Chopard Happy Sport Métiers d'Art Panda Edition

Chopard celebrates its love of life through an exceptional watch issued in eight-piece limited editions and honouring an animal species well worth preserving: the panda. Equipped with Chopard Calibre 96.23-L with its 65-hour power reserve, crafted from ethical 18-carat rose gold, magnificently hand-decorated and entirely set with sparkling gems, they are the quintessence of all existing codes of excellence in both watchmaking and jewellery. The impression of depth exuded by its dial graced with multi-dimensional marquetry inlays makes it a veritable work of art, a fascinating miniature ecosystem. A poetic and stylised world that highlights the virtuoso skills of the artisans in Chopard’s workshops. This Happy Sport watch also offer a vision enabled by a high-tech process serving to completely reinvent the legendary whirl of Happy Diamonds. The customised charms perform their weightless dance with unprecedented grace and elasticity, adding more life than ever to the show staged on the dials.

A fragment of eternity on the wrist, interwoven with the major issues of an era; a canvas shaped by an inimitable sense of luminosity and elegance as Chopard presents a majestic demonstration of its singular sense of aesthetics and ethics through this ultra-exclusive edition of its iconic Happy Sport watch. This model issued in an eight-piece limited series raises the art of watchmaking and jewellery to a new pinnacle. The prolific inspiration of Chopard Co-President and Artistic Director Caroline Scheufele highlights her fundamental love of Nature and animals.

Animal and mineral wealth

The Happy Sport Métiers d'Art model is a source of joy, a veritable elixir encapsulating the values upheld by Chopard, which is continuing to explore the love of life and nature that has consistently permeated its collections. The panda is an endangered species whose beauty and ecosystem are majestically celebrated on this timepiece. Precious stones and mother-of-pearl marquetry cast a spell in multi-dimensional layers on the watch dial and movement, shaping a landscape of dazzling and mesmerising depth. Framed by a bezel paved with chaton-set diamonds, the dial seems to melt into the light of the precious stones, which in turn spills over onto the likewise full-set 40 mm case.

The panda, emblem of animal conservation

The giant panda lives in the mountainous regions of China, where it has achieved iconic status. Its black and white coat radiates an aura of majesty, and its dark eyes reflect a sense of gentleness and tranquillity, while its wide, powerful paws are adapted to its lifestyle in the trees. However, the fragmentation of its natural habitat due to human development makes it particularly vulnerable to climate change and deforestation. The dial of this Happy Sport therefore invites to immerse in the bamboo forest and the treasures of floral biodiversity that are essential to its survival. Against a mother-of-pearl background, it appears perched among bamboo stalks adorned with flamboyant cherry blossoms – symbolising ephemeral beauty and perpetual evolution – featuring a pistil composed of diamonds. A black-lacquered, onyx and diamond panda moves serenely across this ecosystem, surrounded by three heart-shaped dancing diamonds. The bridges and the micro-rotor of Chopard Calibre 96.23-L visible through the case-back pick up the colours, mother-of-pearl textures and geometrical shapes of the dial.

Weightless dancing gems

Allowing diamonds to move free of any constraint between two sapphire crystals, and through this very movement restore the panache of their original brilliance: such is the brilliant idea that has guided the path of Happy Diamonds and forged a veritable legend over the years. Resolutely focused on research, high technology and design, Chopard presents a major innovation in this new Happy Sport Métiers d’Art timepiece that completely reinvents the Happy Diamonds choreography and endows their movement with unprecedented quality. A perfectly viscous liquid has been developed to accommodate a new tempo for the diamonds moving between the two crystals, enabling them to whirl with the elastic flexibility of weightless motion. 

Gazing at this sight brings one face to face with a mesmerising, living and constantly recomposed sense of vibrancy, like snowballs from our childhood days when flakes scattered their magic across an enchanted landscape witnessing their gentle trajectory. One need only recall that wonderful moment in mid-air when a dancer performs a jump; those marvellous seconds of weightlessness when the audience holds its breath and the whole universe seems to be suspended from this body. This is exactly the magical movement captured in the new waltz of dancing diamonds, light as air and unaffected by the laws of gravity. The development of this process notably focused on compensating for the variations in temperature and pressure generated by integrating this new liquid between the two sapphire crystals: a technical feat that testifies to Chopard’s formidable vitality in constantly weaving new ties between the preservation of heritage and the spirit of innovation.

An exceptional in-house calibre

An exceptional movement was required to set this splendid theatre of animal and mineral life in motion. At the heart of this case, magnificently decorated by in-house jewellers, beats a mechanical self-winding movement, Chopard 96.23-L. Resulting from the development of the first calibre (L.U.C 96.01-L) presented by Chopard Manufacture in 1996, it is equipped with two series-coupled barrels enabling the watch to accumulate a generous 65-hour power reserve thanks to Chopard Twin technology. It is also fitted with a platinum micro-rotor ensuring perfect winding of the barrels while saving space in the case. 

Adorned with mother-of-pearl, like the accompanying dial, the movement is revealed through the exhibition back of the ethical 18-carat rose gold case, thus revealing the exquisite allure and the quintessence of the watchmaking expertise exercised by Chopard’s artisans. Reaping the rewards of the complementary skills and expertise cultivated by the Maison, this Happy Sport timepiece is a perfect blend of the exquisite beauty, precision and legitimacy that Chopard has built up over the decades. The result is an intricate ballet of complex and virtuoso operations that fade into the background, leaving room for all the light, tender poetry of this Happy Sport Métiers d'Art.

Technical specifications

Chopard Happy Sport Métiers d'Art Panda Edition

Reference: 274425-5003

Limited edition of 8 pieces, exclusively available in Chopard boutiques

Case

• Material: Ethical 18-carat rose gold set with diamonds
• Diameter: 40.00 mm
• Thickness: 13.63 mm
• Facetted crown in ethical 18-carat rose gold set with a pink sapphire: 6.00 mm
• Facetted cabochons in ethical 18-carat rose gold set with pink sapphires
• Bezel and caseband in ethical 18-carat rose gold full-set with diamonds (7.97 cts)
• Glare-proofed sapphire crystal
• Exhibition case-back
• Water-resistant to 30 metres

Dial and hands

• Dial in ethical 18-carat rose gold with marine background motif composed of pink and green textured mother-of-pearl marquetry and diamonds
• Panda ‘mobile’ in ethical 18-carat rose gold set with black lacquer, onyx and brilliant-cut diamonds
• Three heart-shaped dancing diamonds
• Curved gilded leaf-shaped hours and minutes hands

Movement

• Mechanical self-winding Chopard 96.23-L
• Diameter: 27.40 mm
• Thickness: 3.50 mm
• Number of jewels: 29
• Frequency: 28'800 vph (4 Hz)
• Power reserve 65 hours
• Chopard Twin technology with two barrels
• Micro-rotor in polished platinum, finely sandblasted gilded base inlaid with green and pink textured mother-of-pearl marquetry
• Bridges adorned with pink textured mother-of-pearl inlays

Functions/Indications

• Central display of the hours and minutes

Strap and buckle

• Pink satin-finish alligator leather strap
• Pin buckle in ethical 18-carat rose gold set with diamonds

MSRP: Price on request

For more information, please visit chopard.com