Chopard L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 “Jumping-Hour”

Chopard celebrates the 25^th anniversary of its manufacture with its first jumping hours watch. A combination of old and new, the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 is housed in a case inspired by historic pocket watches designed by founder Louis-Ulysse Chopard but is equipped with exclusive Quattro technology for an impressive eight-day power reserve. With its elegant white Grand Feu enamel dial, impeccable finishings, and superlative precision, the 100-piece edition of the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 has obtained the prestigious Poinçon de Genève hallmark.

A true manufacture

Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Chopard’s Vice-President, was determined to establish the brand as a bona fide manufacture and inaugurated the Fleurier workshops in 1996. The first watch to emerge from the Chopard Manufacture was the L.U.C 1860. Equipped with Chopard’s first automatic in-house calibre 96.01-L with a gold micro-rotor and two stacked barrels for a 70-hour power reserve, its beautiful finishings and impeccable precision allowed it to obtain a COSC certificate for chronometry and the Poinçon de Genève.

Since then, L.U.C has consolidated itself as Chopard’s high-end line of watches represented by everything from ultra-slim dress watches, like the L.U.C XPS, all the way up to complications like the Full Strike minute repeater or the L.U.C All-In-One with fourteen indications spread across two dials. Between the manufacture in Fleurier and the workshops in Geneva, where the L.U.C watches are assembled, Chopard enjoys complete manufacturing autonomy.

Jumping Hours

A jumping hours complication displays the hours in an aperture offering wearers the spectacle of seeing the numerals ‘jump’ when the minute hand reaches 60. Today’s jumping hours watches are based on a concept developed by Austrian engineer Josef Pallweber and patented in 1883. Dispensing with the traditional reading of the hours via a hand, Pallweber designed a movement that displayed the hours in an aperture on the dial, while the minutes were indicated via a central hand.

Relying on a complex system of rotating discs, the challenge of a jumping hours complication lies in regulating the power. The ‘jump’ of the hour demands an intense and rapid supply of energy that can, in turn, affect the precision of the movement.

Rounded pocket watch-style case

The ethical 18k rose gold case has a diameter of 40mm and a height of 10.3mm. Like the hunter-type cases of pocket watches made Louis-Ulysse Chopard in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the case is rounder than other L.U.C models. The casebands display a vertical satin-brushed finishing contrasting with the polished bezel and caseback.

Grand Feu Enamel Dial

A beautiful white Grand Feu enamel dial, produced in-house by Chopard’s enamelling artisan based in the Fleurier manufacture, sets the stage for the jumping hours. Applied on an ethical 18k rose gold base, the domed white Grand Feu enamel is fired repeatedly at high temperatures and then polished delicately by hand. Black enamel is also used for the railway track corresponding to the minutes, the Arabic numerals and the ‘L.U. Chopard’ logo. The crisp distinction between the glossy white dial and the plump, slightly raised black enamel inscriptions produces a dial of impeccable legibility and evokes those elegant pocket watch dials of yesteryear. The aperture for the jumping hours, framed in rose gold, appears at 6 o’clock with large black Arabic numerals against a white background. Matching the case material, the dauphine-style minutes hand is gilded, as is the hand of the power reserve indicator featured on the movement.

L.U.C 98.06-L

Given the immediate spike of power required by the jumping hours complication, the watch is fitted with Chopard’s innovative and patented Quattro technology incorporated inside the L.U.C 98.06-L manual-winding movement. Based on the original Quattro L.U.C 98.01-L calibre of 2000, the world’s first hand-wound movement with four stacked barrels, the latest movement provides the jumping hours, central minutes and the power reserve indicator with an impressive autonomy of 192 hours/8 days. If you are interested in discovering more about the Quattro, don’t miss our video with Karl-Friedrich Scheufele.

The sapphire crystal caseback reveals the beautiful hand-finishings of the slim 4.85mm thick movement with Geneva stripes on the bridges, perlage on the mainplate, finely polished bevels and screw heads. The balance spring is equipped with a Phillips terminal curve to control the oscillations of the regulating organ and a swan-neck regulator for fine adjustment of the calibre. Assembled in the canton of Geneva, the “quality, precision and reliability of the movement and the watch as a whole”  have earned the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 the coveted Poinçon de Genève seal.

Availability and Price

The L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 comes with a matte brown, hand-stitched alligator leather strap with cognac-coloured alligator leather lining and a pin buckle in 18k ethical rose gold. It is a limited, numbered edition of 100 pieces. The price will be EUR 44,500.

More information at Chopard.