King of Collabs: Louis Erard Partners with Monica Bonvicini for the 14th Edition of Art Genève

In the art world, gallerists serve as a bridge between artists and the audience. They introduce new and emerging artists to the public. They organize events and exhibitions that provide a platform for artists to share their message with the world.

By this definition, Louis Erard is well within its rights to call itself “The Gallerist of Time.” The brand is already famous for curating collaborations with other watchmakers (Kudoke, Konstantin Chaykin, and Vianney Halter, for example), but with its Artist Watch series, they also providing a platform for emerging creatives such as the minimalist painter Olivier Mosset and sculptor Sylvie Fleury.
 

Now, at the 14th edition of Art Genève, Louis Erard has announced its third artist watch – a collaboration with Italian/German mixed-media artist Monica Bonvicini called “Not for You.”

This graphic watch is a provocative interpretation of one of Bonvicini’s most famous installations, recasting a site-specific work as a portable piece of wrist art. Is “Not for You” for you? Read on and find out.

How did this collaboration come about? According to Manuel Emch, the managing director of Louis Erard and one-third of the radical upstart micro-brand Kollokium, “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.”

Bonvicini is particularly interested in public spaces. Born in Venice in 1965, she has lived in Berlin, Los Angeles, and Vienna. The juxtaposition of classical culture and ever-changing modern cityscapes is an important driver for her aesthetic. As a result, her work has an architectural look, but she is just as invested in exploring how people negotiate these spaces.
 

This point of view has received a lot of attention in international art circles, with her work being shown and collected by prestigious institutions, including the MoMA. Bonvicini is also one of only 40 people to be awarded the prestigious Preis der Nationalgalerie, one of Germany’s most prestigious awards for contemporary art.

That’s a lot of work to choose from, so this Louis Erard edition has chosen to adapt “Not for You” to highlight Bonvicini’s message.

“Not For You” is part of an ongoing series of large-scale installations that Bonvicini first introduced in 2006. Using a variety of media, these works repeat the words “not,” “for,” and “you” to explore the links between sexuality and architecture. These works have been presented in either neon or mirror letters, simultaneously confronting and rejecting the viewer.
 

By translating these oversized messages onto a wristwatch, Bonvicini further challenges the viewer/wearer with a new question: “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?”

We’re going to focus on the watch’s aesthetics and not the innards here. But trust that Louis Erard uses tried-and-true movements. The 39mm watch itself is intentionally spare, in part to make it genderless. It is also offered with two strap sizes (small and standard) to marry masculine and feminine codes.
 

The watch’s minimalist black-and-steel finishing is also meant to hold a mirror to society via a full-black Clou de Paris guilloche dial with mirror-polished appliqué that reads “not for you.

Louis Erard itself takes a nonconformist approach to watchmaking, so working with Bonvicini feels more convivial than confrontational. In the truest sense of the word, the partnership feels like a continuation of the brand’s past collaborations, all of which have investigated the intersections of watchmaking, design, art, and pop culture.
 

That sense of community is meant to include collectors.

On the caseback, “not for you” is rendered in mirror-polished metallic letters beneath sapphire glass.  It is also inscribed “Louis Erard x Monica Bonvicini” and “Limited Edition 1 of 178” to underscore its exclusivity and rarity. (Fun Fact: In Chinese culture, 178 symbolizes being “stronger together.”)
 

Its exclusivity and bold look may not be for everybody, but the message – that humanity is a collective of outsiders that needs to live in this crazy world together – is for all.

The Louis Erard x Monica Bonvicini “Not for You” is limited to 178 pieces and is available now for CHF 3,900. For more information, check out the Louis Erard website.