Chopard L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon Watch Review
The Chopard L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon is another instalment of Haute Horlogerie to emanate from the Maison’s Geneva HQ. Bearing the prestigious Poinçon de Genève on its torso, this watch has been nominated for the Tourbillon prize at the forthcoming 2024 GPHG (Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève). Mark McArthur-Christie finds it difficult to hide his affection for this model and is even contemplating selling his soul to the devil to facilitate the acquisition of this eminently refined limited edition.
The tourbillon (patented 1801)
Let’s get this out of the way early; ‘Tourbillon’.
In a watch context, ‘tourbillon’ has nothing to do with whirlwinds even though that’s the literal modern translation. When The Lord Breguet Almighty patented his tourbillon mechanism in 1801, he did so firmly in the full illumination of the Enlightenment – he’d lived through its latter years. He’d have almost certainly read the Encyclopaedists, Diderot and d’Alembert’s work – as well as Descartes – and been aware of their use of the word to describe the circular movement of the planets. He would also, knowing Breguet’s marketing savvy, have been quick to realise that the term would stick as a clever piece of branding. But ‘whirlwind’ – in a horological context at least – it was not.
Branding aside, The Master conceived his tourbillon as practical watchmaking engineering. It was designed to fix the problems of positional error and the error that comes from the irregular way a balance spring moves – or ‘breathes’ – around a point that, frustratingly, is not the centre of the balance. Both knock a watch’s timekeeping out, even if only fractionally. And watchmaking is about nothing if not the steady elimination of fractional errors.
Chopard flying tourbillon
Nearly 220 years later, Chopard developed its first flying tourbillon with the L.U.C Calibre 96.01-L. ‘Flying tourbillon?’ you ask. Now that tourbillons are far more about enjoying watchmaking ability and craft than ensuring accuracy, it makes sense to house them where you can see them – in a special window cut into the dial. But the upper bridge gets in the way of the main event and makes it hard to see what’s going on. By deleting the upper bridge and mounting the tourbillon from the bottom, it appears to ‘fly’ without support.
Chopard L.U.C Calibre 96.24-L
Despite featuring a flying tourbillon in prime position, this isn’t a shouty watch (unlikely from eminently tasteful Chopard in any case). It is, if anything, the opposite. You have to work to find the interesting bits. For example, turn it over and there’s a solid caseback. Bit of a shame, knowing that a movement like the L.U.C Calibre 96.24-L resides within. But see the tiny hinge at the top of the caseback? Nip your fingernail under the lip, located opposite side, just between the lugs and positioned either side of 6 o’clock. A little teasing with the forefinger and you’ll find it opens to reveal a sapphire ‘undercaseback’ – like a sort of inverted full hunter.
Chopard L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon – hand guilloché dial
Likewise, take a look at the dial. No shouting here either, just proper watchmaking. It may be 18-carat gold, but it’s not showing off. Instead, there’s rose-engined guilloché work in the dial centre, a satin-brushed chapter ring along with applied rhodium-plated hour markers and hands. And that tourbillon… Â
It’s one of those ‘everything you need, nothing you don’t’ designs.
Chopard L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon – case
The 18ct case carries on the theme. For a start, it’s a proper size – 36.5 mm. That’s ideal for a dress watch like this. The tourbillon, a micro-rotor, twin-stacked barrels and that hunter caseback all pack into a case just over 8 mm thick. And, despite being a dress watch, it’ll cope with more than a splash of water with 30 m of resistance. It’s not all function though. Inside that hunter caseback is a hand-engraved image of a beehive with a cluster of bees around it. Each of the 10 watches in the limited edition has a unique pattern of the insects as a lovely nod to Chopard’s founder. The brand helpfully explains, ‘The founder Louis-Ulysse Chopard personally chose this symbol as a trademark adorning the pocket watches made in his workshops, thus establishing the Maison’s first-ever logo.’
Chopard Twin Technology
Inside the case is the L.U.C Calibre 96.24-L. From a technical – and finishing – point of view, this is a beast of a movement albeit an elegant one. For a start, there’s the flying tourbillon. Unlike most, this one hacks so you can set a dead-accurate time. It’s also COSC certified, again unlike most tourbillon movements, so you won’t have to do it too often. Then there’s the issue of how the firm has got round the issue of powering the tourbillon’s motion for a decent length of time. Chopard does more than get around the problem by giving the movement twin-mainspring barrels (hence ‘Twin Technology’) that keep things running for 65 hours. It uses a micro rotor to do the job of getting power to the mainsprings’; another challenge. Micro rotors, because of their small diameter, can struggle to get enough torque into the movement. One way round this is to make them from gold, where the metal’s mass helps beat the diameter’s deficiency.
Chopard L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon – Poinçon de Genève
The finishing of the 1860 is sufficiently top-flight to be awarded the Poinçon de Genève. This is a big deal; Poinçons are most definitely not given out with the cornflakes. For starters, baseplates and bridges can’t have any traces of machining – even if they’re on a surface hidden from view. The circular graining and Geneva stripes that you can see replace any machining marks, but the finish will be just as good where you can’t. The edges of the plates and bridges must not just be chamfered, but polished. Jewel sinks too need to be polished and the wheels of the gear train must all be chamfered from both sides; functional areas are burnished and visible parts are polished.
Even screws come in for screwtiny (sorry). At the foot of a screw, where it’s been detached in the production process, there is normally a rough end with a bit of a burr. Not in a Poinçon de Genève movement. Not a chance. The foot needs to be polished and no trace of the production process is allowed.
Basically, if it moves, the watchmaker needs to polish it, grain it, etc, and if it doesn’t, the same rules apply. And there are 189 components in the 96.24-L to finish. Calling the Poinçon de Genève regulations ‘picky’ is like describing a Ferrari 250 GTO as ‘quite pretty’.
Chopard L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon – closing remarks
Should you like the look of a Chopard L.U.C. 1860 Flying Tourbillon, best scribble down ‘Ref. 161990-0001’ and give the nice people at Chopard a call sharpish. There will only be 10 pieces, and at least one of the ESCAPEMENT team is currently in negotiations at a crossroads with a bloke who has horns.
Further reading
https://www.chopard.com/
Technical specification
- Model: Chopard L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon
- Reference: 161990-0001
- Case: ethical 18-carat yellow gold, diameter 36.5 mm, height 8.20 mm, sapphire crystal to front, exhibition caseback
- protected by a cover hand-engraved with a unique beehive motif.
- Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds, date
- Movement: Calibre L.U.C 96.24-L, self-winding movement, frequency 25,200 vph (3.5 Hz), 25 jewels, power reserve 65 hours, certified-chronometer (COSC)
- Strap: Green-black hand-stitched alligator leather strap with green alligator lining. Pin buckle in ethical 18-carat yellow gold
- Price on application
- Limited Edition: 10 pieces