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Kit O. Payumo
December 12, 2017     |    

Grand Cru

The Chopard L.U.C Heritage is like a fine wine

Despite being surrounded by watches all his life, Chopard Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele has transcended the cliché and has become known as an avid watch enthusiast. This passion led him to spearhead the Chopard Manufacture in Fleurier, which, of course, led to some highly complex movements being created in-house, as well as the creation of the L.U.C line – the standard bearer of high-end Chopard watches.

Karl-Friedrich is also widely known for his affinity to vintage cars. This has led to Chopard’s (as well as his own) participation in the Mille Miglia since 1988, which led to the creation of the Mille Miglia collection to commemorate the race from Brescia to Rome. More recently, this same enthusiasm has seen him and his watch brand involved in the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, as well.

But what not a lot of people know is that Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and his wife Christine are serious wine connoisseurs. Another passion that they have rightly turned into another business: Le Caveau de Bacchus, which opened wine shops in Geneva, Lausanne and Gstaad; as well as the acquisition of Chateau Monestier La Tour, a wine estate in the Bergerac region of France in 2012. It is this passion that inspired the creation of the latest from the L.U.C collection.

The new L.U.C Heritage Grand Cru is like a fine wine. It was conceptualized with great care by Chopard Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, and painstakingly cultivated to showcase the finest expertise his watchmakers have to offer. Not the least of which, is its shape.

Indeed, knowing about Karl-Friedrich’s predilection for wine makes the watch’s inspiration all the more apparent. The watch has a tonneau shape, after all, and tonneau in French means barrel. In fact, Chopard claims the shape was inspired by “oak barrels from the forests of Bertrange, Jupille and Tronçais.”

True, we’ve seen the tonneau shape in the L.U.C collection before, in the XP Tonneau, to be precise. But the Chopard watchmakers have brought the story further along since. And they did this by making sure to tick all the elegant-themed boxes, such as the aforementioned barrel-shaped case made in 18K pink gold measuring 38.5mm in width, 38.8 mm in height, and a slender 7.74 mm in depth with varying polishes depending on the surface. Best of all, the caseback and crystal are slightly curved, in order to better fit on a person’s wrist.

Nicely done is the porcelain-white dial with large black Roman numerals, with a minute track surrounding the center of the dial. As is the date display, which has been tucked-in neatly at the bottom of the small seconds and placed right on the path of the minute track to minimize its impact on the otherwise clean and symmetrical dial.

The traditional fusée hands are modified in the signature shape of the L.U.C collection, which may a bit of an anachronism at first, but one that surprisingly fits with the overall aesthetic of the watch. Then there’s the movement, which has been modified to fit its case.

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