Striking examples
Building a high-end watch business from scratch takes some doing, so it came as no surprise to see Chopard co-president Karl-friedrich Scheufele struggle to hide his emotions while speaking at a recent dinner to mark this year’s 25th anniversary of the brand’s L.U.C manufacture.
Based in the Swiss mountain town of Fleurier, L.U.C (after ‘Louis-ulysse Chopard’, founder of the firm in 1860) represents the realisation of Scheufele’s vision to create a sub-brand dedicated to the best of the best in watchmaking. It was established in 1996 with the aim of adding substance to Chopard’s horological offering, reviving its heritage and enhancing its appeal to serious collectors.
Initially, L.U.C employed just three members of staff and made a mere handful of movements, but now the team runs to 220 people divided across two buildings, one producing 3,500 completed watches per year, the other (called Fleurier Ebauches) 50,000 movements.
Along the way, L.U.C has secured no fewer
than 22 patents and demonstrated a mastery of every category of complicated watchmaking, from chronometers to world timers, chronographs and perpetual calendars.
Scheufele marked L.U.C’S 20th anniversary with an inaugural minute repeater called the Full Strike, which featured tiny, ring-shaped gongs made from sapphire crystal and attached to the protective glass of the watch. And now, to celebrate L.U.C’S silver jubilee, no fewer than three further chiming watches have been created: an updated reissue of the Strike One; a L.U.C Full Strike Tourbillon and – the undoubted star of the trio – the L.U.C Full Strike Sapphire.
Measuring 42.5mm in diameter, its case, crown and dial are cut from solid blocks of lab-grown corundum crystal to give a 360-degree view of the highly decorated movement. The extensive use of crystal is also said to give the watch an unmatched clarity of sound that satisfies Scheufele’s aim of making a collector’s piece that is as much musical instrument as it is timekeeper.
The chiming mechanism is powered by a dedicated spring barrel wound directly from the crown, and uses a patented clutch mechanism that enables it to chime the most energy-sapping moment of the day (12.59) up to a dozen times on a single winding. Just five will be made. HS
Chopard L.U.C Full Strike Sapphire, price on application; chopard.com