LOUIS ERARD BRINGS STRAW MARQUETRY TO THE WRIST

Louis Erard turns to rye straw for its latest Métiers d’Art watch, working with Portuguese artist Bernardo d’Orey to create a dial whose composition depends on material, fibre direction, and light. The Marqueterie de Paille takes straw marquetry, a decorative technique with centuries of history, and reduces it to the dimensions of a 39mm wristwatch, with each dial assembled entirely by hand.

The defining element of the Marqueterie de Paille is the dial itself. Each creation requires around 12 hours of handwork undertaken over several days and is constructed from 28 separately composed sections. These vary in shape, size, and fibre orientation, creating a surface that changes as light moves across it.

D’Orey begins with a small selection of rye straws, choosing sections for the richness of their colour, texture, and natural reflection. Each is opened, flattened, and prepared by hand before being incorporated into the final composition. The dial is built from 28 individual zones, each arranged to interact differently with light. Their varying fibre directions are central to the effect: as the wrist moves, one section can brighten while another recedes, continually altering the appearance of the abstract pattern.

The work is carried out to tolerances below 0.1 mm, leaving little room for correction once a piece has been positioned. D’Orey therefore works in short, concentrated sessions, describing the process as working almost “in apnea”, stopping before fatigue can compromise the precision of his eye. Natural variation is equally important. No two pieces of straw share precisely the same colour, texture, or reflective quality, which means that each dial differs subtly from the next while following the same underlying composition.

Louis Erard describes the composition as “Broken Ice”, rendered in layered shades of blue. It is abstract rather than representational, with the arrangement of the fibres providing much of the visual structure. For D’Orey, part of the objective is to obscure the material itself. He describes wanting to create a new texture so that the viewer does not immediately recognise the dial as straw, allowing the surface to register before its construction becomes apparent.

Bernardo d’Orey is a Portuguese artist whose practice is dedicated to straw marquetry. Trained in decorative arts and drawing on historical techniques, he works exclusively with rye straw, using its natural colour, texture, and orientation to create abstract compositions that respond continuously to changing light. For Louis Erard, d’Orey brings the same approach to the scale of a watch dial.

Rather than treating straw simply as an ornamental material, its physical characteristics become part of the design itself. Fibre direction determines reflection, natural colour provides tonal variation, and the material’s inherent irregularity ensures that every finished dial is different. The collaboration forms part of Louis Erard’s wider Métiers d’Art programme. Previous projects have incorporated Grand Feu enamel, hand engraving, and Fil d’Or, each built around the work of a particular artisan and craft.

The Marqueterie de Paille is housed in a polished stainless-steel case measuring 39 mm in diameter, 12.82 mm thick, and 45.90 mm from lug to lug. A domed sapphire crystal is treated with an anti-reflective coating on both sides, while the movement is visible through a transparent black caseback. Water resistance is rated to 5 bar, or 50 metres, and the crown carries Louis Erard’s fir-tree signature.

The display is intentionally restrained. Rhodium-plated central hour and minute hands feature satin-finished upper surfaces and diamond-cut edges, leaving the marquetry largely uninterrupted.

Inside is the automatic Sellita SW261-1 calibre, an élaboré-grade movement with 31 jewels, a frequency of 4 Hz, or 28,800 vph, and approximately 38 hours of power reserve. Its openworked oscillating weight is finished with a black-lacquered Louis Erard symbol. The watch is paired with a beige grained calf-leather strap with tone-on-tone stitching and a black calf-leather lining. A polished stainless-steel pin buckle and quick-release spring bars complete the arrangement.

Louis Erard has been independent since 1929 and, under Manuel Emch, has developed a series of collaborations with creators including Alain Silberstein, Vianney Halter, and Konstantin Chaykin. The Marqueterie de Paille continues that approach through a craft whose effect is determined less by applied decoration than by the behaviour of the material itself.

Here, the mechanical architecture remains deliberately straightforward. The hours and minutes are presented against a dial that demands far more manual intervention than the display suggests: 28 individually composed sections, around 12 hours of concentrated work, and a material whose fibres ensure that no two surfaces respond to light in quite the same way.