Chopard
Introducing the Chopard L.U.C 1860 x The Rake & Revolution Limited Edition
Chopard
Introducing the Chopard L.U.C 1860 x The Rake & Revolution Limited Edition
Game Changer
Do you remember the scene in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey when the monolith appears before the apes accompanied by the stirring refrains of Richard Strauss’s musical interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra endowing the primates with self-awareness and enlightenment? OK, now flashback to 1996 – a year when Tom Cruise was bellowing: “Show me the money!” to his ambassador of Quan – and you will find a moment as revelatory, as forever game-changing as the appearance of Kubrick’s monolith. And that was when Karl-Friedrich Scheufele unveiled his first manufacture movement – Calibre 1.96 – which would usher in a staggering two decades of mechanical movement innovation and, with it, a heretofore unknown level of performance to every known complication in Christendom. And all this from a brand that was previously considered primarily a jeweller.
It is almost impossible to fully express how totally mind-blowing Chopard’s automatic Calibre 1.96 was in the context of the mid-1990s. While Swiss mechanical watchmaking had pulled itself back from the brink of disaster represented by the Quartz Crisis, there was still a prevailing timidity related to movement innovation. The rationale was understandable. After all, it was barely a decade since the very future of Swiss watchmaking teetered precariously on the whim of a consumer seduced by inexpensive timepieces with soulless electronic heartbeats.
Mechanical Perfection
How did the fundamental blueprint for the extraordinary Calibre 1.96 come about? It is common knowledge that Scheufele contacted Michel Parmigiani to consult on the movement’s design, but the requirements were very much based on his own desire for the perfect movement. “I wanted an elegant movement, so I liked the idea of a micro rotor,” he explains. “But I wanted it to wind very efficiently and in both directions. This was the reason we used ball bearings to support the rotor assembly. I wanted the movement to have a long power reserve of 70 hours, both to aid in isochronism and because I liked the idea of winding your watch just once and it having enough power to last an entire weekend and beyond.”
The solution for the long power reserve was to create a set of two stacked barrels that operate in sequence, one after the other. To aid in the accuracy of the watch, Scheufele wanted a modern 4Hz vibrational speed. “Generally speaking, this is the most effective vibrational speed as it is far more resistant to the micro-shocks that a watch receives moment to moment,” he says. “Incidentally, this vibrational speed is also a reason we are one of the only brands to have our tourbillons certified by COSC.”
The statement was clear: Not only is this movement more innovative than anything around, it is also more certified for both finish and accuracy. While Scheufele is far too gentlemanly for such a provocative taunt, I would have created an advertisement for the movement listing its extraordinary qualities accompanied by the zen minimalistic statement dedicated to competing brands: “Suck it beeyatches.”
While the Calibre 1.96 is often compared to the beautiful and brilliant Patek Philippe Calibre 240, I feel the objectives for the two movements are quite different. The Patek movement was created in 1977 to reside in the ultra-slim Golden Ellipse and, as such, one of the focuses was for the movement to be as thin as possible, resulting in its 2.53mm height. The Calibre 1.96 is 3.3mm high and, while this is still very thin – especially considering that the micro rotor is recessed inside the movement so that it is a real 3.3 mm in height – the objective for Scheufele was to strike a balance between elegance and game-changing performance.
The wonderful writer at Timezone.com, Walt Odets, tested his own 1.96-equipped watch and found it to have an impressive deviation of just 1.1 seconds per day. Even more impressive was that the difference between horizontal and vertical positions was only 0.3 seconds, which is nothing less than revelatory. So impressed was he that Odets was moved to remark that the 1.96 was “very possibly the finest automatic movement being produced in Switzerland today.” In short order, the holy chalice selected to house this now mythical movement, the L.U.C 1860 – named for the year the brand was founded – won both Timezone and Montres Passion’s Watch of the Year awards.
Chopard Manufacture Milestones
Let’s take a moment to look back at the staggering 21 years of Chopard Manufacture’s ground-breaking innovation:
1996
1997
2000
2003
2005
2006
2007
2010
2011
2012
2016
2017
2018
Revisiting a Legend
This summer while at the Historic Grand Prix in Monaco with Chopard, I took the opportunity to propose a very special project to Scheufele. I say: “As this is the tenth anniversary of The Rake, I would like to propose a collaboration with you regarding the L.U.C 1860, the watch you launched in 1996, the first to feature your Calibre 1.96, which was the start of your true horological vision.”
Because, in addition to the watch featuring what Walt Odets called at the time “very possibly the finest automatic movement being produced in Switzerland today”, I have always been enchanted with the style of the watch. The 36.5mm diameter is perfect for today, with tastes shifting back to vintage style men’s dress watches. And the design of the watch is, to me, something legendary.
It is hard to create a totally original round watch that endures the test of time, but that is precisely what the 1860 has achieved. Its slightly stepped bezel is thin and elegant. Its stunning gold dial featuring sunray guilloché was made by Metalem, one of the best dial makers in Switzerland. The Dauphine hands paired perfectly with the arrow-shaped hour markers are sublime.
“My proposal,” I explained, “is to remake an additional 10 of these watches, in my favourite colour combination of a white gold case with a salmon dial. If I could ask for one small change it would be for the date wheel to also be in salmon to create a more integrated look and also to easily distinguish our limited edition at a glance.”
These watches will be launched in November of 2018.