Louis Erard Watches Review – Affordable Swiss Excellence

Louis Erard Watches Review

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louis erard watches reviewIt’s surprising to see how many different Swiss watchmaking companies are out there and even more surprising to discover that a lot of relatively unknown Swiss watch makers have actually been around a long time.

Louis Erard watches have been available since the company first went into business in 1931, but it’s only in the last decade that the company has begun to gain wide notice among the watchmaking public.

The company has changed owners a few times over the years and suffered, like many companies did, during the “quartz crisis” of the 1970s.

Since new ownership took over in the early 1990s, the company has rededicated themselves to creating interesting, reliable timepieces with nice designs, some useful complications, and good Swiss build quality.

Since their revival, the company has sold more than 150,000 units, and their watches compare favorably with other high end Swiss brands without prices that will require that you take out a bank loan.

Read on for the full Louis Erard watches review.

Build Quality
Movements
Innovation
Styling and Features
Care and Maintenance
Warranty
Prices
Where to Buy
Summary

Louis Erard Watches Build Quality

The build quality is good, with cases made from stainless steel, 18k rose gold, and titanium.

The watch faces are protected with sapphire crystal, a rock-hard, scratch-resistant material that is quite costly to manufacture.

Water resistance for most models is rated at 50 meters, which is good, though not exceptional.

Movements

Louis Erard watches are available with a variety of movements, including quartz electronic, manually wound mechanical and automatic (self-winding) mechanical movements.

These movements are sourced from Swiss makers Ronda, Sellita and ETA.  Using off-the-shelf movements from established movement manufacturers is one of the reasons that these watches are more affordable than other Swiss models, as the cost of developing and manufacturing a movement in-house can add significantly to the final price of the timepiece.

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Innovation

Despite using ready-made movements, there are a number of useful complications to be found here, even if none of them are revolutionary.

You’ll find date, day/date complications, moon phases, chronographs and power reserve indicators in the product line, along with time-only models, which remain surprisingly popular with watch buyers.

Styling and Features

Styling ranges from traditional to more modern, as the company has a number of different collections:

  • Excellence
  • 1931
  • Héritage
  • Emotion
  • Sportive
  • Romance

louis erard watches womens emotionThe Excellence collection is where the company shows off their complications.  The 1931 collection is a more traditionally-styled line.  Sportive features large case sizes and chronographs.  The Heritage line mixes old styling with newer technology.

The Emotion and Romance collections are the women’s lines, with the Emotion collection offering more in the way of features.

If you like bling, you’ll find that both precious metals and gemstones are available in Louis Erard watches, particularly in the women’s models.

The men’s models do feature large case sizes, with the majority of their 200+ offerings having cases of more than 41mm in size.

Care and Maintenance

As these are high-end mechanical timepieces, some maintenance will be in order from time to time.

The company recommends that you have your mechanical Louis Erard watches serviced every 4-5 years.  This will involve sending the watch back to the company, where they will disassemble the watch, examine it for worn/broken parts, repair or replace those parts if necessary, and then reassemble, test, and clean the timepiece before returning it to you.

For quartz models, the company recommends that you have it serviced every 6-7 years.  Aside from this, you’ll need to have the battery replaced every three years or so.

With proper care, your watch should run well for many years to come, if not decades.

Watches Warranty

The warranty offered is an average one; they are warranted against defects in materials and craftsmanship for two years from the date of purchase.

Most watch manufacturers offer a two year warranty, and that seems sufficient to cover defects, which are generally quite rare.

Prices

louis erard watches excellence collectionAs Swiss made timepieces go, the prices are on the more reasonable side, though not exactly inexpensive.

You can pay five or six figures for a Swiss watch, but these watches are far more affordable than that.  Prices range from a low of about $400 for some quartz models to $13,000 or so for some limited edition models with gold cases, mechanical movements and more elaborate complications.

That’s quite a broad range of pricing, but most models fall into the $500-$1500 range, making them relatively affordable.

Louis Erard Watches for Sale

You can find them for sale at a few brick and mortar stores, and likely in well-stocked watch specialty stores.

You’ll have better luck finding them for sale online, and that will provide you with your best opportunity to buy discount Louis Erard watches as online retailers are often in a better position to discount prices than brick and mortar stores.

You cannot purchase them at the official Website; they’ll just direct you to the nearest retailer, where you’ll likely be asked to pay the manufacturer’s suggested list price.

Louis Erard Watches Summary

The company offers a rich history of watchmaking dating to the early 1930s.  After a few rough years, the company is back and offers a wide variety of models for both men and women.

You’ll find a lot of features, the convenience of either mechanical or quartz movements, gold, titanium or steel cases, a few models with gemstones, and prices that, while expensive, are not exorbitantly so.

If you’d like a well-crafted Swiss watch but you don’t have the funds for a Rolex or a Patek Philippe, you may find Louis Erard watches to be a good choice for you.

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