Gear -- 6 days ago
There is haute horlogerie, and then there is Haute Horlogerie – the latter being stock in trade for Chopard’s thinktank-cum-skunkworks, ‘L.U.C’. And all the more impressive for its precocious youth.
Then again, in reviving the enterprising spirit of L.U.C’s titular 19th-century forefather, Louis-Ulysse Chopard, co-president Karl Friedrich Scheufele would never have settled for less when it came to his passion project back in the mid-Nineties.
A journey that now peaks with a creation anyone in Switzerland would struggle to top, however many centuries of heritage they might boast.
The L.U.C ‘Grand Strike’, unveiled back in November, is an undeniable opus of mechanical mastery, developed entirely within the walls of every red-carpet regular’s favourite jeweller-cum-watchmaker – and just in time for Chopard’s elite horological imprint’s 30th birthday.
This charming, chiming timepiece boasts three musical modes: a ‘grande sonnerie’ (ringing out the quarters and hours in passing), a ‘petite sonnerie’ (hours in passing) and a ‘minute repeater’ (hours, quarters then remaining minutes, plugged and played with a push of one’s finger). Each ‘passage’ is performed by an orchestra in miniature and fittingly, a dial-less display places it in the spotlight: a percussion section of two hammers and two circular gongs performing upper-left-stage (i.e. between 9 and 11 o’clock).
“It has always been our intention to conceive a ‘grande sonnerie’ at Chopard,” impassions Monsieur Scheufele. “If you look at the L.U.C Grand Strike, what you see is the cumulative impact of 30 years spent innovating in the domain of fine watchmaking. Not to mention the result of over 11,000 hours of focused research and development.”
In the rarefied world of Swiss watches, a mere handful of names can lay claim to 100% integrated – or 'manufacture' – production. Comprising workshops perched on the lush slopes of the Jura mountains’ Val-de-Travers, as well as below, near the shores of Lake Geneva, Chopard Manufacture's passionate artisans develop, machine, decorate and assemble every component powering an ’L.U.C’ – all beneath its own roofs, rather than relying on the region’s historic cottage industry of third-party ateliers.
Intrepid visitors to the sleepy village of Fleurier can admire a chronology of showcases at L.U.C H.Q., starting with the very first yellow-gold watch to house Calibre 96.01, named 'Watch of 1997' by Montres Passion magazine; plus, in honour of Chopard's 150th anniversary, the stripped-back 'Engine One' of 2010, inspired by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s passion for performance motoring. (A deep-cut modern classic that’s now being reimagined as this week’s other hush-hush reveal: the ‘Lab One’ concept in cahoots with Italy’s legendary coachbuilder, Zagato. Tubular chassis and all.)
In literally gearing up for this year’s epic ‘Grand Strike’ it was back in 2017 when Monsieur Scheufele and team were honoured to receive the ‘Hand of Gold’ or ‘Aiguille d’Or’ award at the ‘Oscars of Swiss watchmaking’, the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève: for the L.U.C division’s ‘Full Strike’ timepiece.
Not only was the Full Strike deemed ‘best in show’ by the firmament, let alone representing Chopard’s debut minute repeater, but it continues to be a supremely innovative striking watch in its own right thanks to an ingenious partypiece, carried over to this year’s Grand Strike: it rings out its melodic permutation of two notes – C# for hours, a C# and F for quarters, then F for each remaining minute. But not on two alloy-wire gongs screwed to the movement, as tradition dictates; rather, two sapphire-crystal gongs machined ‘as one’ from the crystal dome covering the dial.
By directly channelling and amplifying the gongs’ vibrations outwardly via the dome, rather than relying on an air-mediated metallic acoustic chamber, the audible result is at once sonorous, powerful and pin-sharp.
This extraordinary ‘monobloc’ sapphire construct is one of many patents filed by Chopard during the 15,000 hours required to develop the Full Strike’s L.U.C 08.01-L movement. And thanks to its inherently transparent nature, the percussive dance of its tiny hammers can be admired every time you push ‘play’, via the crown button.
Merging the three striking components as one piece of sapphire, Chopard Manufacture has broken the glass ceiling, so to speak, becoming Switzerland’s premier mineral-crystal disruptor. And in fittingly ‘transparent’ fashion, Chopard is proud to disclose a close commune with some third-party virtuoso experts.
Soloist cellist, violinist and brothers Renaud and Gautier Capuçon have fine-tuned every one of Chopard’s sapphire-striking timepieces, ensuring a harmonic ‘propagation chain’, resonating throughout every new construct. Professor Romain Boulandet – head of the Applied Acoustics Laboratory at Geneva’s HEPIA engineering school – subsequently proves their acoustic balance in his ‘anechoic chamber’.
“If the chime moves you, it’s because you resonate with our way of making watches” explains Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, metaphorically, but tellingly, since no one Grand Strike sounds exactly the same.
Another micro-mechanical dance plays out at 6 o'clock, where the ‘tourbillon’ cage of Grand Strike’s L.U.C 08.03-L calibre pirouettes once a minute. Originally conceived by Abraham-Louis Breguet over two centuries ago to even-out friction on the oscillating balance wheel ticking inside, we’re comfortable being honest, here: like the hammers and goons, it’s all about the spectacle, showcased all the better for the tumbling tourbillon being suspended by a see-through sapphire bridge.
The Grand Strike’s dazzling jigsaw of micro-mechanics might seem like a fussy, bug-prone endeavour – and striking clockwork is notoriously delicate – but in the spirit of L.U.C’s very modern approach to advancing ‘complicated’ horology, the big focus with the Grand Strike has been on real-world practicality. Nothing less than five new patents have been granted, all of which ensure exactly that.
On top of all that, the L.U.C Full Strike Tourbillon’s miasma of micro-mechanics are hand-polished to the 12-tier standards of perfection demanded by the ‘Poinçon de Genève’ seal. The gleaming cherry atop a very happy birthday cake.
Here’s to the next 30 years, Chopard L.U.C.
