BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
The flying tourbillon is a favourite complication here at WristReview, and yes, we’re calling it a complication. It takes a tourbillon which was – as we already know, designed to counteract the effects of gravity on the small components of a pocket watch’s escapement – and removes the support bar from the top. This means this tiny and delicate but oh-so-important component is secured purely from one side. Chopard started doing these in 2019, and it’s now increasing the diversity of its range with this new piece.
While green is undoubtedly shoehorning its way into the world of en vogue watch dial colours, blue is still very much in demand, so much so that Chopard has made blue the colour of this watch’s dial. It’s an exciting mix of blue, silver and gold tones, with the silvered hands and applied markers standing out while the gold tones of the logo and printed minutes track bring up the rear with some warmth. Chopard’s artisans have worked their magic creating the honeycomb dial, a classic trait of the L.U.Chopard range with bees representing the company.
The watch is perfectly proportioned, as is the dial. The case is made of Fairmined white gold and measures 40mm x 7.2mm. Chopard committed years ago to use only Fairmined gold in its products. This gold is accredited with having everyone involved in its production receive fair pay. If only diamonds could all be fairly mined. I like the thickness of the bezel. It’s not thin like historically-inspired Breguets, nor is it too thick like some dress watches from the early noughties. The lugs are fairly short as well, meaning this should be comfortable for even very small wrists.
Inside this perfectly proportioned case is the calibre 96.24L, an ultra-thin movement made by the artisans in Chopard’s workshop in Geneva. The movement is only 3.3mm thick, but it manages to contain a 22k gold micro-rotor to keep it ticking, two mainspring barrels which have been stacked (this is called Twin Technology in Chopard language), providing 65 hours of power reserve. There is, of course, the flying tourbillon, which is primarily visible from the dial side. The balance wheel inside it beats at 3.5Hz. It also has a Geneva Seal, meaning it’s been built and decorated to an extremely high standard, and that decoration extends to the parts you can’t see. We’ve done a segment covering the finer details of this; check out The Jargon Buster.
Presented on a blue leather strap, this watch is a beauty, but as is life, there’s a catch. Well, there are two catches actually, the first is that it’s limited to 50 pieces worldwide. The second is the price, it’s high at CHF115,000, but if you appreciate art and proportional beauty, then this could well be the watch for you.
Visit Chopard here.
