Chopard

It is very exciting to see the Chopard L.U.C. 1963 Chrono PuristS Edition come to fruition. I was able to speak with Guy Bove back in November 2012 during the early design and development stages. Guy is Director of Product Development and is deeply involv...  

... that the Luminova was apparently deleted on the production timepiece, especially when legibility was a major driving force behind the design. With luminous material on the hands, it would not be a problem if the rest is rhodium-plated or diamond-polis... 

I will let Messrs Bove and Daley explain the design reasons but from my perspective, Mr Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and I shared one driving ambition for the LUC 1963 Chronograph HW PuristS Edition: it has to be "a pure distillation of the function and form ... 

... prowling through the night, with our faithful black dog on side, following a second-critical plan to acquire the Topkapi dagger ... :) Marcus

Hi Marcus, Guy Bove has provided more detail below on the hand design . My apologies for the confusion regarding SLN and I have edited the text of the interview to correct this. Guy did go on to say in his reply to our questions … “ Understanding that we ... 

Awesome post, Andrew! Thanks! Questions: 1) On the final watch, will the hour, minute and second hands be "white white" or "white metal" as in white gold or steel? They look like white metal on the prototype. 2) There is talk of Superluminova but is any p... 

1) On the final watch, will the hour, minute and second hands be "white white" or "white metal" as in white gold or steel? They look like white metal on the prototype. White metal hands as it is conventional at LUC to match the case metal colour. 2) There... 

Thanks... I agree. In terms of longevity and color coding separation of feature, a platinum cased version of this watch with white dial, white metal time hands and crown, and rose gold chrono hands and pushers would be very nice.

Thanks for asking these questions, one of my own questions were answered in the process!

I passed on the communities questions regarding the hand design to Guy Bove and here is his reply: “Our L.U.C hands are nearly always designed to go with the case colour – here they are rhodium-plated to match the polished steel bezel and, as in all 1963 ... 

The most important factor for me in considering a watch is that it should have an exceptionally finished and aesthetically beautiful movement and this watch certainly has that. The only dilemma I have is rose gold vs stainless steel. If you know my collec... 

Hi Dean, I also like the warmth of rose gold, and it always looks great in pictures. I think the movement looks fantastic and particularly in that arena display. I know that the level of finish planned for this watch is very high. Chopard finishing is usu... 

All I can say in public is that there is a "special consideration" for ordering the LUC 1963 Chrono HW PuristS edition through PuristSPro but not at the Boutiques.... ;) MTF

... and Andrew for relaying it to us. Yes, I am sure that the hands are well visible in normal daylight. Small spotlights like those at the Chopard booth are always a menace for polished metal parts. Marcus

excellent write up . It must have been very difficult holding back information for 18 months. I lot of care in the design and gestation. I must pay more attention to Chopard . Kind Regards,dreamer

... of letting the success of Chopard jewelry and fashion overwhelm my opinion of the watchmaking. But Chopard have been making watches since 1860, and under the Scheufele family since 1963. Two owners in more than 150 years is not insignificant in this i... 

Now I can't wait to see real live pictures at many angles of this beautiful watch as well as some wrist shots! Cheers, Anthony