Chopard’s L.U.C watches are the pinnacle of the brand’s offerings. It’s hard to believe that Chopard only started walking the path of true haute horlogerie watchmaking in the 1990s as you’d think they’ve always been at it when you look at the L.U.C line. The watches have been around for quite a while and have received a few “facelifts” over the years. For 2025, Chopard is bringing in a revised and refreshed look for the L.U.C watches, beginning with three watches spread across two models.
L.U.C Lunar One
The Lunar One is one of my personal favourite perpetual calendar watches. We last went hands-on with a limited edition variant of the watch all the way back in 2017 and we still think about this model to this day. However, times change, and for 2025, Chopard has changed a lot. The watch has been reduced in size to 40.5mm x 11.63mm (the older model was 43mm across but slightly thinner), water resistance is 30m, which will cover it if it’s splashed and is generally on par with similar watches in this category.
For 2025, you can have this new version in either 18k ethical rose gold or 18k ethical white gold. The ethical part refers to Fairmined gold, which Chopard uses across all its watches and jewellery, and it ensures everyone involved in removing the ore from the ground right the way to making the watch’s case is paid and treated fairly. Interestingly, both dials are made of 18k ethical gold as well and receive a galvanic treatment to give them their colour. Chopard also uses their in-house dial artisans with plenty of sunburst guilloché radiating from the moonphase display.
Speaking of the moonphase display, it’s very accurate needing adjustment once every 122 years assuming the watch is constantly running. The moonphase is a part ofthe calibre L.U.C 96.13-L, which is made in-house by Chopard and features 355 individual components which have all been quality controlled and finished to the standards required to achieve Poinçon de Genève (Geneva Seal) status.
Don’t let that pretty finishing fool you, though, these watches are COSC-certified chronometers and feature 65-hour power reserves powered by two barrels with a 4Hz beat rate.
L.U.C Flying T Twin Perpetual
The third watch in the new range of releases is a brand new combination of complications for Chopard. As the name suggests, this watch features a flying tourbillon and a perpetual calendar, but it also has Chopard’s large date windows for extra legibility. Despite the level of complications involved in this new release it still manages to keep the 40.5mm diameter of the L.U.C Lunar One watches; the thickness remains the same at 11.63mm. The case of this model is also made of 18k ethical rose gold, and like the other watches, it features a high-quality alligator leather strap with a quick change system, another first for Chopard’s L.U.C watches. Although I’ll need to see this in person to test its functionality, it’s good to see them adding this feature, which so many other watch brands have been using. With that said, it will probably limit where you get your straps from, but if you can afford one of these, it doesn’t matter so much.
Like the L.U.C Lunar One watches, the L.U.C Flying T Twin Perpetual features plenty of hand-applied guilloché to bring the dial to life. This watch’s dial is forest green, a combination that suits the colour of the 18k gold case. In the press photos it looks legible enough, although I wonder why the big date windows have white backgrounds rather than ones matched to the dial.
On display at 6 O’clock is the flying tourbillon; it’s called this as it doesn’t feature an anchoring point on its topside, meaning that all the power for the balance wheel and tourbillon cage, plus their support, comes through the underside. While it’s fair to say that this isn’t the watch to wear come rain or shine, it’s not delicate like fine china either. The L.U.C calibre 96.36-L features 319 components and has a long 65-hour power reserve with a 3.5Hz beat rate. Like the L.U.C Lunar One watches, the winding of this movement is performed by a 22k gold micro-rotor, and Chopard’s Twin technology uses two mainspring barrels to provide power evenly. This movent is also a COSC-certified chronometer awarded the Poinçon de Genève.
As I said at the beginning of this article, it’s hard to believe that Chopard has only been making watches like these since 1997, and their first tourbillon watch was introduced in 2001. It’s great to see them progressing and updating their watches to this new signature style as they go, we wonder what they’ll do next and look forward to visiting them at Watches & Wonders Geneva.
LUNAR ONE (161951-5001 and 161951-1001)CHF : 81,600EUR: 92,200 USD: 85,800
FLYING T TWIN PERPETUAL (161989-0001): CHF : 175,000EUR: 198,000USD: 184,000
