The Chopard L.U.C Flying T Twin Revolution Edition

For some years now, Revolution, one of the main print and online magazines worldwide, has been creating some rather attractive watches exclusive to their readers. Think for instance about the Sinn 155 Bundeswehr “Dark Star” or this luminous Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT. Today, Revolution is presenting a new watch made in collaboration with Chopard, a watch that is the second chapter of a story started in 2018, with the L.U.C 1860 for The Rake and Revolution. Following the same basic principles, namely “small is beautiful” and “salmon is tasteful” Revolution launches a high-end, complex take on their concept this time equipped with a flying tourbillon – which is, according to Wei Koh (founder), the world’s smallest automatic flying tourbillon. Let’s have a look at this new Chopard L.U.C Flying T Twin Revolution Edition.

The watchmaking industry has a tendency to make complicated dress watches in larger cases, often above 40mm, while it is objectively not needed technically-speaking, neither the best option when it comes to elegance. And this trend has been here for long… too long maybe. In 2018, when releasing the time-and-date automatic L.U.C 1860 with a salmon dial, Revolution decided to pay tribute to the earliest watch produced by the high-end branch of Chopard, a watch equipped with the ultra-thin micro-rotor calibre 1.96.

The new Chopard L.U.C Flying T Twin Revolution Edition walks in the footstep of the time-and-date model, both size-wise and aesthetically, however, with a far more complex movement, the recently-introduced calibre L.U.C 96.24-L launched in 2019 in the T Twin watch. And because this movement is compact, like really compact at 27.40mm x only 3.30mm, this allows Revo to offer its limited edition watch in a handsome, elegant case of only 36.50mm in diameter and 8.2mm in height – which is only 1mm more than the classic automatic. If you ask me, these are pretty spot-on proportions for a dress watch.

Visually speaking, the L.U.C Flying T Twin for Revolution is not much different from its 2018 brother, with a white metal case combined with a salmon-coloured dial – always a winning combo. The 18k ethical white gold is here fully polished, with a thin domed bezel and short lugs, making sure the watch can be worn under a cuff. The dial is yet another tribute to the first L.U.C watch, with its central medallion with hand-guilloché motif recalling the first L.U.C 1860 watch. Produced by Metalem, a renowned Swiss dial maker, it is made of solid gold and its copper/salmon colour is obtained thanks to a galvanic treatment.

The rest of the dial is classic yet nicely executed, with triangular applied markers and Dauphine hands rhodium-plated, a sunray-brushed hour chapter ring and a precision minute track on the periphery. The main highlight is, of course, the aperture at 6 o’clock that reveals the flying tourbillon, framed by a pattern with 60 notches, combined with a triangle-shaped small seconds hand affixed to the flying tourbillon carriage displaying the seconds – and something necessary for COSC.

At the heart of this watch is a movement with mechanical beauty and also historical background. In 1996, when the L.U.C sub-brand was created and the first watch released, it came with one impressive movement, the calibre 1.96, one of the rare examples of an ultra-thin automatic engine with a micro-rotor back in the days. And it also ran at 4Hz, with ceramic ball bearings, and received both Geneva seal and COSC certification… And it had a twin-barrel architecture. Not a small achievement. Using this base, Chopard has created the Calibre L.U.C 96.24-L with the same dimensions as its predecessor and the same 22k gold micro-rotor. The ‘Twin’ appellation featured in the name of the watch refers to Chopard’s patented Twin technology capable of providing a 65-hour power reserve thanks to its two stacked barrels. It has, of course, been drastically modified with the addition of a flying tourbillon that runs at 3.5Hz and it still bears the Geneva seal and it still is chronometer-certified. Through the sapphire caseback, which is adorned with “Revolution Edition” the movement is beautifully decorated.

The Chopard L.U.C Flying T Twin Revolution Edition is worn on a hand-sewn matt brown alligator leather strap with brown alligator leather lining and 18k ethical white gold pin buckle. It will be a limited edition of 5 pieces, only available from Revolution’s online shop here. It will be priced at USD 121,000 or CHF 120,750.

For more details, please visit chopard.com and revolutionwatch.com.