A technical feat first presented to mark Chopard Manufacture’s 25th anniversary, the L.U.C 98.06-L jumping-hour movement now equips a new L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 timepiece issued in a 100-piece limited edition. The four barrels of the exclusive Chopard Quattro technology offering an up to eight-day power reserve make this technically sophisticated model one of the rare jumping-hour watches with this level of autonomy. Featuring the L.U.C collection’s characteristically pared-down design, its 40 mm-diameter case in ethical 18-carat white gold frames a black Grand Feu enamel dial hand-crafted by Chopard Manufacture’s enamellist. From movement to dial, this exceptional timepiece showcases the finest expertise and innovation cultivated by the gifted artisans in the Maison’s workshops and ensuring excellent finishing honoured with the prestigious Poinçon de Genève quality hallmark.
Innovation: a jumping-hour model with a generous power reserve enabled by Chopard Quattro technology
With its L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 timepiece, Chopard Manufacture presents its interpretation of a horological complication greatly prized by collectors: the jumping hour. This 100-piece numbered limited edition combines an understated design with the technical boldness typical of the L.U.C collection. Combining tradition and modernity, its case in ethical 18-carat white gold features rounded shapes inspired by the hunter-type cases of the pocket watches once designed by Louis-Ulysse Chopard.
The L.U.C 98.06-L movement equipping this timepiece is one of the few in this category of watches – which generally consume a great deal of energy – to offer up to eight days of power reserve. Thanks to the four stacked and series-coupled barrels based on the unique Chopard Quattro technology – which usually allows up to 216 hours of autonomy – the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 maintains a reserve above 190 hours despite the amount of energy required for the instant rotation of the hours disc. This power reserve can be tracked using the indicator engraved on the movement visible through the transparent case-back. This is a feature shared by several L.U.C movements, such as the L.U.C 02.15-L (a tourbillon movement with perpetual calendar) and the L.U.C 05.01-L (a Grand Complication calibre combining a tourbillon, a perpetual calendar and an equation of time, among other feats).
Together, the four barrels comprise almost two metres of spring. In addition to providing a more generous power reserve, they ensure greater accuracy because the energy transmitted is more evenly distributed. The energy delivered to the escapement is more constant, as is the amplitude, thus enabling high levels of chronometric (precision timekeeping) performance.
Visible through a transparent arena case-back, this highly complicated mechanical movement with manual winding guarantees reliability and precision within an overall thickness of just 4.85 millimetres. The balance-spring is equipped with a Phillips terminal curve that guarantees the regulating organ’s precision throughout the movement’s operation – a feat of which only authentic Fine Watchmaking manufactures are capable. It features a swan’s neck regulator enabling more precise timing of the balance frequency and hence the rate of the watch, by helping to fine-tune the active length of the balance-spring. In addition to its technical benefits, this device also endows the calibre with a more sophisticated aesthetic.
Artistic craftsmanship: a dial produced by Chopard Manufacture’s enamelling Artisan
Equally noble both inside and out, the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 timepiece displays the time on a pure black dial, entirely hand-crafted in-house by Chopard Manufacture’s enamelling Artisan. Starting with/Working on an ethical 18-carat white gold base, this Grand Feu enamelled dial is fired several times at very high temperatures (820°C). It is then lightly polished to create a unique shine. The use of black enamel entails a specific challenge in that any potential flaw is immediately apparent when the light plays across a surface of this colour.
The hours appear through an aperture positioned at 6 o’clock so as to ensure that the minutes hand does not obscure the sight of the hours change, which takes place instantaneously. The white gold aperture frame accentuates the sobriety of the large white Arabic numerals showing the hours against a black background.
Patience, constancy and meticulousness are essential to the creation of each of this limited edition’s enamel dials. The entirely hand-made process means that each timepiece represents a unique result testifying to the manual and intellectual brilliance of the artisan who patiently fashioned it. The integration of this artistic craft demonstrates Chopard Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s desire to make Chopard Manufacture a centre of excellence dedicated to perpetuating traditional watchmaking expertise.
Precision: Poinçon de Genève-certified finishing
The high-quality work devoted to the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 has earned it the Poinçon de Genève. Governed by strict criteria of excellence, this highly coveted label is awarded exclusively to a few watchmaking creations whose beauty provides the perfect setting for a flawlessly functioning mechanism. It guarantees not only the quality, precision and reliability of the movement and the watch as a whole, but also ensures that the assembly was carried out in the canton of Geneva, the historical cradle of Fine Watchmaking.
Precise adjustments, wearer comfort and readability, movement bridges entirely adorned with the Côtes de Genève motif and finely bevelled components: these are the characteristics that make the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 a refined timepiece from both aesthetic and technical standpoints.
L.U.C: elegance and Fine Watchmaking in timeless symbiosis
Since 1996, Chopard Manufacture has been perpetuating watchmaking expertise and reflecting the inspired vision of Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, committed to the quest for innovation and to defending a heritage passed on by generations of watchmakers – true artisans of watchmaking emotions – since the time of Louis-Ulysse Chopard, founder of the Maison in 1860.
Movement development, finished product design, precious metal smelting, case stamping and machining, calibre components, engraving and traditional hand-crafted finishes, Grand Feu enamel, surface treatments, polishing, assembly, adjustments and quality controls: its Swiss workshops in Geneva and Fleurier enable Chopard to master the full range of watch production operations involved in each creation of the L.U.C collection.
The work of experienced artisans, these timepieces whose simple and pure design expresses a high degree of mechanical sophistication beat to the rhythm of the emotions experienced by the contemporary gentlemen for whom they are intended.
