Chopard presents new timepieces at the DUBAI WATCH WEEK

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L.U.C Strike One

25-piece limited edition in ethical 18-carat white gold
The unique crystalline sound developed by Chopard resounds in a new ‘chiming in passing’ watchmaking masterpiece

Chopard is deploying its expertise in chiming watches by unveiling its new L.U.C Strike One model. The latter chimes the passing of each hour on a Chopard-patented monobloc sapphire in a manner combining incomparably rich acoustics and emotional depth. Equipped with the L.U.C 96.32-L movement, this refined 40 mm-diameter timepiece in ethical 18-carat white gold is chronometer-certified and bears the Poinçon de Genève quality hallmark. Its solid gold grey-green dial is hand-guilloché with a honeycomb motif. With its crown-integrated pusher, its slender 9.86 mm size and its crystal-clear sound, the L.U.C Strike One model endows the passing of time with an elegantly resonant dimension.

To mark the L.U.C collection’s 25th anniversary in 2022, Chopard Manufacture presented an original series of horological masterpieces showcasing its mastery of chiming watches. It admirably confirmed the knowledge and experience acquired with its L.U.C Full Strike model, its minute repeater watch launched in 2016 and winner of the “Aiguille d'Or” best-in-show award at the 2017 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. Today, with its L.U.C Strike One model, Chopard offers the only chiming watch with a sapphire gong directly attached to the crystal.

A virtuoso accomplishment
The L.U.C Strike One timepiece picks up the aesthetic codes inaugurated with the L.U.C XPS 1860 model, starting with its solid gold grey-green dial bearing a snailed rim and a hand-guilloché centre adorned with a honeycomb pattern. The beehive is one of the emblems that Louis-Ulysse Chopard chose to represent his workshops.

At 1 o'clock, the dial features a cut-out revealing the mirror-polished steel hammer that generates the chime through a likewise hammer-shaped opening. The periphery of the dial bears a railway-type minutes track, engraved on the sapphire crystal. Just below this is the element that makes the L.U.C Strike One so exclusive: a monobloc sapphire gong.

The chime-in-passing mechanism rings out only when the minutes hand reaches 12 o'clock. Twenty-four times a day, on the hour, its hammer is automatically armed and strikes the gong, just once. The sound thus produced resonates alone and must therefore feature exceptional intensity, clarity and length. In this solo performance, the chime represents a distillation of the expertise acquired by Chopard Manufacture in the field of striking mechanisms.

Unequalled mastery of chiming watches
The new L.U.C Calibre 96.32-L features the typical architecture of L.U.C calibres, with its automatic winding via a micro-rotor in engraved ethical 22-carat gold. In addition, the Chopard Twin technology, with its double barrel, ensures a 65-hour power reserve even when the chiming mode is activated. This stability demonstrates the quality of Chopard's developments and its management of energy issues.

While Chopard Manufacture had already made a name for itself in 2006 with its first ‘chiming in passing’ movement, the L.U.C 96.32-L – presented for the first time in 2022 – is packed with innovations. The first is that the pusher controlling the chime, previously located at 10 o'clock, is now integrated into the crown. It is this pusher that enables the wearer to switch between silence and striking mode, indicated by a gold-ringed aperture at 12 o'clock. More discreet and also more comfortable on the wrist, this layout remains a Chopard-specific feature to date. In addition, the thinness of the movement measuring a mere 5.60 mm enables the case of the new L.U.C Strike One model to be less than ten mm thick, placing it firmly within the tradition of understated elegance characterising the L.U.C collection, as reflected in its grey alligator leather strap with tone-on-tone alligator lining, secured by a pin buckle in ethical 18-carat white gold.

A crystal-clear sound unique in the world
So as to optimise and perpetuate the acoustic richness of the monobloc sapphire crystal/gong system derived from the L.U.C Full Strike, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele has envisaged each of the chiming watches like a musical instrument that goes beyond simply telling the time to generate emotions.

The glass protecting the dial and the gong providing an audible indication of time are one and the same. Machined all of a piece from a block of sapphire, without soldering, screws or glue, it endows the watch with unique sound intensity. This construction with its unalterable sound that remains unequalled, was the subject of one of the many patents registered by Chopard. In 2017, the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève recognised this feat by awarding the “Aiguille d'Or” best-in-show award to the L.U.C Full Strike minute repeater model in rose gold.

The L.U.C collection: a blend of heritage and modernity
Since 1996, Chopard Manufacture has been reflecting the inspired vision of the Maison’s Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele. More than 25 years after presenting its first movement, the Manufacture has acquired a degree of maturity enabling it to provide a range encompassing the entire spectrum of horological complications – all in-house crafted through an alliance of tradition and innovation.

From movement development to adjustment and quality control, along with finished product design, gold casting, the stamping and machining of cases as well as movement components, engraving and traditional hand-crafted finishes, gemsetting, surface treatments, polishing and assembly: its workshops in Geneva and Fleurier enable Chopard to master the entire production process involved in each creation composing the L.U.C collection. The work of experienced artisans, these timepieces with their simple and pure design express a high degree of mechanical sophistication.

