Chopard’s new L.U.C Strike One model chimes at the passing of each hour, on a patented monobloc sapphire of which the acoustics have received the artistic endorsement of virtuosos Renaud and Gautier Capuçon.
Equipped with the new L.U.C 96.32-L movement, this refined 40 mm diameter ethical 18-carat rose gold watch is chronometer-certified and bears the Poinçon de Genève quality hallmark. Its solid gold ruthenium grey dial is hand-guilloché with a honeycomb motif. With its crown-integrated pusher, its slender 9.86 mm size and its crystal-clear sound, the L.U.C Strike One model endows the passing of time with an elegantly resonant dimension.
As part of the L.U.C collection’s 25th anniversary celebrations, Chopard Manufacture is laying a new milestone in the history of Haute Horlogerie. Fifteen years after the presentation of its first watch with a striking movement, the collection is renewing the calibre, aesthetics and style of its L.U.C Strike One model.
Chopard Manufacture draws upon the knowledge and experience acquired with its L.U.C Full Strike model, its minute repeater watch launched in 2016 and winner of the “Aiguille d’Or” best-in-show award at the 2017 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, as the L.U.C Strike One becomes the only chiming watch with a sapphire gong directly attached to the crystal.
The L.U.C Strike One timepiece picks up the aesthetic codes inaugurated with the L.U.C XPS 1860 model, starting with its solid gold dial in ruthenium grey, bearing a snailed rim and a hand-guilloché centre adorned with a honeycomb pattern. The beehive is one of the emblems that Louis-Ulysse Chopard chose to represent his workshops.
At 1 o’clock, the dial features a cut-out revealing the mirror-polished steel hammer that generates the chime through a likewise hammer-shaped opening. The periphery of the dial bears a railway-type minutes track, engraved on the sapphire crystal. Just below this is the element that makes the L.U.C Strike One so exclusive: a monobloc sapphire gong.
The chime-in-passing mechanism rings out only when the minutes hand reaches 12 o’clock. Twenty-four times a day, on the hour, its hammer is automatically armed and strikes the gong, just once. The sound thus produced resonates alone and must therefore feature exceptional intensity, clarity and length. In this solo performance, the chime represents a distillation of the expertise acquired by Chopard Manufacture in the field of striking mechanisms.
The new L.U.C 96.32-L features the typical architecture of L.U.C calibres, with its automatic winding via a micro-rotor in engraved ethical 22-carat gold. In addition, the Chopard Twin technology, with its double barrel, ensures a 65-hour power reserve even when the chiming mode is activated. This stability demonstrates the quality of Chopard’s developments and its management of energy issues.
In addition, this calibre boasts a number of new features compared to the first movement with a strikework presented by Chopard Manufacture in 2006. The first is that the pusher controlling the chime, previously located at 10 o’clock, is now integrated into the crown.
It is this pusher that enables the wearer to switch between silence and striking mode, indicated by a gold-ringed aperture at 12 o’clock. More discreet and also more comfortable on the wrist, this layout remains a Chopard-specific feature to date. In addition, the L.U.C 96.32-L movement is thinner than its predecessor, the L.U.C 96.14-L.
This in turn enables the case of the new L.U.C Strike One model to be less than ten mm thick at 9.86 mm, placing it firmly within the tradition of understated elegance characterising the L.U.C collection.
This is also reflected in its grey alligator leather strap with tone-on-tone alligator lining, secured by an ethical 18-carat rose gold pin buckle.
To optimise and perpetuate the acoustic richness of the monobloc sapphire crystal/gong system derived from the L.U.C Full Strike, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele has initiated a new approach.
He called upon the talents of two soloists (Renaud and Gautier Capuçon) and Professor Romain Boulandet – head of the Applied Acoustics Laboratory at Geneva’s HEPIA engineering school – whose work in an anechoic chamber perfectly isolated from noise pollution has demonstrated that the sound of Chopard’s minute repeater is powerful, harmonious and crystal clear.
The L.U.C. Strike One timepiece benefits from their analysis and their contribution, both scientific and emotional. Thanks to Chopard’s unalterable sapphire gong, the sound of the L.U.C Strike One is unchanging, stemming from the orchestration of complementary talents: Karl-Friedrich Scheufele for watchmaking precision; Renaud and Gautier Capuçon for artistic and emotional endorsement; and Romain Boulandet for scientific expertise.
Technical details
Model: Chopard L.U.C Strike One Limited Edition in Ethical 18-Carat Rose Gold
Ref. 161949-5001
Case
Ethical 18-carat rose gold
Total diameter 40.00 mm
Thickness 9.86 mm
Crown in ethical 18-carat rose gold with L.U.C logo 7.80 mm
Vertical satin-brushed caseband
Polished bezel and case-back, hand-engraved case-back
Exhibition back with sapphire crystal
Movement
Mechanical self-winding L.U.C 96.32-L
Number of components 275
Total diameter 33.00 mm
Thickness 5.60 mm
Number of jewels 33
Frequency 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
Power reserve 65 hours
Two barrels –Chopard Twin technology
Bridges adorned with the Côtes de Genève motif
Chime in passing
Chopard-patented monobloc sapphire crystal and gong
Balance-spring with Phillips terminal curve
Chronometer-certified by the COSC
Poinçon de Genève quality hallmark
Dial and hands
Dial in ethical 18-carat rose gold obtained by galvanic treatment
Hand-guilloché central medallion with honeycomb motif
Chapter ring with snailed concentric circle pattern
Applied gilded herringbone-type hour-markers
Gilded Dauphine fusée-type hours and minutes hands
Gilded baton-type small seconds hand
Snailed small seconds counter
Railway-type minutes track engraved on the sapphire crystal
Functions and displays
Chime-in-passing mechanism striking Chopard-patented monobloc sapphire crystal/gong system
Central display of the hours and minutes
Small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock
“Chime/silence” aperture at 12 o’clock
Stop-seconds function
Strap and buckle
Strap in hand-sewn grey alligator leather with grey alligator lining
Pin buckle in polished and satin-brushed ethical 18-carat rose gold
Edition
Numbered 25-piece limited edition