MTF shares a personal connection to the Chopard L.U.C 'José Carreras' reference 16/8413, a limited edition timepiece celebrating the Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house. His post offers a unique glimpse into the watch's design, movement, and the special circumstances surrounding its certificate, making it a valuable read for collectors interested in Chopard's L.U.C series and its charitable initiatives.
Dear friends,
My apologies for being absent recently due to illness. Ultimately, it was nothing more serious than 'man-flu' but at the time, I thought the End was nigh!
One highlight of an otherwise bleak week was Christmas "Dinner" (as the Brits call it) with my 'José Carreras'. I would like to clear up two misconceptions from the last sentence. First, a Christmas dinner in the U.K. is at lunch time. Next, I did not actually have lunch with the famous opera tenor Mr Carreras but a watch dedicated in his name and celebrating the Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house in Barcelona.
L.U.C 3.96 Jose Carreras Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona edition
It was a Chopard reference 16/8413 from the year 2000 and made in a limited edition of 1000 pieces. Mine is the stainless steel model with white dial and hour markers in musical notation. Inside is the original L.U.C calibre 3.96 with micro-rotor and twin barrel technology for 62 hour autonomy. Even better, my certificate was signed by both José Carreras and Karl Scheufele III; apparently an unbelievable occurrence, according to people in the know!
Their friendship dates back to 1989 when the first Chopard Boutique was opening in Vienna just before the Opera Ball. José Carreras was staying in the city before the Ball and he was invited to the boutique opening. He agreed to attend and was charmed into cutting the ribbon to open the store. With their firm friendship, Carreras has opened more Chopard boutiques around the world since.
José Carreras (R) with Karl and Karin Scheufele
Having miraculously survived leukaemia, José Carreras set up his eponymous Leukaemia Foundation in Spain back in 1988 and the Scheufeles have helped set up the Swiss and German branches of the José Carreras Leukaemia Foundation since then.
The José Carreras limited edition watch series started in 1996 with the early versions depicting famous opera house significant in the great tenor's career but they had solid casebacks. As this was the first José Carreras watch with an in-house L.U.C movement, they had to show it through a sapphire glass case back. The collaboration continues and a portion of proceeds goes to the Leukaemia Foundation.
José Carreras sang at the Chopard 150th anniversary concert in 2010, which was the last time that I met him at the after-party.
CLICK the following URL link to read the report:
José Carreras concert
Merry New Year!
By the way, can anyone read the musical notation?
Regards,
MTF
This message has been edited by MTF on 2015-12-27 12:44:53 
