A TIMEPIECE THAT BEFITS SILVER JUBILEE MILESTONE

Chopard is marking 25 years of the establishment of its manufacture with the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25, the brand’s first jumping hour watch

- Preetika Mathew

A LIMITED SERIES OF 100 PIECES, THE 40 MM L.U.C QUATTRO SPIRIT 25 WHOSE MOVEMENT IS 4. 85 MM THICK, HAS A POWER RESERVE OF 8 DAYS

IN the early 1990s, just as the Swiss watchmaking industry was recovering from the Quartz Crisis, one thing had become clear to Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Co-President, Chopard, that to stand out in watchmaking, his company had to start developing its own movements. It was an idea driven by a long-term vision, at a time when most watchmakers would purchase movements from third parties. So in 1996, the Chopard Manufacture was set up in Fleurier, Switzerland. Its first movement, the 3.3mm thick L.U.C Calibre 1.96, was the world’s first twin-barrel automatic movement with 65 hours of power reserve.

Since then, Chopard has produced several pathbreaking movements, broken records, and won many accolades. In 2000 came the L.U.C Quattro, the world’s first watch to feature four barrels (configured as stacked pairs), and in 2004 the brand introduced its first tourbillon, powered by the in-house four-barrel Quattro technology (it was also the only tourbillon in the market to beat at 4Hz or 28,800vph). Two years later, the L.U.C Strike One debuted, and in 2011, Chopard presented the L.U.C Triple Certification Tourbillon, the first watch in the world to receive the Poinçon de Genève, the COSC Chronometer certification, and the Fondation Qualité Fleurier qualification. In 2016, it launched the L.U.C Full Strike, the world’s first minute repeater featuring sapphire-crystal gongs. Last year, a new line was born: The Alpine Eagle XL Chrono, which featured a movement that benefitted largely from the L.U.C Chrono One’s calibre 03.03-L.