Pre-Baselworld 2018 – The New Interpretation of the Chopard L.U.C Quattro
Chopard should not be forgotten when the subject of Haute Horlogerie comes on the table, especially with the L.U.C collection – launched in 1996 and representing the brand’s top line. The Chopard L.U.C collection comprises watches with beautifully hand-finished in-house movements. The first movement they launched in this collection was calibre 1.96. Four years later, in the year 2000, Chopard introduced the first L.U.C Quattro, the world’s first hand-wound calibre with four stacked mainspring barrels. Just before Baselworld 2018, here is a new interpretation of the Chopard L.U.C Quattro.
If I’m completely honest, women’s watches aren’t my speciality, largely because they tend (notable exceptions aside) not to look the greatest on my fairly hairy 21cm wrist. But luckily — and thankfully — Sandra Lane is on the team. So rather than flounder my way through the intricacies of stone-setting and satin straps, I defer to Sandra’s insight and expertise. And what better setting for this than that most exclusive of Maisons (and SIHH newcomer) Hermès. Ironically enough, the Hermès Sandra opted for, the Carré H, isn’t a feminine model per se, but when it comes to some of her other picks — from the likes of Van Cleef & Arpels, the below Parmigiani Fleurier, and Audemars Piguet — there’s no doubt they’re intended for women’s wrists.
It’s a dizzying pace the watch world moves at, and it’s all but impossible for us at Time+Tide to not get carried along by it. But occasionally, very occasionally, we’ll see a watch on Instagram and be reminded that quality has its own designs. That the concept of a ‘modern classic’ – which, according to a recent poll, only 64% of you believe can actually be achieved in this age of hype and undersupply – requires time to make it real. And from an even less hyped point of view, some watches are just lovely to behold in the moment of discovery and then in the moments of recollection after that. The Vacheron Constantin Overseas is one such watch. There is, however, a risk that the object is always a joy to see for the memories it triggers. This little three-day voyage from 2016 was one of the most idyllic capsules of time I’ve ever been fortunate to experience. Lastly, to quote our original post on this collection, we can pose the question again, was it really necessary? To take a journey involving two flights (one of them aboard a very small plane) to a tropical island somewhere between Sydney and New…
