernity.

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The polished black lacquer, Roman numerals, and rhodium-plated pear-shaped hands,

Louis Erard frames this as a mission: to protect and transmit rare crafts by letting them live on the wrist rather than behind glass. It’s a reminder that métiers d’art are not meant to be admired only from afar but experienced daily, passed down, and carried forward.

The essentials:

  • 42mm stainless steel Noirmont case, fully hand-engraved (50+ hours of work).
  • Limited to 99 unique pieces, each engraved individually by hand.
  • Black lacquer dial, Roman numerals, rhodium pear-shaped hands.
  • Sellita SW261-1 automatic movement, ~38-hour power reserve.

In a landscape where artisanal crafts often feel untouchable, the Gravée Main proves that fine engraving can still be worn, lived with, and made part of everyday time.

Price: CHF 5,450 (excl. taxes).
Approx : INR 5,89,967 (Yes you read that right)