Chopard L.U.C Grand Strike: A Watch That Lets Time Be Heard

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

For more than a quarter century, Chopard's L.U.C collection has stood as the purest expression of the maison's mechanical soul - a space where traditional watchmaking is not simply preserved but pushed forward with relentless conviction. Chopard's broader legacy may rest on elegance and integrity, yet L.U.C is where its pulse truly lives: the realm where Karl-Friedrich Scheufele's ideas became movements, and those movements became markers in the brand's evolving story. Each creation has added depth to Chopard's identity, but few ambitions have been as heartfelt or as patiently pursued as its quest to perfect the chiming watch.

That long journey now reaches its most dramatic chapter in the L.U.C Grand Strike. Conceived and built entirely within Chopard Manufacture - the result of more than 11,000 hours of focused research - it stands as the pinnacle of the maison's sonnerie expertise. Ten technical patents, five created expressly for this watch, form the invisible architecture behind what is now the most complex timepiece ever to leave Chopard's workshops.

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The theatre of this watch begins the moment you see it. The 43 mm case, carved from ethical white gold, belies the extraordinary complexity it protects. Chopard has stripped away the dial entirely, pulling the curtain back on the hand-wound L.U.C 08.03-L - a calibre built from 686 components, each one visible beneath sapphire. This design choice is an invitation to step inside the machinery of sound.

At 10 o'clock, a pair of gleaming steel hammers sits poised for their cue. With a gentle shift of the selector next to the crown, the wearer can move between grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie, or silence, each expressed through Chopard's own sapphire crystal gongs. The purity of their tone is no accident - it comes from years spent mastering how sound ought to resonate through a watch rather than simply around it.

Below, a 60-second tourbillon turns with a serenity that belies the engineering muscle behind it - a quiet reminder that this musical marvel is also a chronometer-certified precision instrument, carrying both COSC certification and the Poinçon de Genève hallmark. The movement beats at 4 Hz and offers a generous 70-hour power reserve, with its nickel-silver bridges adorned with a grained finish that catches the light, like a string catching resonance.

And despite all this complication, the watch remains surprisingly wearable at 14.08 mm thick - a study in spatial discipline and a reminder that complexity doesn't have to come at the cost of comfort. It comes fitted with hand-sewn alligator straps in grey or deep blue, or a calf leather option for certain deliveries, all secured with an ethical white-gold folding clasp.

What stays with you, though, isn't the specification sheet. It's the sense that Chopard has distilled decades of learning into a watch that doesn't just mark the hours, but reveals what time should sound like. It shows us that when watchmaking dares to sing, it reaches places static numbers never could.

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