Chopard Refreshes Its Collections With Addition Of Several New Models, Revealed During The Watches And Wonders Geneva 2024.
Alpine Eagle XL Chrono
The Alpine Eagle collection of sporty-chic timepieces is interpreting its flyback chronograph in a case featuring the extreme lightness of grade 5 titanium, a metal known for its tried and tested sturdiness. Like the entire collection, this Alpine Eagle XL Chrono model with its 44 mm-diameter case now framing a new “Rhône Blue” dial colour remains strongly inspired by the power of the eagle and the beauty of the Alps.
The three patents for its Chopard 03.05-C chronometer-certified movement with flyback function testify to innovations enhancing its accuracy as well as its smooth handling. In line with the Maison’s commitment to preserving the Alpine environment and its biodiversity, part of the proceeds from sales of this model will be donated to the Alpine Eagle Foundation.
Titanium joins the Alpine Eagle chronograph series
The Alpine Eagle XL Chrono welcomes a new 44 mm model. Its extra-large case featuring a pure, assertive design is entirely forged from grade 5 titanium. While this metal known for its extreme lightness and superior resistance has already been used to make two high-frequency Alpine Eagle models, it is now making its debut in the collection’s chronograph line. Alpine Eagle had thus far been interpreted through several variations in Chopard’s exclusive Lucent SteelTM and ethical gold. Featuring a slightly darker shade than steel, titanium further accentuates the sporty and rugged nature of the Alpine Eagle chronograph, while making it so light that one could easily forget the watch is actually on the wrist.
Combined with a blend of aluminium and vanadium, grade 5 titanium’s properties make it specially resistant to corrosion and salt water. From steep peaks to ocean depths, the Alpine Eagle XL Chrono thus remains the finest ally of extreme sports enthusiasts.
A cutting-edge chronograph movement
Beating at the heart of all the Alpine Eagle XL Chrono models, the Chopard 03.05-C movement developed and assembled by the artisans in the Manufacture is one of the world’s most innovative chronograph movements. It has a 60-hour power reserve and features an elaborate design guaranteeing accurate adjustments and optimal use of the chronograph functions. Equipped with a column wheel, it is also enhanced by several technical innovations that have earned Chopard three patents stemming from the boldness of its R & D teams.
First of all, it is equipped with a unidirectional gear drive system that prevents energy losses while ensuring rapid automatic winding, a function much appreciated in the inherently energy-hungry chronograph category. In addition, its vertical clutch ensures accurate time-measurement starts. This chronograph calibre is also of the flyback variety, enabling smooth successive timing operations thanks to three pivoting hammers with elastic arms facilitating zero-setting of the hands.
Equipped with a stop-seconds function enabling accurate adjustments of the watch, the Chopard 03.05-C movement is chronometer-certified by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute.
A sporty contemporary rubber strap
Already available with an integrated metal bracelet and a leather option, the Alpine Eagle XL Chrono model has reinvented itself since 2022 with a rubber strap. The multiple advantages of this material make it an ideal ally for sports chronographs subjected to the most extreme conditions: water-resistant, malleable and comfortable to wear, it gives the timepiece a particularly dynamic look.
In using rubber, the Chopard workshops have preserved the elegance and identity of the Alpine Eagle by reprising the shape of the metal-link bracelet – slightly tapering with a raised central cap – that is an integral part of the collection’s DNA. The material is different, while the identity and well-balanced proportions remain signature features of this new contemporary chronograph.
Chopard cultivates a longstanding tradition of sporty rubber straps. In 1995, the Maison’s workshops were among the first to adopt this material with its strong creative potential by reproducing the rubber treads of 1960s tyres on the straps of its Mille Miglia chronograph collection. This trend that has been continuously nurtured by the Mille Miglia models has since spread widely across the watchmaking scene.
A dial in the eagle’s eye
A new colour makes its debut on the dial of this new model. Inspired by the palette of natural colours composing the beauty of the Alpine landscape – like Aletsch Blue, Bernina Grey and Pitch Black – “Rhône Blue” is inspired by the palette of natural colours composing the beauty of Alpine landscapes. It is reminiscent of one of the Alps’ most famous rivers, the Rhône, which originates at the heart of the eponymous glacier in the canton of Valais. It is here – at an altitude of over 2,200 metres – that the journey of this emblematic river begins amid gentle blue hues synonymous with purity, feeding the waters of Lake Geneva and ending its course in the Mediterranean Sea.
The texture and sunburst pattern evoke an eagle’s iris. The seconds hand with its arrow-shaped tip flies over a highly legible display punctuated by snailed counters. The hands and hour-markers are coated with Grade XI Super-LumiNova®, a treatment offering the advantage of retaining the same intensity over the years, while naturally more luminous than traditional Super-LumiNova®.
