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Basel 2016: Chopard
Сегодня закончилось эмбарго на публикации, так что можно поделиться новинками. В этом году у марки 2 важных юбилея: 20 лет коллекции L.U.C и 40 лет коллекции Happy Diamonds (кстати, она началась с мужских часов, лишь затем появились женские, а уже после – ювелирка). Живые фотографии надеюсь разместить через пару недель, после Базеля.
L.U.C Perpetual Chrono
Цитата:
An authentic collector’s watch for modern gentlemen, the new L.U.C Perpetual Chrono from Chopard combines a hand-wound chronograph and a finely crafted perpetual calendar within an unprecedented L.U.C movement, Calibre 3.10-L. The L.U.C Perpetual Chrono flaunts one of the most sophisticated styles and constructions in the world of Haute Horlogerie, while meeting the highest technical ethical and a-esthetic standards. Issued in a “Fairmined” 18-carat white gold 20-piece edition, it is intended for watchmaking connoisseurs and devotees of exceptional objects.
Calibre 03.10-L, a finely crafted movement
Entirely developed and produced in the Chopard Haute Horlogerie workshops, L.U.C Calibre 03.10-L is built around a column wheel that controls all chronograph operations including the flyback function. The zero-reset system for the counters and the central sweep seconds hand is handled by progressive-contact hammers guaranteeing optimal precision. It ensures smooth yet firm activation of the timing-related components via a vertical coupling clutch. This was the exceptional base mechanism chosen to house the perpetual calendar of the L.U.C Perpetual Chrono.
This calendar is recognisable by its large twin-aperture date display, complemented by indications of the day, the month and the leap or non-year nature of the year, while the finishing touches are set by a day/night indication and an orbital moon-phase display. The latter guarantees graphic and accurate readings of the age of the moon, with a mere one-day deviation in 122 years. Since the original configuration of this calendar uses the same areas as the chronograph – both involving indications at 3 and 9 o’clock – the architecture of the perpetual calendar had to be adjusted to offset the day/night indicator by a few millimetres. This arrangement determined the specific layout of the dial and its counters.
Journey to the heart of infinite precision
The L.U.C Perpetual Chrono has earned double certification. The rating precision of its L.U.C Calibre 03.10-L has been certified by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC). In parallel, each of these 20 watches in “Fairmined” white gold – including both their movements and their cases – has successfully met the evaluation criteria of the Poinçon de Genève, which now encompass the watch in its entirety, providing an excellent guarantee of superlative craftsmanship and expertise. Formerly attributed to the movement only, the Poinçon de Genève currently puts the watch as a whole to the test. The movement quality criteria are thus backed by other standards unreservedly met by Chopard. The water resistance, precision, chronograph and perpetual calendar functions as well as the power reserve are meticulously appraised before being awarded the famous quality hallmark. Chopard proudly belongs to the select circle of Haute Horlogerie brands demonstrating such exceptional artisanal savoir-faire.
Chopard masters contemporary horology to perfection and notably the art of magnifying its mechanical intricacies in order to make this new L.U.C Perpetual Chrono an authentic collector’s watch for modern gentlemen.
Noble materials
The L.U.C Perpetual Chrono stems from high standards embodied in exceptional materials effectively underpinning its elegance and functionality.
The 45 mm case of the L.U.C Perpetual Chrono is entirely made of “Fairmined” 18-carat gold, sourced from Fairmined certified mining cooperatives in Columbia, Peru and Bolivia.
Chopard is in fact the first luxury watch and jewellery company to have committed itself to supporting mining communities in order to help them achieve Fairmined certification. It contributes to training, to social well-being and to environmental protection. Fairmined certification ensures that gold is extracted in a responsible way by artisanal and small-scale mining organisations, that both miners and the environment are treated correctly and that purchasers pay a premium, in addition to the fixing gold price, to be reinvested in community projects.
The dial of the L.U.C Perpetual Chrono is coated with grey ruthenium. It is adorned with a hand-guilloché motif that creates subtle light effects radiating from the large twin-aperture date display.
The choice of noble materials extends right the way through to L.U.C Calibre 03.10-L, which is made of nickel silver, a naturally light grey alloy that ideally lends itself to surface treatment but cannot tolerate scratches. Any mistake made in executing the Côtes de Genève motif, circular-graining, satin-brushing and polishing operation omnipresent on the moment is irretrievable. This movement thus calls for the most expert hands exercising their craft in the watchmaking workshops of Chopard Manufacture.
The choice of fine materials runs right the way through to the strap of the L.U.C Perpetual Chrono, made of hand-sewn large-scaled black alligator leather. Given that a L.U.C watch will be admired from every angle, Chopard has also made the lining in chestnut brown small-scaled alligator leather.
