As Chopard celebrates its Happy Diamonds collection’s 40th anniversary and the L.U.C line’s 20th, co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele reminisces about their origins and ponders their future.
Flashback: 1976. On the radio, Wild Cherry’s Play that Funky Music and Sky High!’s Heaven Must be Missing an Angel were tearing up the charts. On the silver screen, horror flicks such as Brian De Palma’s Carrie and Richard Donner’s The Omen were terrorising audiences. In the watchmaking world, Chopard premiered a men’s watch with a simple but never-before-seen concept: a dial on which diamonds, freed from their settings, danced as unreservedly as the disco bunnies that inhabited Studio 54.
It was the brainchild of Chopard designer Ronald Kurowski, who, out on a hike in Germany’s Black Forest several years earlier, chanced upon a waterfall and was struck by the glittering stream of water droplets that gushed forth. The rainbow effect produced by the beads of water reflecting and refracting the sunlight sparked an idea: To allow the full brilliance of diamonds to shine through, the stones should not be anchored in a fixed position, but instead, be allowed to pirouette freely.
Chopard’s TV screen-shaped timepiece that bore this spectacle won the prestigious Golden Rose of Baden-Baden that year. More importantly, it spawned a collection that is today synonymous with the house — Happy Diamonds. At this year’s Baselworld, Chopard introduced two 40th anniversary pieces that build upon the original concept. This time round, the jeweller-watchmaker fitted the gems with prong settings, which enable the stones to twirl in an erratic, free-spirited fashion. To lend further dynamism, stones of different sizes were used. The entire extravaganza plays out against a shimmery white mother-of-pearl dial and is framed in either a TV screen-shaped or regular round case.
Interestingly, while the first few Happy Diamonds watches were men’s pieces, subsequent releases were all conceived for women. As Chopard co-president Karl- Friedrich Scheufele explains in Basel: “We had the TV screen-shaped piece, then we made some round watches as well. We also made one where the diamonds were hidden underneath a cover, and they could be released. That was a very interesting piece. But then we stopped making Happy Diamonds for gents.”
Asked why, Scheufele replies, laughing: “That’s a very good question, but I don’t have the answer! As we speak, I’m thinking we should reconsider.” The reason the collection evolved into a ladies’ line, he adds, is straightforward enough: Diamonds are generally associated with women, so it was a natural choice to work the concept into a feminine range. “But in recent years, we’ve noticed that men are also wearing diamond-set watches. Times have changed. It’s not too late for us to release a men’s collection!”
Independent streak Not that Chopard needs to train any more masculine eyeballs in its direction. It has already gained men’s attention with its Classic, Classic Racing and L.U.C collections. The last, by the way, is also celebrating its birthday this year, except it is only half as old as the Happy Diamonds.
To retrace the beginnings of the L.U.C collection, one has to turn back the clock to 1993. Then, Chopard’s reputation as a jeweller nonpareil was undeniable. But Scheufele felt it was important to revive the watchmaking heritage of the company’s founding father, Louis-Ulysse Chopard, in order to reinstate Chopard’s horological legitimacy. The best way to achieve this was to establish a full-fledged watch manufacture, and subsequently produce an in-house mechanical movement. At that time, despite decades of watchmaking experience, Chopard lacked a proprietary movement.
The easiest solution would have been to modify an existing movement. However, this approach did not sit well with Scheufele, who opted to create a base calibre equipped with a micro-rotor rather than one with a central rotor. This was advantageous on two fronts: It made it possible to create an ultra-thin version of the mechanism, and by occupying a minimum amount of space, it allowed the movement’s architecture and finishing to be showcased in all its glory.
After two years of R&D, at end-1995, Scheufele was one step closer to his goal. The micro-rotor yielded a generous 70- hour power reserve and the movement’s precision met chronometer standards. The mechanism was dubbed L.U.C 1.96 (and was subsequently renamed L.U.C 96.01 L) as a tribute to the company founder and the year of its debut. With a small seconds indication and a date function, it was fitted in the L.U.C 1860, a watch cased in yellow gold and boasting a sunray guilloché on the dial.
Vision and foresight
Looking back, Scheufele says: “We’ve come a long way. I did not expect to succeed in all the different areas that you can see today. [Whether it is] the number of calibres that we created or the range of L.U.C watches, we can be happy with the results. My first and foremost idea was to create great authenticity and credibility for the Chopard men’s range. I think you can say I succeeded in that. On a parallel basis, we also made sure that we became independent. It had a beneficial effect in the beginning, and a vital effect now.”
Ever the visionary, Scheufele had the foresight to anticipate that investing in a manufacture was the only way to survive. This was well before Swatch Group’s announcement in 2011 that it was going to cut off the supply of ETA movements to its rivals by the end of this decade. “I was convinced that [going independent] and doing everything the right way was the only way to win, in a sustainable manner, the hearts of men. I didn’t expect to make it that far!”
