Louis Erard and Vianney Halter have been collaborating since 2020, and every round has edged a little closer to the Antiqua, the riveted-porthole watch that made Halter's name back in 1998. The Futur Antérieur is the closest they have come. Two separate porthole dials, each with its own automatic movement, set into a steel case Louis Erard has never produced before, and it comes in two versions, Gold and Silver, 178 pieces each.
The name is the French tense for what will have happened, which is a neat way of describing a watch that looks like it came out of a future somebody imagined a long time ago. That is the Antiqua idea in a sentence, and this is Louis Erard getting as far into Halter's universe as it can while still being unmistakably Louis Erard.
The Basics
Case: Stainless steel, 38 x 44 mm, 8.85 mm thick, 20 mm lug width, 67 components in total.
Crystal: Two sapphire crystals with anti-reflective treatment on both sides.
Movement: Two Sellita SW100 automatics, one for hours and minutes and one for running seconds, 28,800 vph, 38-hour minimum power reserve each.
Water Resistance: 50 meters.
Strap Options: Black ostrich (Gold) or blue ostrich (Silver) with tone-on-tone stitching, quick-change bars and a steel pin buckle.
Price: CHF 4,950 per watch, CHF 9,900 for the Duo Set, excluding tax.
Availability: Limited to 178 pieces per version (Gold Ref. 22243AA01.BOA02, Silver Ref. 22243AA07.BOA05), plus 78 Duo Sets with both watches in an FSC wood box (Ref. 22243AA17.DIPTYQUE). Available from October 30, 2026, through Louis Erard and its retailers.
The Juice
The whole watch is built around the two portholes. Each one gets a raised bezel set with twelve polished yellow-gilt rivets and its own sapphire crystal, and each one is a complete watch on its own. The upper dial carries hours and minutes, the lower one carries a central running seconds hand, and behind them sit two Sellita SW100 movements working independently. That means two crowns too, one per movement, each capped with six more rivets. It is a lot of hardware for a 38 mm watch, and somehow it all lands in a case that is 8.85 mm thick, which is slimmer than most time-only watches with a single movement inside.
Louis Erard built this case from scratch rather than adapting an existing one, and it shows in the finishing. The face is circular brushed, the sides are vertically brushed, and the edges are polished, so the surfaces catch light differently as the watch turns on the wrist. Inside the portholes the grained dial base meets a circular-brushed ring with a polished chamfer, and the blued steel hands are Halter's own signature shape. The press release says there is plenty to discover with a turn of the wrist, and for once that is not marketing copy. This is a watch you will keep looking at.
The two versions split along temperature. Gold pairs yellow-gilt dials with a black ostrich strap and has a bit of swagger to it. Silver pairs rhodium dials with a blue ostrich strap that echoes the blued hands and comes off cooler and more restrained. Both keep the gilt rivets, which is what makes them read as a family. Ostrich is an unusual choice at this price, but the texture holds its own against all that metalwork and every strap will look slightly different, which suits a watch like this.
Each version is limited to 178 pieces, Louis Erard's usual number for collaborations, with the caseback engraved "Louis Erard x Vianney Halter 1 of 178." Pricing is CHF 4,950 per watch before tax. For anyone who cannot pick a side, there are 78 Duo Sets that pair a Gold and a Silver in one wood box for CHF 9,900. The watches are available from today, October 30, 2026, through Louis Erard and its retailers.
Final Thoughts
Manuel Emch, who runs Louis Erard, has said the brief was to go closer to the Antiqua and make something the brand had never made before, and that it pushed him well outside his comfort zone. Halter's own line on it is that you recognize the family but you have never met this watch before. That is about right. At CHF 4,950 this is the most accessible way into Vianney Halter's world by a very wide margin, and it does not feel like a compromise to get there. Learn more about the Futur Antérieur here.
