L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 Straw Marquetry Edition

L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 - Straw Marquetry Edition

Artistic crafts magnify a significant complication from the Manufacture: a jumping-hour timepiece with an eight-day power reserve

A technical feat first presented to mark Chopard Manufacture’s 25th anniversary, the L.U.C 98.06-L jumping-hour movement now equips a new extremely limited edition of the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25, magnified by a straw marquetry dial. The four barrels of the exclusive Chopard Quattro technology, offering an up to eight-day power reserve, make this technically and aesthetically sophisticated model one of the rare jumping-hour watches with this level of autonomy. Featuring the L.U.C collection’s characteristically pared-down design, its 40 mm-diameter case in ethical 18-carat rose gold frames a honeycomb-patterned dial crafted in accordance with an artisanal tradition perfected within the workshops: straw marquetry. From movement to dial, this exceptional eight-piece limited edition showcases the finest expertise and innovation cultivated by Chopard Manufacture, and ensures excellent finishing honoured with the prestigious Poinçon de Genève quality hallmark.

Artistic craft: a straw marquetry dial embodying a feat of miniaturisation

Exemplifying Chopard's commitment to preserving the watchmaking artistic crafts, the dial of this new model is graced with straw marquetry crafted by a decorating artisan within the Manufacture, specially trained in this 17th-century technique. This is the first time that a L.U.C timepiece has been treated to a dial adorned in such a way.

It all begins with the selection of the material: rye straw grown in the French region of Burgundy and carefully dyed in a beautiful shade of green. Each strand is individually split with a fingernail, before being flattened with pliers. The straw is then cut into tiny hexagons using a scalpel, which are glued onto a base in ethical rose gold to form an interlocking pattern, that owes its beauty to the artisan’s dexterity. The composition combines strands whose thickness, stripe orientation and shade vary in such a way as to create a raised, textured reproduction of the honeycomb motif that Karl-Friedrich Scheufele has chosen to associate with the L.U.C. collection since 1996. The beehive is indeed a metaphor for the collective work of the Manufacture: industrious, honest and modest, the lynchpin of a cohesive whole held together by collaborative endeavours, the bee perfectly embodies the values with which the workshops identify.

After assembly, the dial reveals its full brilliance and lustre with the final application of a wood wax coating. The hours aperture placed in a cut-out at 6 o'clock, thus ensuring that the minutes hand does not obstruct the view of the instantaneous hour changes.

Innovation: a jumping-hour model with a generous power reserve enabled by Chopard Quattro technology

With its L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 timepiece, Chopard Manufacture presents its interpretation of a horological complication greatly prized by collectors: the jumping hour. Combining tradition and modernity, the case of this model in ethical 18-carat rose gold features rounded shapes inspired by the hunter-type cases of the pocket watches once designed by Louis-Ulysse Chopard.

The L.U.C 98.06-L movement equipping it is one of the few in this category of watch – which generally consume a great deal of energy – to offer up to eight days of power reserve. Thanks to the four stacked and series-coupled barrels based on the unique Chopard Quattro technology – which usually allows up to 216 hours of autonomy – the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 - Straw Marquetry Edition maintains a reserve above 190 hours despite the amount of energy required for the instant rotation of the hours disc. This power reserve can be tracked using the indicator engraved on the movement visible through the transparent case-back.

Together, the four barrels comprise almost two metres of spring. In addition to providing a more generous power reserve, they ensure greater accuracy because the energy transmitted is more evenly distributed. The energy delivered to the escapement is more constant, as is the amplitude, thus enabling high levels of chronometric (precision timekeeping) performance.

Visible through a transparent exhibition caseback, this highly complicated mechanical movement with manual winding guarantees reliability and precision within an overall thickness of just 4.85 millimetres. The balance spring is equipped with a Phillips terminal curve that guarantees the regulating organ’s precision throughout the movement’s operation – a feat which only authentic Fine Watchmaking manufactures are capable of. It features a swan’s neck regulator enabling more precise timing of the balance frequency and hence the rate of the watch, by helping to fine-tune the active length of the balance-spring. In addition to its technical benefits, this device also endows the calibre with a more sophisticated aesthetic.

Fine craftsmanship: Poinçon de Genève-certified finishing

The high-quality work devoted to the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 - Straw Marquetry Edition has earned it the Poinçon de Genève. Governed by strict criteria of excellence, this highly coveted label is awarded exclusively to a few watchmaking creations whose beauty provides the perfect setting for a flawlessly functioning mechanism. It guarantees not only the quality, precision and reliability of the movement and the watch, but also ensures that the assembly was carried out in the canton of Geneva, the historical cradle of Fine Watchmaking.

Precise adjustments, wearer comfort and readability, movement bridges entirely adorned with the Côtes de Genève motif and finely bevelled components: these are the characteristics that make the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 - Straw Marquetry Edition a refined timepiece from both aesthetic and technical standpoints.

The L.U.C collection: watchmaking excellence

In 1997, Chopard Manufacture launched the first watch to emerge from its watchmaking workshops: the L.U.C 1860, equipped with the L.U.C 96.01-L movement. Since then, through the L.U.C collection, it has accumulated mastery of all the major horological complications. Between Fleurier and Geneva, Chopard Manufacture conceives, develops, produces, assembles, decorates and certifies all its timepieces. Thanks to Karl-Friedrich Scheufele's commitment to watchmaking tradition combined with technical innovation, the Manufacture maintains a high level of finishing by preserving numerous artistic crafts and skills.