Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The Chopard L.U.C. Strike One in Titanium with Salmon Dial
A delectable combination of salmon and titanium for Chopard’s crystal clear chimes.
Thirty years ago, Chopard’s co-president, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, opened the Manufacture in Fleurier. The first in-house calibre, L.U.C 1.96, a slim automatic micro-rotor movement, made its debut inside the L.U.C XPS 1860 the following year. Rapidly ascending the complications ladder, in 2006, Chopard celebrated the tenth anniversary of its Manufacture with the release of the L.U.C Strike One, its first chiming watch. Evolving over time to incorporate the brand’s patented sapphire crystal gongs, the modern Strike One (2022 onwards) is the template for the latest iteration with a lightweight titanium case and a gorgeous salmon dial.
In 2016, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the Manufacture, Chopard pulled out all the stops with the L.U.C Full Strike in-house minute repeater, featuring an unprecedented use of sapphire crystal gongs and a host of technical features, including a strike governor and a multi-function crown that wound the movement and activated the repeater. Then, in 2022, Chopard packed its patented technology inside a more compact, slimmer case powered by a modified version of the inaugural L.U.C calibre 96. Following the rose gold and white gold Strike One editions, which feature a slightly simpler chime-in-passing complication, Chopard returns with a titanium model that blends lightness and acoustic excellence.
While the term “simpler” is relative, a sonnerie au passage or chime-in-passing function strikes a single crystalline note at the top of every hour. Naturally, you can choose between strike and silent modes, but, unlike a more sophisticated minute repeater, there is no on-demand activation and no minute or quarter strikes.
The new 40mm model is machined from a single block of Grade 5 titanium, with a vertically satin-brushed finish on the caseband and a polished bezel and caseback. Despite its technical complexity, the case has a remarkably slim height of 9.86mm and features the convenient 7.8mm fluted crown with an integrated pusher to activate or silence the chime. As the brand points out, the use of titanium does not affect acoustic quality because the sound is governed by the patented monobloc sapphire construction. Since the gongs and crystal are machined from a single sapphire block, the crystal doubles as the resonator.
Using an 18k ethical rose gold base, the new salmon-coloured dial is decorated with a hand-guilloché honeycomb pattern in the centre, honouring founder Louis-Ulysse Chopard’s adoption of the beehive and bees as symbols engraved on movements and cases through the 1920s. The guilloché medallion is surrounded by a snailed chapter ring with applied rhodium-plated chevron hour indices and a distinctive cut-out area at 12:30 revealing the mirror-polished hammer and a small circular perforation at noon indicating the chiming status (white for active, ruthenium for silent). The Dauphine hands, also rhodium-plated, glide over the hour markers and snailed small seconds counter at 6 o’clock. The peripheral railway-style minutes track engraved on the sapphire crystal features 5-minute chevron-shaped markers.
The exhibition caseback reveals some of the 275 hand-finished components of the COSC chronometer-certified L.U.C 96.32-L movement (calibre 96 base), including the 22k gold micro-rotor, the swan-neck regulator, and the bridges decorated with Côtes de Genève. Equipped with Chopard’s Twin Technology, the twin stacked barrels deliver a 65-hour power reserve. The movement and watch are also distinguished by the Poinçon de Genève hallmark.
The new model is paired with a dark grey grained calfskin strap with a titanium pin buckle. Price is CHF 55,000. More information at chopard.com.
