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Lot Essay
Louis Erard offers this stunningly attractive unique automatic watch with a fascinating gold Wire Art dial to support the important work of ELA. The border of the display caseback of the timepiece is engraved 'QUI SAUVE UNE VIE SAUVE L’HUMANITÉ' - 'WHOEVER SAVES A LIFE SAVES HUMANITY'.
The mesmerising dial, formed by threads and bumps in a motif inspired by the isometric cube, lies somewhere between optical illusion and miniature sculpture. The dial comes to life on the wrist, playing with light and tricking the eye. Fil d’Or: where artistic craft meets repurposed technology.
With Fil d’Or, a timepiece born from a collaboration with Sylvie Villa and Mark Miehlbradt, founders of Wire Art, Louis Erard continues to celebrate rare crafts while making them accessible. Fil d’Or joins the Noirmont Métiers d’Art collection, housed in a 39 mm. stainless steel case. Its design, composed of anachronistic cubes, recalls the 3D checkerboard pattern of the hand-guilloché model (2021), as well as the miniature wood marquetry model (2023).
Louis Erard X Wire Art Golden Threads. Wired Minds. Noirmont Métiers d'Art Fil D'Or.
When microelectronic precision becomes a form of art. Louis Erard keeps doing what it does best: shining a light on talent, artisans, craft and bold ideas. Introducing Fil d’Or. A collaboration with Sylvie Villa & Mark Miehlbradt, founders of Wire Art. Engineers by training. Artists by conviction. Their machines once wired the digital world. Now they wire time. This isn’t just decoration. It’s a new artistic craft. Fil d’Or is a thread of innovation, soldered to craftsmanship.
'Like every Louis Erard collaboration, this one began with an encounter with Sylvie & Mark, drawn together by a golden thread and wired into a bold idea: turning a machine built for chip tech into a tool for gold micro-sculpture. We challenged them not to keep it exclusive but to make it accessible. A simple shape, a cube. A signature element already present in our artistic craft timepieces through hand guilloché and wood marquetry. The result? A trompe-l’œil illusion in pure gold. But contrary to the name of that artistic technique, these models are all about truth. We show everything, the process, the tools, the people… That’s how we work, we tell it like it is'. - Manuel Emch
Micromechanical Embroidery: made by Wire Art Switzerland, Sainte-Croix, Switzerland. The Golden Thread.
The dial isn’t printed; it’s wired. Woven with pure 24K gold thread, just 25 microns thick, three times thinner than a human hair. The dial features a black lacquer base with 2,320 threads in hardened 24K gold and 3,660 solder points. Technique: patented micro-bonding via reprogrammed machines from the microelectronics industry. The machine? Designed to bond microcircuits. Now rewired, repurposed, reborn as a tool of art. A gold-thread bonding machine. The design? The Louis Erard cube, a chevron motif that creates a trompe-l’œil illusion. The process? From sketch to vector code, from lacquered brass to sculpted gold. The result? A living dial, where light unveils unexpected facets and a depth that isn’t really there. The artisans? Sylvie Villa & Mark Miehlbradt, founders of Wire Art Switzerland.
Louis Erard, Swiss Watchmaker, Est. 1929
Louis Erard disrupts traditional watchmaking by making horological craftsmanship accessible to a wider audience. Its exceptional timepieces, rooted in artistic crafts, boldly merge tradition and modernity, shaped by visionary artisans who push the boundaries of horology. Since 1929, independence has been the brand's driving force, inspired by the wild spirit of the Swiss Jura, embodied in its iconic regulators and mechanical watches. Under Manuel Emch's leadership, Louis Erard prioritises innovation over conformity, pursuing lasting excellence rather than rapid growth and forging its own path in watchmaking. Through collaborations with avant-garde creators such as Alain Silberstein, Vianney Halter and Konstantin Chaykin, Louis Erard transcends artistic boundaries, playing with new codes to craft watches that redefine and disrupt the very essence of time.
Wire Art - Sylvie Villa X Mark Miehlbradt
Founded in 2017 by Sylvie and Mark, Wire Art Switzerland rewires the future of craftsmanship. Nestled in the heights of Sainte-Croix, in the heart of Swiss micromechanics, their workshop sits in a restored family farmhouse where microengineering meets artistic reinvention. Both engineers by training (microtechnology and microelectronics), Sylvie and Mark gave a second life to obsolete wire-bonding machines once used to stitch the digital world together. Outpaced by modern technology, these machines were headed for silence. Wire Art gave them a new purpose: weaving 24K gold thread into pure visual art. Their patented process transforms micro-soldering into a form of art: weaving hair-thin gold wire into intricate patterns, geometric illusions and luminous textures. Where the industry speeds up, Sylvie and Mark slow things down, endlessly crafting plays of light through the finesse of inimitable patterns.
