L.U.C.

I have been watching L.U.C by Chopard for some time now. I must admit that I was heavily biased by other products in the Chopard lineup. The "Happy Diamonds" and main media focus on beautiful models with extravagant jewelry has made me look the other way where Chopard and watches are concerned. Recently the latest developed models as well as technical achievements by L.U.C. have awakened my interest. The brand has caught my eye first with the Regulator Tech and then their Certified Chronometer Tourbillon. Finally faced with the collection I was very surprised not only at their finish but also at their proficiency in watchmaking.

In my opinion, from what I have seen so far, it is the best "commercial" finish in the industry. Yes, even above Patek... (Ouch, I am going to get slammed for that one). If you don't believe me and wish to be nasty, take your favorite loupe, grab your best Patek, go to a dealer that carries L.U.C. and compare. All this said, I recently fell in love with a Patek that I will comment in a later post. Remember that carrying Chopard does not necessarily mean that they have L.U.C. since it's considered a whole different ball game. I assure you that side by side you will be quite impressed. Notice, I say "commercial finish" and I do consider guys like Greubel Forsey, Kari Voutilainen or Philippe Dufour to be above all the previous. However, with such a limited production they can't be placed in the same bag. Making eleven per model allows you to do stuff that "large boys" only wish they could.

Their latest is the "Tourbillon Black Superlight" with a silicium escapement presented at the Singapore GP several weeks ago. I am still not certain of the benefits of silicium but what seems evident is that it has no negative short-term effects. Like the other Tourbillon by L.U.C. this one has two double barrels giving it a more than interesting torque curve over a period of 8-days plus an extra two days at a lower level of performance. At the moment having four barrels inside a watch is a patent by Chopard and can't be used by others unless permitted (I don't remember who was allowed...). All other 10 or 8-day manuals use three or sometimes even two barrels. This makes a constant supply of torque more difficult especially at frequencies above 21,600 A/h. In order to be certified a chronograph you must be above the 28,800 mark and few Tourbillons in the market will give you this. To this date ALL, with no exception, L.U.C Tourbillons have passed the "Chronograph Certificate" testing with flying colors on the first attempt. That is very impressive.


If I had to criticize the current L.U.C. collection I must say that the sport/diver models are very weak to say the least. Weak enough that they should consider either outsourcing the design or dropping the model all together. A "Mile Miglia" with a L.U.C. finish would make more sense. At the moment there is no intention of making L.U.C. movements for others, even branches within Chopard. Unfortunately there is a lot of stuff missing in their web pages. Many Tech models and most Twist models are not there. Time to update guys!


L.U.C...

Greubel Forsey...
Kari Voutilainen...
Philippe Dufour...