A watch with a distinguished character for today’s gentleman
The perpetual calendar chronograph is a complication in a league of its own: it combines two time frames: the longer scale of a calendar that will provide its accurate indications for centuries, and the shorter one of specific timing operations.
This exceptional object is a sure token of a man with affirmed tastes, an aficionado of impeccable design and a connoisseur of the true value of materials that are embellished by time. Liberally endowed with peerless yet entirely unostentatious quality, the new L.U.C Perpetual Chrono by Chopard is entirely in tune with this deliberate penchant for refinement. It is the symbol of an ideal partnership between the hand craftsmanship of the master watchmaker and cutting-edge technology. By associating two prestigious complications featuring a characteristic design, the L.U.C Perpetual Chrono asserts itself as a distinguished complication watch with an unmistakably distinctive character.
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L.U.C XPS 1860
Цитата:
Less is more
The elegant and distinctive L.U.C XPS 1860 by Chopard pays homage to the first watch in the L.U.C collection: the L.U.C 1860 launched 20 years ago at the creation of Chopard Manufacture. This model with its hand-guilloché dial and ultra-thin case is a contemporary interpretation of a great classic, combining discreet elegance and sobriety with the first Chopard Manufacture movement: the L.U.C Calibre 96.01-L.
The L.U.C XPS 1860 is a classic. It belongs to the line of ultra-thin Chopard watches and features a small seconds at 6 o’clock. The year 1860 refers to the date when Louis-Ulysse Chopard founded his watch manufactory. In 1996, following the creation of Chopard Manufacture, Chopard presented its first contemporary L.U.C watch, the L.U.C 1860. Like the latter, the L.U.C XPS 1860 is distinguished by its respect for the grand watchmaking traditions and for chronometry or timekeeping precision – two key elements that Chopard Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele was determined to incorporate within the L.U.C collection.
A distinctively elegant watch
The supremely elegant L.U.C 1860 foreshadowed the ultra-slim trend. With its case featuring refined finishing, its contemporary Dauphine-type hands, its elegant applied hour-markers, the L.U.C. XPS 1860 offers a new take on this historical watch. Like all L.U.C watches, it is entirely dedicated to its owner’s service. Hedonists will thus find in the L.U.C XPS 1860 an essential wardrobe item, a watch that becomes indispensable through its technical qualities, its inner beauty and its outward style. Its strength stems from the breadth of its possibilities. Just as a double-breasted grey flannel jacket can be worn with a matching or deliberately mismatched pair of trousers, so too, the L.U.C XPS 1860 plays several roles with equal panache.
An object endowed with exceptional finishing
The L.U.C XPS 1860 is a decidedly contemporary timepiece. It has a 40 mm diameter that makes it truly universal. Its short, ergonomic lugs ensure a perfect fit on even the smallest wrists. With a total thickness of just 7.2 mm, it is very much part of the ultra-thin category. Its elegance is enhanced by its distinctive dial on which the central part bears a sophisticated hand-guilloché motif radiating out from the logo at 12 o’clock. The L.U.C XPS 1860 comes in a version with an 18-carat rose gold case, produced in a 100-piece limited series featuring a gold dial.
Precision and fine craftsmanship dedicated to gentlemen
The L.U.C watchmaking approach goes far beyond a mere interpretation of a fine classic. Not only is the L.U.C XPS 1860 an ultra-slim and elegant watch, but it is also one made for today’s men. Its Calibre 96.01-L, the first movement created by Chopared Manufacture, is automatically wound via a 22-carat gold micro-rotor, a rare horological speciality that is practical as well as ensuring slimness. It is endowed with Twin® technology, ensuring a 65-hour power reserve well beyond the usual standards for ultra-thin watches. Moreover, the L.U.C XPS 1860s is one of the very rare ultra-thin watches to display the date. Like all L.U.C watches with a seconds indication, it is chronometer-certified by the COSC. It bears the prestigious Poinçon de Genève quality hallmark that distinguishes the quality of its construction and its finishing as well as its resilience to the trials of daily life, as while also guaranteeing its exclusive nature. This refinement and these certifications betoken both the full maturity and the complete mastery achieved by Chopard Manufacture.
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L.U.C XP 35 mm Esprit de Fleurier Peony
Цитата:
Métier d’art for a feminine haute horlogerie watch
Its understated elegance and its technical sophistication have made the L.U.C XP a flagship model among the Chopard Haute Horlogerie collection of L.U.C watches. In 2014, Chopard created a version with a 35 mm diameter, in smaller size, intended for women. The beating heart is the L.U.C 96.23-L calibre. It’s produced by Chopard Manufacture and graced with Fleurisanne engraving, an almost extinct handcraft. Where beauty meets precision, a gorgeous peony blossoms in a 8-piece limited edition watch: the L.U.C XP 35 mm Esprit de Fleurier Peony.
