Chopard

ArthurSG
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Not The Latest and Trendiest but Definitely a Worthy Addition IMO (Long)

After 6 – 7 months of deliberation and courtship, and countless times to the AD to ponder over her on the wrist, an opportunity arrived 2 days ago for my latest addition which materialized in the form of the Chopard LUC Regulateur.

Why a regulateur?  A good horologerie addict friend of mine first suggested that I look at a regulateur some 6-7 months back and that began my search.  I looked at quite a few regulateurs which included the Frank Jutzi regulateur he produced with GoldPfeil, the Union Glashutte which is near impossible to find new now, the Choronoswiss, and 2 weeks ago, the IWC Portuguese Regulateur amongst 2 or 3 others.

Now I still have a mild affinity for in-house movements and also a view for my acquisitions to have some legacy value (yes, cliché I know).  When you add on also my wanting to acquire a RG piece, the options quickly narrowed down to the LUC Regulateur.  Granted the RG of the LUC tends to be in the lighter side and closer to YG. It also helped that the hour indicator for the iteration I acquired uses Roman Numerals (I think I’m a toga bearing roman incarnate J) for which I have a preference for.

From a complications point of view, this little vixen also seems to punch above her category.  The quad barrels are capable of a 9 day power (some say 10) reserve, she’s got date and power reserve indications to satisfy the practical side of me, stop seconds when the crown is pulled, sweep seconds, second time zone with day night indication.  I think she’ll be able to satisfy me in many ways J

I have also for some time, been interested in a LUC of sorts for my small collection thanks in no small part to Kong.  “But why?” I can imagine is the first reaction going through some minds.  Several reasons.

First, I find value in that fact that close to all of LUC movements are in-house and I view the quality of workmanship and finish the dial, movement and indeed the entire watch to be very much unrated.  When put together with my Lange, I would say it’s not on par with regards to attention to detail and finishing BUT, not that far behind either.  Beside my 5056P, I would say (and go easy on me Patek die-hards) the quality to my naked and novice eye, is at least on par.  Saddled alongside GO, again, I would say again there’s not much between the 2 in terms of finish.

Le Movement : A key reason for why I chose the LUC Regulateur is the movement.  Now, I am still a technical idiot so I have to defer to the likes of Kong, a few of the other moderators here who for reasons known only to them have put up with my really novice basic questions, and a few good friends who I would consider authorities in their own ways.  Advertisements which maybe work to catch the eye and build the brand do little for me when it comes to pulling the trigger.  I rely on the views of these reference points, lots of visits to the AD to see it on the wrist and maybe a review or 2 one of which told me that in 2004, this watch won the “watch of the year” award from I can’t remember who and whether it is a major award, but I do know that the awarding panel was chaired by a certain Dufour (hopefully the Dufour I am thinking of J) and I guess I rather put stock in his views than mine when it comes to watches.

Second, many hold the view the Chopard is a jewelry brand and I can understand why and to this, hopefully, Chopard will use LUC as the main positional thrust for their watches moving forward and with continued and intensified efforts on the quality of the manufacture and their LUC products, I think LUC will in time take its place in the upper echelons of the manufacture tier.  In the meantime however, this lack of regard and understated view of LUC is also the second reason why I moved for this.  It’s nice to maybe have something different in a room full of Pams, ROOS and Bangs.

As for the dial design of the LUC Regulateur, I must confess that she is not the prettiest to me but to this, I must say that while not photogenic, she definitely looks much nicer on the wrist and commands presence. I find the dial designs of the LUC, especially the Twist, bold but perhaps a little quirky that probably will have an either hit or miss with no in between with many.  Needless to say, it’s a hit with me (not all, but a few with the others being the Lunar One, Lunar Big Date and the Steel Wings Tourbillion especially the RG with the large cut out Roman Numeral indicators.  Do you get a sense that I like Roman Numeral indicators already? J)

Finally, what tipped the scales is my very recent fetish to find pieces that express time in a slightly different manner.  All my acquisitions so far are the normal 3 hand expressions or maybe with a separate sweep seconds indicator.  I find myself getting a bit bored and hence am starting to look for different expressions and the Regulateur expression does that.  Maybe that’s why I’m interested in the interesting one-hand PSM Shimoda as well as Le Freak (the Opus 8 too but I just can’t afford that).

Thanks for reading.  I know its not the latest and trendiest in terms of dial shape, case materials etc but I guess I’m also not the trendiest person around and for my requirements as unimportant from a horological stand point as they may be, the Chopard LUC Regulateur represents a good addition to my humble collection.

Will try to get Decksurgeon so help with better pics so in the meantime, please bear with my super high tech sony ericsson 50 mega pixel phone cam.

Have a great weekend.