Thirty years ago, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele opened a manufacture in Fleurier and began making movements ‘in house’. Three decades on, the L.U.C manufacture produces some of the most rigorously credentialled movements in Swiss watchmaking, routinely carrying both COSC chronometer certification and the Poinçon de Genève, a combination so demanding that achieving it in tricky steel, as Chopard does, is even more seriously impressive.

Chopard refines its sporty flagship with the Alpine Eagle 41 XPS in Lucent Steel™, pairing ultra-thin proportions with a textured dial and contemporary, integrated design

Alpine Eagle 41 XPS in Lucent Steel™

The Alpine Eagle story is an inter-generational one that expresses the continuity of the family business. In 1980, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele convinced his father Karl to create a sporty steel watch for the St. Moritz lifestyle; in 2019, Karl-Friedrich’s son Karl-Fritz found the original on his father’s desk and convinced him to revive it. The result was the Alpine Eagle. In 2026, the 41 XPS sees that lineage converge with Chopard’s ultra-thin manufacture ambitions.

At 8mm total case thickness, it’s the slimmest Alpine Eagle yet. The case is Lucent Steel, Chopard’s proprietary alloy. Inside beats the L.U.C 96.40-L, a calibre that is a direct descendant of the very first movement Chopard Manufacture produced in 1996. At 3.3mm, it is impressively slim for a self-winding movement with a 65-hour power reserve – a number made possible by Chopard’s Twin technology, in which two stacked barrels share the energy load while a 22-carat ethical gold micro-rotor handles winding. The swan’s-neck regulator allows adjustment of the balance spring with serious precision and of course every visible component is finished using traditional methods, while the bridges are decorated with Côtes de Genève, hand-bevelled and circular-grained on the mainplate side in accordance with Poinçon de Genève requirements.

The dial colour is Mountain Glow – a champagne-inflected shade replicating the warm light of sunrise hitting fresh alpine snow. Alpine Eagle’s signature radiating pattern on the dial echoes the iris of an eagle. The bracelet has been reworked: the first five links now taper more decisively, and the clasp boasts a new comfort-extension system offering 2.5mm to 5mm of adjustment without removing any links. That last detail is more useful than it sounds for anyone who wears a watch through a full day. The watch achieves a Poinçon de Genève cerficiation — in steel – underscoring its impressive credentials.

Tech Specs: Alpine Eagle 41 XPS in Lucent Steel™

Movement
Mechanical with automatic winding L.U.C 96.40-L. Frequency 4 Hz. Power reserve 65 hours. Two stacked barrels – Chopard Twin technology. Bridges adorned with Côtes de Genève motif. Chronometer-certified (COSC) Poinçon de Genève.

Case
Lucent Steel™ . Total diameter 41mm Water resistance 100m.Vertical satin-brushed case middle with polished bevels. Lucent Steel™ bezel with eight screws set at a tangent. Glare-proofed sapphire crystal

Dial and hands
Dial featuring a ‘Mountain Glow’ champagne colour achieved by galvanic treatment, made of brass stamped with a radiating pattern inspired by the iris of an eagle. Applied ethical white gold hour-markers and numerals enhanced with Grade X1 Super-LumiNova® 

Ethical white gold baton-type hours and minutes hands enhanced with Grade X1 Super-LumiNova® . Ethical white gold baton-type small seconds hand enhanced with white lacquer

Bracelet and clasp
Lucent Steel™ tapering bracelet with satin-brushed wide link and sides, polished central cap. Lucent Steel™ triple folding clasp with safety pushers and comfort-fit extension system

A modern revival of a Chopard icon, the L.U.C 1860 Chronometer in Lucent Steel™ blends classic proportions with high-end finishing and chronometer-certified precision (Revolution©)

L.U.C 1860 Chronometer in Lucent Steel™

The original L.U.C 1860 was the watch that launched the Fleurier manufacture and, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele used it to show off Chopard’s in-house capabilities. The 2026 edition is Chopard’s anniversary tribute. At 36.5mm, the case is sized for collectors who appreciate ergonomics. Respecting dial purity, there is no date display. The dial is called Areuse Blue, named after the river that flows near the Fleurier manufacture and is in 18-carat white gold, hand-guilloché on a vintage lathe by in-house artisans. Chopard is one of a small number of maisons still operating period guilloché machines, and the results are worth appreciating: the effects achieved by hand on a mechanical lathe are deeper than what modern guilloché machine produces. 

Inside, the L.U.C 1860 Chronometer is powered by Chopard’s finely finished in-house calibre, a micro-rotor movement that combines slim architecture with chronometer-certified precision (Revolution©)

The calibre is the L.U.C 96.40-L also found in the new Alpine Eagle XPS: 3.3mm thick, twin barrels, 65-hour power reserve, swan’s-neck regulator, COSC-certified. Every component finished by hand to Poinçon de Genève standard. The strap is grey grained calfskin, paired with a watch that sits at 8.2mm total thickness. As anniversary editions go, it is among the more self-possessed – no commemorative engravings, no special numbering, just a very good watch, made to the standards the manufacture has spent three decades perfecting.