This legendary flower has been casting its velvet-smooth spells across legends and fairytales since the dawn of time. Today, the peony unfurls its silky petals and delicate scents on the famous Chopard timepiece. It adorns the dial and the manufacture movement of the L.U.C XP 35 m Esprit de Fleurier Peony, an eminently feminine model governed by the principles of Haute Horlogerie. The dainty curves of the peony bloom on the Tahitian mother-of-pearl dial, where this majestic flower appears clothed in gold and decked in diamonds finely set into the rose gold dial base.
A supreme elegance
It was in 2014 that the first ultra-thin L.U.C watch was created in a 35 mm diameter, so as to offer women a version exclusively made for them of a watch that they previously tended to borrow from men. This model with its light, subtle and timeless lines is powered by a high-precision movement produced by Chopard Manufacture.
In 2015, the design codes of this supremely elegant watch took a new turn with the L.U.C XP 35 mm Esprit de Fleurier and this model is now reborn in an eight-piece limited edition featuring a peony motif and fitted with a brushed pink canvas strap. It highlights an increasingly rare ancestral technique: Fleurisanne engraving.
A flower from the East
A central figure in Greek and oriental mythology, the peony suffuses countless legends with its delicate fragrance. The peony originated in central Asia and was initially cultivated as a medicinal plant. Used as a remedy for various conditions, it came to embody good health, before being associated with an increasing number of virtues. This flower acquired symbolic status as a harbinger of good luck, abundance and happy marriages, and has represented wealth and honour in Asia ever since. Under the Tang dynasty, peonies were grown on a massive scale and the destiny of this flower was even linked to that of the country, with the blossoming of the peony reflecting the prosperity of China itself. In addition to its exquisite loveliness, it was of course also appreciated for its aesthetic qualities, its opulence and its incredible scent. It adorned imperial palaces and inspired artists who interpreted it in all its forms, raising it to the rank of a symbol of springtime and a metaphor of feminine beauty in Chinese tradition and imagery. Its extraordinary allure has won over every culture and now finds unexpected expression in the Swiss village of Fleurier…
Fleurier, tradition reinvented
It was in Fleurier, a village of the Jura region of Switzerland, that Karl-Friedrich Scheufele founded in 1996 a Manufacture dedicated to producing high-precision movements: the L.U.C Haute Horlogerie collection, thus named in tribute to Louis-Ulysse Chopard. In 20 years, Chopard Manufacture has succeeded in taking its place among the select circle of authentic watch manufactures and is unanimously acknowedged as such, both within the profession and among the public at large. All stages in the development and production of L.U.C watches are conducted in-house, in Fleurier. This vertical integration testifies to deep-seated independence, a value firmly ingrained in the Chopard corporate culture.
Fleurier is a historical cradle of watchmaking that has given rise to a number of skills that are now becoming increasingly rare. Chopard wished to perpetuate these traditions that represent a cultural and aesthetic heritage. Fleurisanne engraving is one of these decorative artistic techniques that are an integral part of the horological heritage: in the 19th century, it contributed to the magnificent reputation of the region’s watchmakers, whose timepieces adorned using this craft were in demand as far as field as China.
Chopard restores the noble pedigree of this form of artistry through the L.U.C XP 35 mm Esprit de Fleurier Peony. Its rose gold movement is adorned with the peony motif according to the Fleurisanne engraving technique. This highly distinctive expertise is notably distinguished by its raised motifs. The engraver ‘spares’ the motif that he intends to make stand out; the surface thus preserved is then engraved with scrolling patterns or flowers, and then polished to achieve a shiny effect. The base surrounding the motif is then stippled dot by dot to create a grainy effect. To perform this slow and lengthy process requiring extreme dexterity, Chopard has trained expert hands in-house to perpetuate this traditional skill. After engraving, the movement is rhodium-coated to achieve an unusual two-tone appearance.
Technical feat
This movement is endowed with the patented Twin® technology, involving two stacked coaxial barrels ensuring a 65-hour power reserve. Accommodating such a self-winding movement within a 7.5 mm ultra-thin case is a daunting technical challenge. The clever micro-rotor construction has enabled the master-watchmakers of Chopard Manufacture to accomplish this feat and successfully magnify the beauty of L.U.C Calibre 96.23-L.
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Happy Diamonds
Цитата:
Since 1976, Happy Diamonds have been joyfully lighting up the eponymous creations from Chopard. Over the years, the famous moving diamonds have been staged through a myriad precious and joyful watch and jewellery creation. To mark their 40th birthday, Chopard is revisiting the iconic model in which they were first introduced.
1976. While out on a walk in the Black Forest during the 1970s, Chopard designer Ronald Kurowski was entranced by the sight of a waterfall and the thousands of tiny water droplets bursting out from it, reflecting the daylight and sparkling with all the colours of the rainbow.