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Alpine Eagle Summit in ethical 18-carat white gold set with sapphires
The collection reaches a new heights with the presentation of a timepiece inspired by the splendour of the Zinal Glacier

The Alpine Eagle collection of sporty-chic timepieces welcomes a 41 mm-diameter model featuring an original "Zinal Blue" dial and a matching bezel decorated with baguette-cut sapphires in shades of blue and purple. True to the Manufacture's commitment to sustainable luxury, this watch is crafted in ethical 18-carat white gold. It beats to the rhythm of the Chopard 01.15-C movement, whose precision settings are authenticated by chronometer certification. From gold smelting to bracelet manufacturing, along with gemsetting, component production and movement assembly, every stage in the making of the collection is performed by Chopard's artisans of emotions.

A "Zinal Blue" dial inspired by the splendour of the Alpine landscape
A new dial colour is making its debut in the Alpine Eagle collection: like Aletsch Blue, Bernina Grey and Pitch Black, "Zinal Blue" is inspired by the palette of natural colours composing the beauty of the Alpine landscape. It draws its name from the eponymous glacier standing proudly in the heart of the Swiss Alps, whose shimmering blue and purple reflections, resulting from the ice’s partial absorption of light rays, captivate the gaze, creating a truly breathtaking sight.

Featuring a radiating pattern evoking an eagle’s iris, this textured dial is dominated by the colour blue, evoking the purity and freshness of ice, while its nuances recall the translucent crystals of the sparkling glacier. As the eye wanders over the dial, purple appears, like a mysterious imprint of Nature, suggesting the depth and energy emanating from the heart of the glacier itself.

This unique visual change is achieved through a subtle PVD (physical vapour deposition) treatment, which involves the use of several ‘target material pellets’ sputtered onto the dial to release atoms of material. Unlike traditional methods, this innovative process does not use pigments: the colours are obtained using specific gas mixtures and adjusted exposure times. They result from interference between the different layers deposited. In addition, the eagle-eye structure of the dial surface plays a role in the final appearance, as it influences the way light is reflected and refracted, accentuating the optical effects and creating unique variations between blue and purple.

The rhodium-plated hands, enhanced with Super-LumiNova® Grade X1, gracefully sweep across this landscape frozen in time. Their precise movements mark the hours, minutes and seconds, like a reminder of the imperceptible passage of time that has shaped these Alpine treasures.

The peerless mastery of gemsetting exercised within Chopard’s workshops
All around the dial face, a setting of baguette-cut sapphires, patiently assembled to form a subtle colour gradient, lights up the watch bezel and echoes the dial colour. It serves as a vivid reminder that, alongside its mastery of watchmaking skills, the Manufacture also benefits from a renowned heritage in the art of gemsetting and stone selection.

This understated yet dazzling Alpine Eagle Summit model with its "Zinal Blue" dial whisks observers away into a world of natural splendour. Whether worn by a mountain explorer or a nature lover, it is a tribute to the grandeur of our environment that Chopard remains determined to protect.

A timepiece crafted in ethical gold
Since its launch in 2019, the Alpine Eagle collection has been distinguished by a choice of materials whose origin meets the specifications of sustainable luxury. The 41 millimetre-diameter case and integrated bracelet of this new Alpine Eagle Summit model are crafted in ethical 18-carat white gold.

In keeping with Chopard's goal of improving luxury practices, the fine gold used in the production of this model – just as in all the Maison's watch and jewellery creations since July 2018 – is ethically sourced.

One of the rare Manufactures to have had its own precious metals foundry for several decades, Chopard is thus in a position to control its value chain in order to offer creations conveying a more reasonable approach to our stewardship of the Earth.

Chronometer-certified mechanical precision
True to the Manufacture's commitment to certified precision, the Chopard 01.15-C self-winding movement, beating at the heart of the Alpine Eagle Summit and visible through a transparent sapphire crystal caseback, is developed in Chopard watchmaking workshops and certified by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC). The word "Chronometer" embossed on the dial is a reminder of this label of precision and excellence.

When fully wound, the mechanism provides 60 hours of power reserve. Consistently targeting the highest standards of precision, watchmakers have also equipped this movement with a stop-seconds function enabling the wearer to set the time to the exact second.

The Alpine Eagle collection
Devised by three generations of men in the Scheufele family, the Alpine Eagle collection is a modern reinterpretation of the St. Moritz – the first watch creation by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele (now Co-President of Chopard) in the late 1970s.

With its pure and assertive design, Alpine Eagle further enriches this heritage with powerful natural inspiration. Alpine Eagle is a token of refined and resolutely contemporary elegance characterised by a round case with stylised raised sides, a crown engraved with the compass rose, a bezel with eight functional indexed screws, a textured dial with deep hues and luminescent indications, as well as an integrated metal bracelet.

Thanks to its independence and the integration of its various professions, Chopard performs all the production and assembly stages of the collection within its own watchmaking workshops, from movement to bracelet and including components as well as the case.