Louis Erard launches a limited-edition artist watch with Monica Bonvicini, reinforcing its commitment to supporting contemporary artists through Swiss watchmaking.
Louis Erard is continuing its long-running commitment to artist-led watchmaking with the launch of Not For You, a limited-edition timepiece created in collaboration with Italian-born, Berlin-based artist Monica Bonvicini. Unveiled today, to coincide with Art Genève, the watch reflects the Swiss brand’s strategy of using horology as a platform for contemporary artistic voices, particularly women working in fields historically dominated by men.
The project marks Louis Erard’s third artist watch and reinforces an approach that prioritizes cultural dialogue over conventional luxury signaling. Produced in an edition of 178 pieces, Not For You adapts one of Bonvicini’s most recognizable sculptural motifs into a wearable format, translating architectural scale, text, and confrontation into an object measured in millimeters.
“This collaboration is part of our strategy to work with contemporary artists and to spotlight women in the creative field. I’ve been following Monica’s work for many years. We first met at Art Basel, and I later visited her studio in Berlin, where we became friends. That personal connection is essential to any true collaboration,” Manuel Emch, chief executive of Louis Erard and the curator behind its artist collaborations, said in a statement.
Supporting artists through watchmaking
Bonvicini’s practice has long examined structures of power, authority, and gender, often through large-scale installations incorporating scaffolding, chains, leather, and industrial materials. Her text-based works, frequently rendered in neon or mirror-polished lettering, are designed to implicate the viewer directly. Translating that confrontational language into a wristwatch required reduction rather than reproduction.
The result is a 39-millimeter stainless steel watch defined by precision. The dial is finished in matte black Clou de Paris guilloché, a traditional watchmaking pattern that introduces texture without ornament. At its center sits a mirror-polished appliqué bearing the phrase “not for you,” reflecting the wearer back at themselves. The message is repeated on the transparent caseback, rendered in polished metallic letters beneath sapphire crystal alongside the collaboration name and limited-edition numbering. The watch is designed as a genderless object. It is offered with two strap sizes, intended to blur traditional distinctions between masculine and feminine codes.
“How should we understand ‘Time is not for you’? Time is made of things that begin and end. Why desire it when we are already living it?” said Bonvicini, whose mirrored text works have appeared in exhibitions since 2006.
A watch as a sculptural object
From a technical standpoint, the watch houses an automatic Sellita SW261-1 caliber movement with an openworked rotor finished in black lacquered detailing. The movement offers approximately 38 hours of power reserve and is visible through the sapphire caseback. Water resistance is rated to five bars, underscoring that the piece is built to function as a watch as well as a collectible object.
“I love her architectural language in three dimensions. The way she turns text, words, and slogans into sculptural objects that express strong opinions and feminist critique. In the same way, an artist watch is first and foremost a three-dimensional sculptural object. With our watches, we try to create a language, an architecture,” Emch said.
The decision to limit production to 178 pieces carries symbolic significance. The number references the idea of “Stronger Together” in Chinese culture, aligning with the brand’s emphasis on collaboration as a core philosophy rather than a marketing tactic.
Founded in 1929 and based in Noirmont, Switzerland, Louis Erard has increasingly differentiated itself through collaborations that bridge traditional horology and contemporary art. Under Emch’s leadership, the brand has partnered with independent watchmakers and artists including Alain Silberstein, Vianney Halter, Konstantin Chaykin, Olivier Mosset, and Sylvie Fleury, positioning itself at the intersection of watchmaking, design, and cultural production.
The Louis Erard x Monica Bonvicini Not For You watch will retail for 3,900 CHF and the waitlist sign-up is available now.
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