This vision sparked a brilliant idea: to enable diamonds to sparkle in full dazzling radiance, they should be freed from their settings and allowed to circulate freely. This was born the Happy Diamonds concept destined for a truly brilliant future. “Diamonds are happier when they’re free”: it was in these terms that Karin Scheufele hailed the first creation featuring moving diamonds, a Happy Diamonds watch.
Moving diamonds provide scope for all manner of bold designs and have since been interpreted through a broad range of watches, necklaces, pendants, rings and earrings. Over the years, Chopard Co-President and Artistic Director, Carolien Scheufele, has repeatedly surprised observers by achieving the feat of perpetually reinventing this theme.
2016. The first Happy Diamonds model was a men’s watch, a large cushion-shaped timepiece with an 18-carat white gold case and bracelet framing a black dial magnificently highlighting the first moving diamonds.
This iconic creation, which won the prestigious Golden Rose of Baden-Baden in 1976, inspired a model celebrating the 40th anniversary of the invention of moving diamonds.
Picking up the initial cushion shape, but this time designed for women, today’s Happy Diamonds watch is a precious jewellery model exuding a charm that is both vintage and contemporary. The prong-set diamonds encircling the dial emphasise its gentle curves, while new mobile diamonds whirl freely across a textured white mother-of-pearl background. There are more of them than ever and they are also larger as well as in different sizes, thereby accentuating their whirling dance and thesense of diamond-studded profusion. Inside this playground, a mini subdial, also ringed with diamonds, bears the watch hands.
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Precious Couture Collection
Цитата:
Chopard opens the ball by sweeping Haute Joaillerie into a lively dance
The Geneva-based Manufacture is unveiling a splendid Haute Joaillerie collection. Arrayed in sparkling precious stones and meticulously tailored using the skills of the finest jewellers, the Precious Couture collection beats to the entrancing rhythm of glittering evenings.
Chopard leads the dance and orchestrates a dramatic stage entrance for a twirling, virtuoso Haute Joaillerie collection named “Precious Couture”, a journey to the heart of dazzling colours distilled by the most precious of all gems: white diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies.
Imbued with the graceful charm of a blooming corolla and the joyful flurry of a whirling tutu, the Precious Couture collection appears to have escaped from a dream ballet for which Chopard has created the jewellery and a great couturier has designed the costumes. Delicate and precious, finely wrought and lit up by exquisite gems, the Precious Couture collection is a lacework of intermingled creativity and emotion.
A unique spirit
When a ballerina performs a jump, there is an incredible moment of miraculous suspension, those wonderful seconds of weightlessness when the audience holds its breath. It is precisely this moment of magic that is captured in the watch from the Precious Couture collection, much like a dancer in mid-air – feather-light and ignoring the laws of gravity – whose skirt flares out, unfurling like a flower in spring. The collection comprises a watch, a pair of earrings and a ring, each of which picks up this laced-edge petal motif.
Just as Haute Couture works only with exceptional fabrics, giving life to this collection naturally called for the most beautiful stones, Diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies and thus only the most precious gems that make these finely crafted skirts swirl and twirl. The preview presentation of the Precious Couture collection features its sapphire interpretation, imbued with a deep blue shade that endows the three creations with splendidly noble elegance.
Precious Couture creations
The spectacular watch is set with pear-cut blue sapphires, brilliant-cut pastel sapphires and white diamonds, composing a subtle and airy lacework pattern. On the dial, baguette-cut sapphires surround a dainty corolla evoking a floral motif with snow-set sapphires and diamonds. The watch bracelet picks up this ornamental jewellery lacework theme and the model is also available with a satin strap. The earrings and the ring are graced with the same delicate curves, finely adorned with a lacy pattern of pear-cut sapphires and hemmed with diamonds, while the ring is crowned by a brilliant-cut central blue sapphire.
Jewellery expertise
The Precious Couture collection supremely embodies technical virtuosity dedicated to resolutely modern artistry, testifying to the broad stylistic repertoire of the Geneva-based House. Chopard creations belong to the finest Haute Joaillerie tradition and showcase artistic skills exercised at their very highest level: wax-sculpting experts, jewellers, stone-cutters, gem-setters and polishers. From lines to volumes, from goldsmithing to fashioning precious stones, they push the boundaries of feasibility and combine their talents in breathing life into the most beautiful jewellery.
Creative boldness
While these creations involve classic expertise and faithfully safeguarded traditions, they are also nurtured by exceptional inspiration and boldness, vividly testifying to the major role played by Chopard on the contemporary Haute Joaillerie scene. Collections such as Animal World or Fleur d’Opales reveal an impressive creative vitality as well as the unbridled imagination of the company’s co-president and artistic director, Caroline Scheufele. She has been the driving force behind the development of the Chopard Haute Joaillerie collections.
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05.03.2016, 08:08
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