Chopard L.U.C XPS Limited Edition for Geneva Chopard Boutique

12/02/2013 | By Frank Geelen | 3 min read |

Especially for the inauguration of the new Chopard Boutique on the Rue de Rhône, Geneva, Chopard have created a new interpretation of the classic and stylish L.U.C XPS.

The new L.U.C XPS is a limited edition of 25 pieces and it’s the first L.U.C XPS in platinum. Its dimensions of 39.50 mm in diameter and just 7.13 mm in height (!!) make the L.U.C XPS into an über-stylish timepiece. With its gorgeous platinum case and midnight blue dial it will match equally great with a suit or with jeans.

The blue dial, often a sign that the case is in platinum, features a sunburst satin-brushed finish and features the “Poinçon de Genève” logo. The “Poinçon de Genève” or Geneva Seal are a guarantee for an exceptional quality standard, since it was introduced in 1886. A perfect supplement for a timpiece that celebrates the inauguration of a Geneva based boutique!

The Dauphine-style hour and minute hands are Rhodium coated and so are the hour-markers and the baton-style second hand. Close to the 3 o’clock marker is the date aperture, showing a dark blue date disk with white numerals.

To further personalise this edition, the case-back of each model has been individually hand-engraved with the “Poinçon de Genève” logo, the city name “Geneve” and each watch’s individual number. It reflects “perfectly imperfect” lines, so typical of hand-engraving. This is even more impressive when you consider that platinum is much harder to engrave than 18k gold.

Underneath the hand-engraved case back, lays the magnificent and famous movement, caliber 1.96. Chopard is renaming the movements and this caliber is now called L.U.C Calibre 96.01-L. Just so that you W.I.S. won’t be confused (W.I.S. stands for Watch Idiot Savant).

L.U.C Caliber 96.01-L is the well known in-house ultra-thin self-winding movement with a micro rotor. It also has two stacked main spring barrels, which together ensure 65 hours of autonomy when fully wound.

Chopard is one of the few companies who is capable of doing everything in-house; from movement development, to gold casting, stamping and machining of cases, movement parts and bracelets. And of course all traditional hand-crafted decorations like the Côte de Genève as we can see on the bridges, hand-beveling of the bridge edges and polishing the screw heads. Also adjustment and quality control of this entire range is fully mastered in-house by Chopard and applied to the making of each L.U.C watch.