The mesmerising dial, formed by threads and bumps in a motif inspired by the isometric cube, lies somewhere between optical illusion and miniature sculpture. The dial comes to life on the wrist, playing with light and tricking the eye. Fil d’Or: where artistic craft meets repurposed technology.
With Fil d’Or, a timepiece born from a collaboration with Sylvie Villa and Mark Miehlbradt, founders of Wire Art, Louis Erard continues to celebrate rare crafts while making them accessible. Fil d’Or joins the Noirmont Métiers d’Art collection, housed in a 39 mm. stainless steel case. Its design, composed of anachronistic cubes, recalls the 3D checkerboard pattern of the hand-guilloché model (2021), as well as the miniature wood marquetry model (2023).
Louis Erard X Wire Art Golden Threads. Wired Minds. Noirmont Métiers d'Art Fil D'Or.
When microelectronic precision becomes a form of art. Louis Erard keeps doing what it does best: shining a light on talent, artisans, craft and bold ideas. Introducing Fil d’Or. A collaboration with Sylvie Villa & Mark Miehlbradt, founders of Wire Art. Engineers by training. Artists by conviction. Their machines once wired the digital world. Now they wire time. This isn’t just decoration. It’s a new artistic craft. Fil d’Or is a thread of innovation, soldered to craftsmanship.
'Like every Louis Erard collaboration, this one began with an encounter with Sylvie & Mark, drawn together by a golden thread and wired into a bold idea: turning a machine built for chip tech into a tool for gold micro-sculpture. We challenged them not to keep it exclusive but to make it accessible. A simple shape, a cube. A signature element already present in our artistic craft timepieces through hand guilloché and wood marquetry. The result? A trompe-l’œil illusion in pure gold. But contrary to the name of that artistic technique, these models are all about truth. We show everything, the process, the tools, the people… That’s how we work, we tell it like it is'. - Manuel Emch
Micromechanical Embroidery: made by Wire Art Switzerland, Sainte-Croix, Switzerland. The Golden Thread.
The dial isn’t printed; it’s wired. Woven with pure 24K gold thread, just 25 microns thick, three times thinner than a human hair. The dial features a black lacquer base with 2,320 threads in hardened 24K gold and 3,660 solder points. Technique: patented micro-bonding via reprogrammed machines from the microelectronics industry. The machine? Designed to bond microcircuits. Now rewired, repurposed, reborn as a tool of art. A gold-thread bonding machine. The design? The Louis Erard cube, a chevron motif that creates a trompe-l’œil illusion. The process? From sketch to vector code, from lacquered brass to sculpted gold. The result? A living dial, where light unveils unexpected facets and a depth that isn’t really there. The artisans? Sylvie Villa & Mark Miehlbradt, founders of Wire Art Switzerland.
Louis Erard, Swiss Watchmaker, Est. 1929
Louis Erard disrupts traditional watchmaking by making horological craftsmanship accessible to a wider audience. Its exceptional timepieces, rooted in artistic crafts, boldly merge tradition and modernity, shaped by visionary artisans who push the boundaries of horology. Since 1929, independence has been the brand's driving force, inspired by the wild spirit of the Swiss Jura, embodied in its iconic regulators and mechanical watches. Under Manuel Emch's leadership, Louis Erard prioritises innovation over conformity, pursuing lasting excellence rather than rapid growth and forging its own path in watchmaking. Through collaborations with avant-garde creators such as Alain Silberstein, Vianney Halter and Konstantin Chaykin, Louis Erard transcends artistic boundaries, playing with new codes to craft watches that redefine and disrupt the very essence of time.
Wire Art - Sylvie Villa X Mark Miehlbradt
Founded in 2017 by Sylvie and Mark, Wire Art Switzerland rewires the future of craftsmanship. Nestled in the heights of Sainte-Croix, in the heart of Swiss micromechanics, their workshop sits in a restored family farmhouse where microengineering meets artistic reinvention. Both engineers by training (microtechnology and microelectronics), Sylvie and Mark gave a second life to obsolete wire-bonding machines once used to stitch the digital world together. Outpaced by modern technology, these machines were headed for silence. Wire Art gave them a new purpose: weaving 24K gold thread into pure visual art. Their patented process transforms micro-soldering into a form of art: weaving hair-thin gold wire into intricate patterns, geometric illusions and luminous textures. Where the industry speeds up, Sylvie and Mark slow things down, endlessly crafting plays of light through the finesse of inimitable patterns.