Realised by Chopard for the first time in 2016, the minute repeater is considered the most important piece to complete the picture of a true Haute Horlogerie manufacture. The search for the perfect sound is the Holy Grail of every watchmaker, and experimentation in this field has in recent years brought excellent results, also achieved with solutions that are true inventions. For its minute repeater, Chopard has experimented with a patented technology based on two annular gongs made entirely of sapphire crystal: cut from a block, they form a single unit with the sapphire crystal protecting the dial.
The L.U.C Full Strike Sapphire, celebrating 25 years of the L.U.C collection, was born from the idea of optimising the acoustic richness of the gong/sapphire monobloc system, in which not only the minute repeater gongs but also the entire case, crown and dial are made of sapphire. It became the first non-metal watch to be awarded the Geneva Seal.
The movement, the L.U.C 08.01-L calibre inherited from the 2016 Full Strike, boasts several innovative technical systems, four of which are patented. The crown winds the movement by rotating in one direction and the striking mechanism by rotating in the other. In this way, the watch has sufficient power reserve to strike twelve times the longest hour in the minute repeater language, namely 12 o'clock and 59 minutes. The power reserve display at 2 o'clock indicates the power reserve of the striking mechanism and the movement's autonomy via the two superimposed hands. It is not a slide, therefore, that operates the striking mechanism, simultaneously winding the barrel, but a pusher coaxial to the watch crown. Only five pieces were produced.
The watch was the subject of an adjustment and analysis process conducted under the aegis of Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard, and the guidance of the cello and violin virtuoso brothers, Gautier and Renaud Capuçon,
Price448,000 euro.