Tech Specs: L.U.C 96.40-L

Movement
Mechanical self-winding L.U.C 96.40-L. Total diameter 27.40 mm. Thickness 3.30 mm. Power reserve 65 hours. Two barrels – Chopard Twin technology. Winding via a micro-rotor in engraved ethical 22-carat gold. Bridges adorned with a Côtes de Genève motif. Chronometer-certified by the COSC. Poinçon de Genève 

Case
Lucent Steel™. Total diameter 36.50 mm. Water resistance 30 metres.

Notched crown in Lucent SteelTM with engraved L.U.C logo

Sapphire crystal glare-proofed on both sides

Dial and hands
Hand-guilloché “Areuse Blue” gold dial. White gold chevron hour-markers. White gold Dauphine hours, minutes hands. White gold baton-type small seconds hand

Strap and buckle
Anthracite grey grained calfskin leather strap with tone-on-tone stitching. Lucent Steel™ pin buckle with L.U.C engraving

Playful yet refined, the Happy Hearts in Lucent Steel™ pairs Chopard’s signature moving diamonds with soft, heart-shaped accents on a luminous mother-of-pearl dial

Happy Hearts in Lucent Steel™

The Happy Sport was created by Caroline Scheufele created in 1993, and combined steel and diamonds on the same watch, which at the time violated an unwritten rule that precious stones belonged only on precious metal. The industry has since caught up. The Happy Hearts extends that spirit into jewellery-dial territory, and the 2026 edition takes it somewhere new with a denim strap.

The dial is white mother-of-pearl; across it move two dancing hearts beneath the sapphire crystal. One is in white mother-of-pearl matching the dial. The other is in a rare pink-purple gradient mother-of-pearl, a colour story that Chopard describes in terms of symbolic meaning: pink speaks of love, purple evokes spirituality and transformation, and mother-of-pearl embodies purity, protection and a serene inner glow. Three dancing diamonds complete the choreography.

The movement is the Chopard 09.01-C, the in-house automatic calibre developed entirely within the maison’s watchmaking atelier, with a 42-hour power reserve. The case is 33mm in Lucent Steel™.

Tech Specs: Happy Hearts in Lucent Steel™

Movement
Mechanical movement with automatic winding Chopard 09.01-C. Power reserve 42 hours

Case
Lucent Steel™. Total diameter 33mm. Water resistance 30m. Glare-proofed sapphire crystal. Exhibition case-back with the Happy Sport logo

Dial and hands
White mother-of-pearl dial. Three dancing diamonds. Two dancing hearts in 18-carat ethical white gold: one in white mother-of-pearl, the other in pink-purple gradient mother-of-pearl

Rhodium-plated hour-markers, conical hours, minutes hands and baton-type central sweep-seconds hand.

Functions
Central display of the hours, minutes and seconds

Strap and buckle
Blue denim strap. Pin buckle in Lucent Steel™

Chopard’s L’Heure du Diamant in 18-carat ethical white gold showcases the maison’s jewellery savoir-faire, with a radiant setting that amplifies the brilliance of each stone

L’Heure du Diamant in 18-carat ethical white gold

Karl Scheufele I was called ‘Master of Jewellery Watches’ in the early twentieth century and the L’Heure du Diamant collection, which traces its lineage to an emblematic 1970 jewellery watch, is Chopard’s most concentrated expression of treating a timepiece as jewellery first and instrument second. The 2026 cushion-shaped onyx edition underscores Chopard’s expertise in ornamental stones.

Onyx, the dial material, has the natural variations of mineral, so no two watches share the same face. Each watch is therefore unique in its own way. The cushion case in 18-carat ethical white gold measures 30.5 x 30.5mm on which sit 4.40 carats of brilliant-cut diamonds in Chopard’s crown-setting, a technique developed by Karl Scheufele III using V-shaped prongs that maximise light penetration through each stone. The 2026 edition introduces a specific novelty: the hour and minute hands are also set with brilliant-cut diamonds that catch and refract light as they move, making the passage of time part of the theatre. Even the crown features a briolette-cut diamond. The movement is the Chopard 09.01-C, the same in-house automatic calibre found in the Happy Hearts, with 148 components, 42-hour power reserve and everything designed, developed and produced within the maison.

Tech Specs: L’Heure du Diamant in 18-carat ethical white gold

Case
18K ethical white gold, 30.50 x 30.50 mm. Water resistance 30m.

Crown and bezel in 18K ethical white gold set, crown with a briolette-cut diamond; bezel set with brilliant-cut diamonds.

Movement
Mechanical self-winding Chopard 09.01-C. Number of components 148.Power reserve 42 hours

Dial and hands
Dial in onyx. 18-carat ethical white gold hours and minutes hands, set with brilliant-cut diamonds. Hour-markers at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock set with brilliant-cut diamonds

Functions and displays
Central display of the hours and minutes

Strap
Black alligator leather strap. Buckle in ethical 18-carat white gold set with diamonds