Time and name – Weekend – Kommersant
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A year ago, Chopard celebrated the 25th anniversary of their watch manufacture, and this year they celebrate the 25th anniversary of their main watch collection LUC Chopard. Both are the brainchild of company co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele.
The manufactory in the tiny Swiss town of Fleurier near Geneva was founded in 1996. It was a time when the great quartz crisis was barely over and the Swiss watch industry had just moved away from it. Starting such a big business as a new watch manufacture, requiring resources – both human and financial – and constant investment, was, of course, a certain challenge that Karl-Friedrich Scheufele threw not only to circumstances, but also to himself. The Chopard company bore the old name of the Swiss watchmaker Louis-Ulysses Chopard, but received its new life not so long ago thanks to the Scheufele family, a family of jewelers, not watchmakers. But Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and Chopard coped with all the challenges, and all these 25 years are evidence of how correct the decision was then.
The idea of Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, a passionate watch lover and a deep connoisseur of watchmaking, was, first of all, to get his own, fully integrated manufactory, where all stages of watchmaking, all watchmaking professions are combined – only the main watch brands have such, and there are very few of them. But also, as a person deeply passionate about watches, he was also worried about something else: the preservation of watchmaking skills, rare techniques, ancient decorative crafts used in watchmaking, that is, everything that was noticeably reduced by the quartz crisis.
The first watch with the inscription LUC appeared in 1997 – that is, these letters already appeared on the watch dial, this is an abbreviation of the name of the founder of Chopard, Louis-Ulysse Chopard, and the first watch just referred to his heritage, symbolically restored the connection of times and names. Then there were many landmark calibers and stage models – LUC Quattro in 2000, LUC Strike One in 2006, LUC Tourbillon Tech Twist in 2009, LUC Louis-Ulysse The Tribute in 2010, LUC Perpetual in 2013 , LUC Full Strike in 2016 and so on. We already wrote about the Sound Of Eternity jubilee watch collection dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the manufactory in April after the Geneva watch salon Watch & Wonders, and now we will tell you about the main LUC watches of recent years, including those dedicated to the anniversary of the manufactory, which all still can be found in Moscow.
Ultrathin LUC Flying T Twin. In 2019, Chopard introduced its first automatic caliber with a flying tourbillon, the LUC 96.24-L, which is only 3.3 mm thick and features two barrels stacked on top of each other using Chopard Twin technology. It is he who stands in the LUC Flying T Twin. This 40 mm white gold watch features a signature Chopard blue dial covered in a hand-crafted guilloché honeycomb pattern, a Chopard symbol since the time of Louis-Ulysse Chopard. The watch bears the mark of Poincon de Geneve, and exactly 50 of these watches were produced.
Hours LUC QF Jubilee three properties are concentrated, the acquisition of which always becomes the task of Chopar’s watch engineers and masters – impeccable technical characteristics, refined aesthetics and obtaining all important watch certifications. Its 39mm steel case houses the LUC caliber 96.09-L with a 65-hour power reserve (still the same Chopard Twin technology) and is the first steel watch to be certified by the Fleurier Quality Foundation, one of the most difficult to validate. . The watch is made in the style of the 50s, its dial is divided into segments: it consists of several concentric circles that make it easy to read hours and minutes separately. Such dials appear in the 30s, when Art Deco and Bauhaus influence everything, including watch aesthetics. This is a limited edition of 25 pieces.
Famous Shopar LUC Quattro – watches with a very large power reserve: they have a thin caliber that allows them to work for nine days at the same time. Not so long ago, a new model was released – it has a blue dial with a vertical satin finish and a white gold case. Chopard says that it was important for them to convey a special type of English elegance, demanding on the one hand, but eccentric on the other, and in general an English club atmosphere. This watch bears the mark of Poincon de Geneve and only 50 pieces were made.
LUC XP – another watch associated with the aesthetics of English gentlemen in their modern form. The watch has an ultra-thin 7.2mm 40mm steel case, a merino wool strap and a deep blue dial texture to accompany it, all meant to evoke a blue cashmere flannel suit made in Savile Row. This watch also has a second strap – in case you want to remind, for example, of gentleman’s boots: it is made of cognac alligator leather lined with brown alligator skin.
And two watch models made of Grade 5 ceramized titanium— LUC Time Traveler One Black and LUC GMT One Black with indication of the second time zone. These two travel watches are the first of their kind to use Grade 5 ceramized titanium. It is obtained by oxidizing the top layers of titanium at extremely high temperatures using electroplasma technology and is used in the aerospace, automotive and medical industries. Titanium thus treated increases its Vickers hardness to 700 HV and this provides high resistance to scratches, wear and corrosion. In addition, ceramized titanium has excellent biocompatibility. The LUC GMT One Black is equipped with the LUC caliber 01.10-L with a dual time zone display and a rubber strap with a fabric-like pattern. They are issued 250 copies. The LUC Time Traveler watches received the LUC 01.05-L caliber, their world time function allows you to show the time in all 24 time zones at the same time, and there are also 250 of them released.
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