The tachymeter scale bearing discreet red 100, 160 and 240 graduations appears on the inner bezel ring. It is divided into four steps, with different intervals of 5, 10, 20 or 40 km/h per line. This arrangement facilitates reading the average speed measurements and contributes to the dial’s overall aesthetic dynamic.
Direct support for the Alpine Eagle Foundation
The Alpine Eagle Foundation’s motto is “Preserving the Alps”: an explicit, broad and philanthropic goal. It was set up in 2020 by Chopard’s Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and a number of specialists and lovers of the Alps, including falconer Jacques-Olivier Travers (creator of the Parc des Aigles du Léman) and Ronald Menzel (director of the Freedom Conservation movement dedicated to protecting birds of prey). The Foundation’s projects aim to raise awareness, mobilise people and act on behalf of the entire Alpine region and the life it shelters.
Thanks to its partnerships, the Foundation is already supporting a programme to reintroduce the white-tailed eagle around Lake Geneva, as well as a scientific mission analysing the ability of eagles and bearded vultures to memorise potentially lethal obstacles in their territory – such as wind turbines or other human installations – and to modify their behaviour accordingly.
Chopard directly contributes to financing the Foundation’s programmes through several Alpine Eagle timepieces. Part of the profits from sales of this new chronograph model with its “Rhône Blue” dial will be donated to the Alpine Eagle Foundation.
Reinterpreting an icon
Devised by three generations of men in the Scheufele family, the Alpine Eagle collection is a modern reinterpretation of the St. Moritz watch, the first horological creation by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele in the late 1970s. With its pure and assertive design, Alpine Eagle enriches this heritage with powerful inspiration drawn from Nature. A round case with stylised flanks; a crown engraved with a compass rose; a bezel with eight functional indexed screws; as well as textured dial with deep hues and luminescent indications: Alpine Eagle embodies impeccable elegance expressed in a resolutely contemporary manner.
Today, in addition to its chronographs, the collection offers a variety of complications, from a high-frequency movement to a flying tourbillon and an extra-thin model with small seconds indication bearing the Poinçon de Genève.
Happy Sport
Happy Sport is a timepiece for women who stride confidently towards their destiny. Since 1993, the vitality of this Chopard watchmaking icon has been staging a mesmerising show thanks to the mischievous choreography of the Maison’s legendary dancing diamonds. With each passing season, the collection is regularly reinvented in an infinite palette of colours, confirming its playful character and its perpetual celebration of Joie de Vivre. Today, it welcomes a new 250-piece limited edition attired in luminous blue. Framed by a diamond-paved bezel, its silver-toned dials featuring a finely guilloché centre is enlivened by an exquisite ballet of aquamarines and dancing diamonds.
Exuding a deliciously carefree mood, this subtly joyful touch extends to the colour of the strap and of the stone set on the crown. Magnificently demonstrating the workshops’ ability to blend watchmaking excellence with the art of jewellery-making, this Happy Sport model in Lucent Steel™ appears in the 33 mm-diameter case designed by the Manufacture according to the principles of harmony defined by the golden ratio and beats to the rhythm of the Chopard 09.01-C self-winding movement with its 42-hour power reserve.
A colourful dance
One look at the Happy Sport timepiece and you’ll see a lively mirror of your own energy, picked up in the ballet of dancing diamonds representing a marvellous game of random chance and kinetic energy. Happy Sport is the story of the free-spirited attitude and Joie de Vivre daily reinvented by women around the world. Dancing diamonds now invite a new coloured stone to join their perpetual whirl. Aquamarines dictate the colour scheme of a new timepiece: set against a silver-toned background with a finely guilloché centre, the dial is adorned with hands and hour-markers in matching tones further echoed by the aquamarine set in the crown and by the glossy alligator leather strap.
Mechanical performance
By using the golden ratio in direct relation to the diameter of the Chopard 09.01-C movement with automatic winding powering its ladies’ watch collections, the round, gently curved and all-embracing proportions of this Happy Sport 33 mm are particularly well suited to the wrists of their elegant wearers.
Endowed with a 42-hour power reserve, this timepiece beats to the tune of a calibre entirely developed, produced and assembled in the Maison’s watchmaking workshops. Its precision makes it the best possible ally for women with fast-paced lifestyles, who make every minute a precious moment. A perfect example of horological performance and jewellery design equally mastered by the Manufacture, Happy Sport showcases its artisans’ virtuosity.
A responsible material
As part of its Journey towards Sustainable Luxury, Chopard has chosen to enhance the whirl of dancing diamonds by crafting the Happy Sport case from its exclusive Lucent Steel™. This alloy manufactured from at least 80% recycled material features properties comparable to surgical steel making it brighter, stronger and more comfortable to wear than its standard counterpart. Since 2023, Chopard has been using Lucent Steel™ for the production of all its steel timepieces.