Not only did the manufacture go far, but it also went above and beyond the standard requirements of a typical movement production facility. Scheufele insisted on a number of qualitative benchmarks, the first being chronometer certification as determined by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute. This concerned the chronometric precision of a movement. Next, he sought the Poinçon de Genève, or Geneva Hallmark, a stamp that (then) guaranteed the quality of movement finishing.
Finally, in 2004, Scheufele — together with his counterparts from Bovet and Parmigiani Fleurier — established the Fondation Qualité Fleurier, or Fleurier Quality Foundation, an independent body that testifies to the quality of the movement as well as that of the finished watch, both in the static position and through simulation of wear on the wrist via the Fleuritest.
The big 2-0
In two decades, the L.U.C collection has spawned three distinct lines: Heritage, Tech and XP Urushi. Heritage, as the name suggests, pays tribute to classical watchmaking with design details that reference Chopard’s first pocket chronometers. All watches in this collection bear the Geneva Hallmark. Tech alludes to Chopard’s forward- thinking spirit with bleeding-edge technical and aesthetic innovations. Here, watches are housed in decidedly modern materials such as titanium, ceramic and carbon fibre. XP Urushi blends the traditional Japanese technique of Urushi with Swiss savoir faire, on watch dials that are lacquered and hand-painted with exquisite scenes and motifs from Asian mythology.
For the anniversary this year, Chopard showcased the L.U.C XPS 1860 in rose gold and, in line with current trends, stainless steel. It is an update on the manufacture’s first watch, the L.U.C 1860, and sports a cleaner overall design. Original details such as dauphine hands, tapered hour-markers, small seconds at six o’clock and a hand-guillochéd dial centre have been maintained. To differentiate the offer, a scalloped pattern ornaments the rosegold model while a sunburst satin-brushed motif embellishes the steel version. Either way, they make excellent dress watches, housed in 40mm-wide, 7.2mm-high cases that classify them as ultra-thin models.
Of the three collections, Scheufele says the one closest to his heart is the Heritage line because “that’s where everything started. The first movement gave us a base, and also basic knowledge. The greater complications are always a fantastic challenge, but without a good base, you can’t do them”. The anniversary watches share the same movement as their ancestor, the Calibre L.U.C 96.01 L.
With hours, minutes, small seconds and the date, the watches provide all the essential information a wearer needs — so essential that Scheufele says he felt compelled to produce a steel version to make it available to more buyers. Is this rationale in line with the trend towards offering entry-level pieces in steel? “On the one hand, yes, but on the other hand, we also want to make sure we continue to have pieces that are acces sible. The watch industry in the past few years has exaggerated a bit, presenting watches that are ever higher-priced, forgetting some of their customers [in the process]. It was not sustainable.”
Indeed, the industry has enjoyed unprecedented growth over the last 20 years, riding on the back of the economic boom in emerging markets. The current market correction should not be viewed negatively, but rather as a stabilising force as the global economy enters a new era. “We just have to remember that we had great years behind us. We only had difficult moments in 2008 and 2009, and after that things developed very well again. And very quickly. We’re now in a consolidation phase,” Scheufele says.
Steeling the show
Besides the L.U.C XPS 1860, the new L.U.C Perpetual Twin — a chronometer- certified perpetual calendar — is also housed in a steel case. Again, it was only very recently that such complication watches were available in steel. But as more watchmakers adjust to the new normal, this is likely to become more and more commonplace.
The Perpetual Twin is based on Chopard’s classic calendar watch, the Lunar One, unveiled in 2005. Placing the watches side by side reveals the family resemblance: oversized sub-dials that touch each other, twin-aperture date at 12 o’clock and thickset Roman numerals. Naturally, some details have been up dated. The Lunar One was so-named because of the moon phase indication at six o’clock; this has been replaced by a small seconds counter. The day/night indicator at nine o’clock has also been omitted, while the leap year indication, previously at three o’clock, has been shifted into its own mini sub-dial at 2.30.
Also based on the Lunar One is the L.U.C Perpetual Chrono, Chopard’s first watch that combines the perpetual calendar mechanism with a flyback chronograph. The hand-wound Calibre L.U.C 03.10-L boasts a column-wheel that controls all chronograph functions. The magnificent dial, coated in grey ruthenium, is adorned with a hand-guilloché sunray motif that gives it an inherent radiance. Another noteworthy feature is that the watch comes in two series of 20 pieces each, in Fairmined white and rose gold.
As for how he sees the L.U.C line developing over the next few years, Scheufele says: “Think about what we have done in terms of complications, and think about what’s missing! There are still a few things we can do and want to do to complete the spectrum. But we [will] do it in our own way.” And then, a teaser: “Later this year, we’ll be presenting a new complication.” We cannot wait.
Besides chronicling developments in the luxury watch industry, Aaron De Silva also runs The Time Traveller SG on Instagram (@thetimetravellersg) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/thetimetravellersg)
This article appeared in the Options of Issue 732 (June 13) of The Edge Singapore.