W&W 2022 Chopard L.U.C Strike One in Ethical Rose Gold

Chopard is deploying the expertise developed with its L.U.C Full Strike minute repeater on a new generation of watches with a striking mechanism. The L.U.C Strike One model chimes at the passing of each hour, on a Chopard-patented monobloc sapphire of which the acoustics have received the artistic endorsement of virtuosos Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, who have acknowledged all its emotional depth. 

Equipped with the new L.U.C 96.32-L movement, this refined 40 mm-diameter timepiece in ethical 18-carat rose gold 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. A major step in the growth and maturation of Chopard Manufacture, the decision to create a chiming mechanism was at the time both ambitious and unusual, given that this horological complication was not an obvious choice.

Today, L.U.C picks up this theme while undertaking to perfect it in every respect. Chopard Manufacture thus 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.

Virtuoso work

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.

Unequalled mastery of chiming watches

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.

Technical specifications

Chopard L.U.C Strike One

Reference: 161949-5001

Limited edition of 25 pieces

Case

• Material: Ethical 18-carat rose gold
• 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

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

Movement

• Mechanical self-winding L.U.C 96.32-L
• Number of components: 275
• Diameter 33.00 mm
• Thickness 5.60 mm
• Number of jewels: 33
• Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
• Power reserve of 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

Functions/Indications

• 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 gol

MSRP: CHF 63'000

For more information, please visit chopard.com