The Breathtaking Beauty Of The Chopard L.U.C. Perpetual Calendar Chronograph
A horological heavyweight from the House Of Happy Diamonds.
In 2002, I happened to read a story on Timezone.com by Walt Odets (who has long since retired from writing about watches, and we’re all the poorer for it; he basically invented the entire genre of the online technical watch review). Odets’ story was entitled, “From The House Of Happy Diamonds: The Chopard L. U. C. Caliber 1.96.” “Happy Diamonds” refers to Chopard’s very successful Happy Diamonds watches, launched in 1976, in which diamonds under the sapphire crystal were free to move around at random.
At that time, the undisputed king of high end watchmaking was (and in some respects still is) Patek Philippe, but A. Lange & Söhne’s relaunch in 1994 had gotten many enthusiasts speaking of them as a rival to Patek, in quality if not longevity and continuity. Odets was obliged therefore, in calling the new caliber 1.96 a new benchmark for quality, to qualify his remark by writing, “From the standpoint of both design and execution, the caliber 1.96 is probably the finest automatic movement being produced in Switzerland
today.”
Still, the point that there was a new sheriff in the town of High End Watchmaking carried then and still carries today. The L.U.C. watches and calibers are named for the founder of Chopard, Louis-Ulysse Chopard, and while Chopard today makes a range of watches with a variety of movements (including its very popular Alpine Eagle line of sports watches) the L.U.C. family of timepieces still represents not only the high end of fine watchmaking at Chopard, but also the high end of fine watchmaking in Switzerland and, it should be said, the world as well.
The L.U.C. family includes a number of complicated watches, up to and including the minute repeating L.U.C. Full Strike, and the first L.U.C. hand-wound chronograph with an in-house movement debuted at Baselworld in 2014. The L.U.C. 1963 Chronograph was and is a relatively large watch, at 42mm, although the caliber L.U.C 03.07-L is a reasonable 28mm in diameter, with a sixty hour power reserve. For the L.U.C. Perpetual Calendar Chronograph, Chopard bumped up the case diameter to 45mm, and the case thickness increased also, to about 15mm.
The Chopard L.U.C. Perpetual Calendar Chronograph is, therefore, a large watch but I think for a reason. The base chronograph caliber is not especially thick or wide, but the perpetual calendar version, caliber 3.10-L, adds a number of functions that add to the thickness of the movement. Now, a perpetual calendar chronograph does not necessarily mean a large watch – the Patek Philippe 1518, for instance, is 36mm x 13.9mm, with a moonphase complication, and apertures for the day of the week, and the month.
The L.U.C. Perpetual Chrono is bigger but I think for several reasons. For one thing, the base caliber is not, as in the case of the Patek, a vintage Valjoux cal. 13 with the addition of perpetual calendar works under the dial – it is instead an in-house hand-wound chronograph movement, which is itself based on an earlier in-house automatic chronograph movement, with a 60 hour power, and which, unlike the 1518, has a big date display and a moonphase indication accurate to one day’s error in 122 years.
The big date complication in particular takes up additional space, thanks to both the date numeral disks and the switching mechanism necessary to link the big date display to the perpetual calendar works, and also thanks to the orbital moonphase display.
There is some extra height as well associate with the orbital moonphase display, which consists of two superimposed disks.
One carries the aperture for the moonphase display as well as the surrounding starfield, and the other carries the Moon disk itself; the Moon “orbits” the central axis of the moonphase display once per lunar month.
Through the display back, the going train, balance, and chronograph works are visible. This is a vertical clutch design, column wheel controlled, and although purists sometimes complain that the vertical clutch is inherently less attractive than a traditional lateral clutch, I think that at least in the case of the 3.10-L, there is a counterargument – this is one of the most beautifully designed and fnished chronograph calibers I have ever seen, column wheel notwithstanding.
The movement is a COSC-certified chronometer, and carries the Geneva Seal, which is a hallmark of both quality and provenance that at one time was the gold standard, so to speak, for high quality Geneva-made movements. A number of companies which used to proudly punch their movements with the Geneva Seal, including Patek, have dispensed with it in recent years in favor of internal certifications but I love the connection with tradition that the Geneva Seal represents. The movement also uses a freesprung, adjustable mass balance, which is regulated by eccentric timing weights; the small index with ± markings is for adjust beat error via the kidney shaped, mobile stud (a requirement of the Geneva Seal).
The dial is a sunray-guilloché patterned disk of silvered gold and Chopard obviously spared no effort or expense in its execution. In addition to the orbital moonphase, there are on the right and left, 30 minute and 12 hour chronograph counters. Smaller subdials embedded in the edges of the chrono counters show the day of the week, on the left, as well as a day/night indicator (a useful aid when setting up the perpetual calendar) and on the right, there is a display for the Leap Year.
Perpetual calendar chronographs are relatively rare complications, but at the same time they are at some point, obligatory for any brand that really wants to establish its credentials as an haute horlogerie manufacturer. The Chopard L.U.C. Perpetual Calendar Chronograph is like many of the watches we’ve looked at in AWAW, a statement piece, but it is not only a statement piece for the owner – it’s also a statement piece for Chopard.
The real reference point for this watch, I think, is not just the perpetual calendar chronograph as a wristwatch – it is also the world of pocket watch Grand Complications, where the composition of dial elements was not restricted by a traditional 35mm to 39mm dress wristwatch size. As a kind of arena or theater for the drama of high end, top tier complicated watchmaking, the Chopard L.U.C. Perpetual Chrono succeeds at its lavish size in a way I think it could not have in a smaller case.