Chopard Launches L.U.C 1963 Heritage Complications That Showcase Its Watchmaking

It’s a very Chopard thing to do, to quietly drop a pair of limited editions that have some understated yet highly technical watchmaking behind them. Classical in approach yet innovative in execution, they are also callbacks to a couple of the Chopard manufacture’s significant milestones.

First up is the L.U.C 1963 Heritage Chronograph (RM156,100), and its in-house L.U.C 03.07-L movement, the latest evolution of Chopard’s first manufacture chronograph movement in 2006. It is a fully integrated chronograph with three patents involved, including those for the chronograph reset mechanism and vertical clutch system. It also has a stop seconds function that automatically resets the second hand to zero when the crown is pulled—the subject of the third patent—which facilitates accurate time-setting. It is manually wound and has a 60-hour power reserve. The lack of a winding rotor allows its form-follows-function layout and two-tone finishing to be easily admired through the display caseback. The case is 42mm in diameter and made up of Chopard’s own Lucent Steel, which consists of up to 80 per cent recycled material and a particularly brilliant shine. The dial has legibility as an emphasis, with minute markers (that double as chronograph seconds) indicated via oversize Arabic numerals.

The L.U.C 1963 Heritage Regulator (RM198,670), in the meantime, is also a nod to 2006—when Chopard released its first regulator movement. This is a style of display with separate indicators for hour, minute, and second. It proffers better legibility and was once commonplace in reference clocks of watchmaking workshops. The timepiece is a modern reinterpretation of such; the minutes, arguably the most important to read well, are centrally indicated, while seconds and hour subdials are at 6 and 3 o’clock, respectively. A 24-hour GMT display sits at 9 o’clock, while at 12 is a power reserve indicator. This keeps track of the impressive nine-day power reserve of the manually wound L.U.C 90.02-L movement—made possible thanks to Chopard’s exclusive Quattro system, which consists of four stacked, series-connected barrels. Its silver-toned dial is a match for the case, which is 40mm diameter and in ethical white gold—fully traceable all the way to its artisanal sources.

Both watches are limited to 25 pieces each, and their movements bear third-party attestations to their quality—COSC certification, ensuring a daily rate of -4/+6 seconds per day in five positions and three temperatures; and the Poinçon de Genève hallmark, testifying to their reliability and craftsmanship.