Happy Sport, story of a watch icon
In 1993, Caroline Scheufele (Co-President and Artistic Director of Chopard) effectively captured the spirit of the times by designing a sports watch based on the unprecedented combination of steel and diamonds. Happy Sport was the result. Since then, it has continued to celebrate the Joie de Vivre and free spirit that women reinvent every day to conquer the world. The Happy Sport watch offers a veritable show in which a woman plays an indispensable role in which her own movements provide the impetus for the mobile diamonds and this constantly recomposed tableau. A metaphor for the emancipation of women in the 20th century, the collection is a reflection of this hectic life, and has lent itself to infinite metamorphoses since its beginnings.
IMPERIALE
Elegant, luxurious, accurate, feminine. An ode to the grand hours of imperial history. The eponymous collection stylishly combines the various skills of the Maison’s artisans, mingling artistic crafts with horological prowess. The new timepiece in the collection is no exception: at the heart of the 36 mm-diameter case in diamond-set ethical 18-carat white gold beats the Chopard 96.17-C movement powering displays on a dainty mother-of-pearl and enamel marquetry dials.
In 2010, Chopard Co-President and Artistic Director Caroline Scheufele unveiled a collection evocatively named IMPERIALE in the City of the Doges. What better setting could one dream of to launch this new treasure than Venice – “La Serenissima”? Endowed with a design inspired by imperial aesthetic codes and cases equipped with in-house movements, the collection has been enriched over the years with genuine collector’s items – including timepieces featuring a moon phase or a tourbillon.
This new model is no exception, perfectly combining the ancestral expertise Chopard proudly nurtures within its walls. Entirely designed, developed and conceived in-house, this model required the intervention of numerous artisans: from crafting the case to making the movement, from watchmaker to gemsetter, from enamellist to mother-of-pearl artist, all strive to create exceptional timepieces. These represent veritable showcases for the craftsmanship that Chopard is committed to perpetuating, keeping the techniques handed down from generation to generation alive and training young artisans.
Mother-of-pearl and enamel light up the IMPERIALE aesthetic codes
This new 36 millimetre-diameter model is crafted in ethical 18-carat white gold with diamond-set bezel, lug covers, cabochons and crown. While the collection’s customary design codes (dagger-type hands, lotus-flower crown, lugs shaped like ancient columns) are reproduced on this creation, it is its unique dial that catches collectors’ attention. The dial-making artisans have fashioned a marquetry masterpiece inspired by the finest achievements in the realm of the decorative arts.
A magnificent deep blue-green enamel sets the tone, rimmed by a raised white gold decorative fillet forming graceful arabesques filled with white enamel. Padparadscha sapphires and pink mother-of-pearl flowers complete this delightful picture. This magnificent craftsmanship is complemented by the IMPERIALE alligator leather strap and dagger-shaped hands.
A cadence set to the rhythm of the Chopard 96.17-C movement
This precious timepiece is driven by a movement entirely designed and developed in the Manufacture’s watchmaking workshops. Visible through the transparent case back, the Chopard 96.17-C movement is equipped with Chopard Twin technology with a double barrel, providing a generous 65-hour power reserve. At just 3.3 mm thick, this 167-component calibre is ideally suited to the exquisitely feminine, dainty IMPERIALE watch.
L.U.C XPS Forest Green
The L.U.C XPS Forest Green celebrates the three core values of the L.U.C collection: technical performance, aesthetic refinement and a commitment to certified watchmaking. The all-new Forest Green sector-type dial boasts a fusion of vintage charm and modern watchmaking excellence. The 40-mm Lucent Steel™ case is both responsibly produced and well-proportioned for a wide variety of wrist sizes. The dial is enchanting, with traditional touches of Chopard design, from the case and lugs to the signature rhodium-plated Dauphine hands.
The “Chronometer” inscription is visual recognition that the L.U.C 96.12-L calibre housed in the L.U.C XPS Forest Green meets the most stringent accuracy tests as performed by COSC (Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute). This timepiece is indeed a testament to Chopard’s in-house design and manufacturing prowess.
As the latest addition to the L.U.C collection, the new L.U.C XPS Forest Green is a contemporary fusion of considered materials in Lucent Steel™ – Chopard’s exclusive alloy featuring advanced properties, produced with a recycling rate of at least 80% – and technical watchmaking with in-house L.U.C Calibre 96.12-L. Exuding a sense of depth and refinement, the satin-brushed dark green dial is achieved by PVD treatment. This sector-type watch face with its precise divisions and intricate detailing adds a touch of vintage sophistication, making the timepiece both contemporary and classic.
