Chopard L.U.C XPS White Gold (161920-1004)

One of the most successful luxury houses combining haute horlogerie with high jewellery, Chopard's 'bipolarity' is embodied by the Scheufele siblings - with Karl-Friedrich taking care of the men's watch department and Caroline in charge of the feminine side of the collections. And 2013 marks a special year for the Geneva brand, since its Fleurier Ebauches production site is now manufacturing at full steam to complement the high-end L.U.C calibres and the iconic Happy Sport watch celebrates the 20th anniversary. Karl-Friedrich Scheufele reviews the new releases.
 

"Regarding the L.U.C collection, we pursued our development along three lines. The first one is innovation - we have enriched the Engine One collection with a horizontal version that I find very interesting. It actually meant we had to review the whole 'engine' of the entire movement", admits Karl-Friedrich Scheufele. The L.U.C Engine One H is a titanium masterpiece that combines authentic automobile mechanics and fine watchmaking, with finishes on its tourbillon movement that evoke those appearing on engines, while the horizontal layout reflects the design of racing-car cockpits. Pivoting the movement by 90 degrees enabled the L.U.C Engine One H to change face without changing direction. The openings in its movement are a nod to the openworked design of a racing-car air intake and engine-block cylinder heads inspired the grooves engraved on the dial-side bridges.
 

"We also enriched the L.U.C collection in terms of complications with the Perpetual T, the combination of our perpetual calendar with large date and our tourbillon with four barrels ensuring a nine-day power reserve, along with beautiful finishing worthy of the Poinçon de Geneve and Chronometer certifications". The nobility of both complications associated with the discreet sophistication of the Perpetual T sum up not only the legacy of founder Louis-Ulysse Chopard but also the technical competence of Chopard Manufacture.
 

"Last but not the least, the tradition side of things", concludes Karl-Friedrich Scheufele: the Chopard L.U.C 1937 Classic and the Chopard L.U.C XPS are two essential and elegant watches designed to be timeless. In the history of the House of Chopard, founded in 1860, 1937 was a pivotal year - since it was then that the founder's grandson Paul-Andre Chopard decided to leave the Jura region (where Louis-Ulysse Chopard had set up his original workshop) in order to establish the brand in Geneva.
New movements, new range
Chopard has been associated with the world of motor sports since 1988 - more specifically through its partnership with the legendary vintage car race Mille Miglia that has provided the inspiration for a well-known line of timepieces. The latest one is an entirely redesigned GMT chronograph celebrating the 2013 edition of "la corsa più bella del mondo".
 

Besides the iconic Mille Miglia timepieces, the so-called Classic Racing collection also now includes a brand-new automobile-inspired line christened Superfast and powered by a new set of in-house calibres produced at the company's new Manufacture in the Val de Travers. "Fleurier Ebauches is the industrial arm of our Fleurier operations. We started out with the Chopard Manufacture in order to learn and acquire the know-how and all the secrets of the movement building industry; and now with Fleurier Ebauches we have the possibility of producing movements in larger volumes and we're actually looking at 15,000 movements a year by 2015", unveils Karl-Friedrich Scheufele. For the company, it also represents a further step towards independence.
 

The design of the Superfast line is quite different from the Mille Miglia timepieces. "The Superfast has its place right on top of the pyramid of what we call Classic Racing and has a more contemporary look to it - it has all the DNA of sports cars, and the idea is that you find it even in the movement where you have these openings in the bridges which are very interesting to look at". The Superfast Automatic, Superfast Power Control and Superfast Chrono are the first watches in the collection to be equipped with Chopard movements entirely designed, developed and assembled in-house at the Fleurier Ebauches workshops. The movements have been specially prepared: the bridges are openworked with parallel lines in the style of cooling vents on sports cars, allowing the inner workings of the movement to be admired through the transparent case-back.
The happier side
In between presenting the new models for men, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele simply had to mention a feminine creation designed by sister Caroline that was in the spotlight at Baselworld: "For the 20th anniversary of the Happy Sport we introduced a version with a mechanical self-winding movement. The Happy Sport line is in a way the cornerstone and the icon of the Chopard collection, with three million units produced in the last 20 years. It is such a versatile watch and we will continue to make an abundance of variations - from stainless steel all the way to richer finishes. It's also a wonderful watch to play with. We have even introduced a theme called My Happy Sport, where costumers can configure their own personal Happy Sport watch".
 

The 36 mm Happy Sport Medium Automatic has all the assets of the original Happy Sport, with a silver-toned dial embellished by a classic guilloche motif that accentuates the sparkle of the seven moving diamonds. A see-through sapphire crystal back reveals the mechanical self-winding movement with its straight-line "Côtes de Geneve" motif.