Chopard is one of the great secrets of the watchworld. The brand, which is better known for its feminine jewellery collections, produces some truly phenomenal watches, of a style and quality that rivals the best in the business. Take, for example, the Chopard L.U.C XPS Twist Qualité Fleurier (QF). It’s a gorgeous dress watch with a much feted movement, a quirky (but not too quirky) design, and some serious integrity in the production process, thanks to Chopard’s ongoing commitment to Fairmined. Let’s start with design. The watch is very nicely sized at 40mm across by 7.7mm tall, with small seconds, date, and a deceptively simple but quite modern design. The hour markers are arrowheads, the hands are stepped and faceted, with quite an architectural feel. These two details, along with the smooth, polished bezel, ensure there’s a lot of pretty reflections to keep you entranced. Also on the entrancing front is the radial brushed polish, which is centred around the sub-seconds dial. Now, you may have noticed that that seconds register isn’t aligned neatly, which is where the ‘Twist’ comes in. The whole movement has been twisted about 15 degrees, resulting in the off-centre seconds dial and the crown at four…. Read More
EVENT: An evening exploring why Chopard is a brand watch people are getting excited about
Late last week, Time+Tide was honoured to co-host an exclusive event at the Sydney Chopard boutique that centred around a tour of the key features of a genuine rockstar of a watch – the 2017 GPHG Aiguille d’Or winner, the extraordinary Chopard L.U.C Full Strike. Also attending the event were members of the Trivett Bespoke and Cure Cancer teams as well as some Baselworld 2018 Chopard L.U.C pieces. I explained to an intimate luxury cellar of just 25 people, in reverent tones, that standing next to the Full Strike, not just the model (which has been sold out worldwide since launch) but the actual watch that was on stage at the 2017 GPHG is, for a watch person, like standing next to the actual Bradley Cooper. But, in lots of ways, Chopard L.U.C winning the GPHG is far more impressive than Cooper’s potential Oscar win this year as a 43-year-old man. Because Chopard L.U.C is a mere 22-year-old. Chopard L.U.C was launched in 1996. The signs that it would go on to great things, and quickly, were there from the start. The first Chopard L.U.C movement developed, the 1.96, was declared by WatchTime in 1996 to be the “finest automatic movement being… Read More
HANDS-ON: The Chopard L.U.C Quattro goes casual, and has never looked better
Chopard have had a really solid last couple of years when it comes to their new releases, and all told they did not disappoint at Baselworld 2018. Some funky new colours were added to the Mille Miglia line, but one of the real stars of the show was this new take on the L.U.C Quattro. Past iterations of the piece, while technically brilliant, have always come off as quite conservative. For 2018, the Quattro takes on much more casual airs, and though limited to only 50 pieces worldwide, we can’t help but hope that a similar variant will make it to series production further on down the road. Here’s what you need to know about this rose gold gem while they’re still on the market. Vital statistics At its core, this is pure Chopard L.U.C fine watchmaking at its best. The hand-winding caliber of the Quattro is an impressive one, delivering a 9-day power reserve from four stacked mainspring barrels (two stacked pairs), all crammed into a very modestly sized caliber. Believe it or not, the caliber itself is only 3.7mm thick — thinner than the conventional 3-hand caliber 2824 from ETA, for that matter. This isn’t a new caliber… Read More
INTRODUCING: The Chopard L.U.C Heritage Grand Cru
The latest addition to the L.U.C Heritage collection pays tribute to not only the Chopard of the past but also to the present. To understand how, I’ll have to take you through a crash course in Chopard history (don’t worry, I’ll make it quick). Chopard were founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard, who specialised initially in highly accurate pocket watches. Some of these early chronometers even made their way as far as the court of Russian Tsar Nicholas II. Skipping forward a century, in 1963 the company was purchased by the Scheufele family, who still own it to this day, with brother-sister combo Karl-Friedrich and Caroline Scheufele at the helm as co-presidents. In 1996, through the efforts of Karl-Friedrich, Chopard created the L.U.C collection and released their very first in-house movement, the L.U.C 1.96. Which brings us back to today and the reason we’re here, the L.U.C Heritage Grand Cru. The first thing you’ll notice is the tonneau-shaped, 18k rose gold case. It’s slim at only 7.74mm thick and measuring 38.5 x 38.8 mm across, and its rounded rectangular (only just) shape is reminiscent of the oak barrels used to store wine. While this isn’t a new shape in watches – nor… Read More
HANDS-ON: Looking for a dressy daily wearer that’s a little left field? Try the Chopard L.U.C XP
I don’t want to sound like a jaded watch journalist because – let’s be honest – those guys are the worst. But having said that, there were not too many surprises at Baselworld 2017. I knew we’d be seeing Speedmasters from Omega, a Sea-Dweller from Rolex and some crazy-but-cool collabs from Hublot. I didn’t expect to be blown away by a simple, smart little dress watch from Chopard. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a lot of time for Chopard’s fine watchmaking (and indeed their high jewellery – though I’m not the target market there), but the way the Chopard L.U.C XP managed to combine proper high horology, classical restraint and a youthful energy really struck me. It might not have made our Top 11, but it was very much in the running. Before we get to the good looks of the L.U.C XP, let’s talk about what’s going on behind the scenes. The slim (7.2mm) steel case houses a brand new movement, the L.U.C 96.53-L, a very neatly finished ultra-thin (3.3mm) automatic powered by a tungsten micro-rotor and boasting an impressive 58 hours of power reserve (compared to 44 hours for Piaget’s 1200P and 43 hours for the Caliber 896, which… Read More
BEST IN SHOW: The Top 10 Watches of 2013
As we look forward to the latest and greatest that Baselworld 2014 will offer us we started feeling a little emotional, a little nostalgic even. Before we get caught up in this years batch of ultra-thin, ultra-cool and generally game changing watches we wanted to pay our respects to the greatest watches of 2013. The King is dead! Long live the King! Omega Dark Side of the Moon Speedmaster This is the watch that had to happen. It’s the watch that Speedy fans have been clamouring for and expecting, for years. But when Omega finally dropped an all black moonwatch no one expected them to make the entire freaking thing out of Ceramic. Omega could have gone the easy route of giving a regular speedy a DLC (diamond like carbon) coating, and everyone would have been happy. But no, they decided to make it out of super light, super hard to machine ceramic. Not just the bezel either. The whole thing. Big kudos. And even bigger kudos for make it a regular production model, not a limited edition. Absolutely stunning watch. Frederique Constant Slimline Moonphase Frederique Constant have managed to achieve the virtually impossible: Carve out a solid space in… Read More