A charming sector-type dial
The sector-type dial design sits between the Art Deco and Bauhaus movements, with the concentric circles typical of the former and the functionality of the latter. It adopts a time-only dial layout, giving it both intrigue and aesthetic depth. While there is no hard and fast dictionary definition, a true sector-type dial should feature two concentric rings, one for the minutes and another for the hours. The hours and minutes markers should be radial lines running between the inner and outer edges of the rings – creating the “sectors”. The 1930s saw the popularisation of this dial design among several Manufactures, often using the same dial makers.
This style continued through the 1940s and into the 1950s, before falling out of favour in the 1960s and making a big comeback in recent years – witness the L.U.C Qualité Fleurier presented by Chopard Manufacture in 2005. The magic lies in the combining of this distinctive layout with a Forest Green dial and contrasting off-white markers.
Chronometric precision with the L.U.C 96.12-L calibre
The L.U.C 96.12-L is an ultra-thin calibre measuring just 3.30 mm thick, featuring a bidirectional 22-carat gold micro-rotor and twin stacked barrels (Chopard Twin Technology) providing a generous 65-hour power reserve. Visible through the caseback, the bridges are beautifully finished with a Côtes de Genève motif and bevelling. The ‘S’ in the XPS acronym refers to the small seconds at 6 o’clock.
This is required by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute, which uses this display to evaluate the precision of the movements it certifies, ensuring the average daily rate of the watch is between −4 and +6 seconds. It corresponds to the fundamental token of elegance sometimes referred to as the politeness of kings: punctuality.
A timeless fusion of elegance and fine watchmaking
Since 1996, Chopard Manufacture has been cultivating watchmaking expertise and reflecting the inspired vision of Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, committed to a quest for innovation and to defending a heritage passed on through generations of watchmakers – true Artisans of Emotions – since the time of the Maison’s founder Louis-Ulysse Chopard.
Movement development, finished product design, case stamping and machining, calibre components, traditional hand-crafted finishes, surface treatments, polishing, assembly, adjustments and quality controls: its Swiss workshops in Geneva and Fleurier enable Chopard to master the full range of production operations for each creation in the L.U.C collection.
The work of talented artisans, these timepieces, endowed with a simple, clean-cut design and expressing a high degree of mechanical sophistication, beat to the rhythm of the emotions experienced by the contemporary gentlemen for whom they are intended: men distinguished by their attachment to art and expertise, watchmaking enthusiasts who lead their lives with passion.
L’Heure Du Diamant
With L’Heure du Diamant, Chopard masterfully captures the beauty of diamonds. Acknowledged masters in the realm of jewellery watches, the artisans of the Manufacture have orchestrated a meeting between contemporary design and the queen of precious stones. The collection is enriched by a 26 mm-diameter jewellery watch in ethical gold, richly set with diamonds. Powered by a mechanical manual-winding movement that is one of the smallest and thinnest on the market – Chopard 10.01-C – this talisman timepiece bears witness to the energy emerging from a perfect alchemist’s blend of form and matter.
The subtle balance between the art of jewellery-making and watchmaking expertise enables L’Heure du Diamant to combine intelligence and beauty, thereby offering the perfect expression of today’s femininity. The new timepiece joining the collection is fresh demonstration of this reality. The absolute purity of the diamond is majestically highlighted by an emblematic gemsetting technique called crown setting, which exalts the beauty of each stone by allowing the light to blaze through. This ribbon composed of more than two carats of brilliant-cut diamonds encircling the case lights up a dainty mother-of-pearl dial set with 12 brilliant-cut diamonds.
Crafted in ethical 18-carat white gold, this L’Heure du Diamant timepiece is paired with a satin bracelet comfortably moulding the shape of the wrist. At its heart beats a mechanical manual-winding movement driving hours and minutes indications, with a 45-hour power reserve. Measuring 15.70 mm in diameter and only 2.90 mm thick, this brand-new in-house movement is one of the daintiest and slimmest to date, thus making it a perfect fit for dainty jewellery watches. It was entirely developed and produced within the Maison’s workshops in Fleurier, Switzerland, revealing both the technical brilliance and the perpetual quest for innovation cultivated by Chopard.
The Maison’s watchmaking heritage
For decades, jewellery watches have been one of the historic specialities of the Scheufele family, which now presides over the destiny of Chopard. At the exact intersection between beauty and precision, the L’Heure du Diamant collection reaps the benefits of this technical virtuosity dedicated to great artistic modernity. From designer to watchmaker, from jeweller to gemsetter and from polisher to watchmaker, exponents of the full range of artistic crafts combine their talents in bringing these creations to life.
Discover other Chopard collections at our boutiques, or online. Contact a sales representative today to learn more.
