By John Galt
Chopard has joined the small list of watch makers to have their own in-house movement, released this year at baselworld the calibre L.U.C 03.07-L is a manually wound chronograph with flyback .
Normally in my articles I would write about the movement last but this is totally different, this movement takes your breath away with its sheer unadulterated beauty.
Made to commemorate 50th anniversary of the Scheufele family acquiring the Maison Chopard it echoes back to pocket watch movements of the 60’s and represents the quintessential passion of traditional horology in its purest form, its sophisticated and technical construction and high degree of finishing has earn it the Poinçon de Genève hallmark. Movement is the hand-wound in-house calibre L.U.C 03.07-L with 38 jewels, 28,800 vph and a power reserve of 60 hours. I am impressed with the clear attention to detail with circuler & straight graining and Cotes de Genève motif on the bridges; the bridges are finished in nickel silver elegantly exposing itself against the gold movement this is a real treat for the horological purist and I for one cannot stop staring at it as its mesmerizing beautiful.
The movement is housed in a rose gold case measuring 42mm which in my opinion is a perfect size for this type of dress watch.
The sunburst satin-brushed silver-toned classic looking dial has two sub dials for the chronograph at 3 & 9 o’clock with a red flyback centre seconds hand, a small seconds at 6 o’clock, the chronograph sub dials are distinguished by red hands and gold hands for seconds which pop out of the dial and give them a real sense of purpose. A small date window between 4 and 5 o’clock looks good and doesn’t spoil the ascetics at all, as with the rest of L.U.C collections the numerals are elegant curved roman numerals.
Finishing off the piece is a gorgeous hand-sewn cognac-toned alligator strap with rose gold pin and buckle.
Limited to only 50 pieces one for every year since they took over Chopard for a cost of a little over $44,000 which given the movement is a good price.
Conclusion
This is one stunning elegant beauty and I for one are smitten by its charms, would I own one, not sure, would I want to keep looking at that beautiful movement everyday, yes I would. Now they have made such a stunning movement I would love to see it in a skeleton dial so you can see it all the time without having to take watch off. For more info, please visit chopard.com
John Galt – Contributing Editor
John Galt caught the horology bug 4 years ago on his first visit to a London watch show and has snowballed since; John has become an avid writer and blogger of timepieces of all kinds, from everyday timepieces to modern Luxury Haute Horology, his favorite brands being HYT and Greubel Forsey that push the bounders of modern watch-making. John keeps a keen interest in the UK watch scene with their many emerging brands and timepiece’s. John Galt currently contributes watch related articles for online publications in the UK and USA. You can follow John on Twitter @johng73 Read his articles here.
