Now imagine that sound emanating from that most noble of horological complications, the minute repeater, and you will have an idea of what the new L.U.C Full Strike from Chopard sounds like at full clip. For what we have here, for the brand’s 20th anniversary is not just its first minute repeater, but one that uses sapphire crystal as the material for its gongs in the most innovative of ways, bringing forth a chime not just attention grabbing in volume, but as magical and authoritative as the finest cut-crystal glasses.

The secret? A sapphire crystal milled in one complete piece, making up not just the gongs, but the very crystal that is the face of the watch. Combined with the non-traditional layout of the dial-side mounted hammers, what we have with the Full Strike is a minute repeater that takes the sound generated by the gongs and transmits it directly forward, projecting it outwards towards the wearer of the watch.

Heart of glass
That in essence is the genius idea behind the Full Strike and, while sapphire gongs have appeared before in other watches, none have been made in this way with the gongs and the dial crystal in one piece. Of course, in other minute repeaters, various methods of welding the materials together, either with screws or glue, have been attempted, but these solutions are clearly inferior since physical breaks in the material affect the transmission of acoustic waves. But, with the perfect physical integrity of L.U.C’s sapphire crystal, and its characteristic ability to act as an acoustic amplifier, the full strength and personality of the sound is transmitted outside the watch.

That this watch can be made today is partly a testament to how far materials technology has come over the past few years. Think of the explosion in the number of sapphire-cased watches in the market for 2016, and one gets a sense that this material will be used in more and more creative ways as time goes on. That it has been done here now with the Full Strike and its one-piece gong and dial system is a culmination of work that began with the L.U.C Strike One of 2010. That watch was created not to be a groundbreaking display of technical prowess, but as a warm-up exercise by Chopard to master the intricacies of building a striking mechanism.

Yet for all the attention-grabbing ability of this show-stopping feature, it is worth noting that the sapphire crystal gongs are not the full story. For what we see in the execution of this watch is a clear demonstration that, despite the technical achievements it embodies, it keeps to the core idea of the L.U.C line and who it is was created for: the gentleman watch connoisseur, needing a practical, reliable everyday watch, that is not only be elegant on the wrist, but full of the kind of technical content that he can appreciate.

To allow the timekeeping and chiming functions to function properly, they draw energy from their own dedicated barrels, with the barrel for the chiming function being able to sound out “the longest time” (12:59) 12 times in a row from full power. Winding for both barrels is separated, with the large-diameter rose-gold crown transmitting power to the appropriate barrel, depending on the direction in which it is wound.

Furthermore, a number of security systems have been put in place to ensure reliable operation of the watch, including a semi-toothed wheel that is coupled with the striking mechanism power reserve that deactivates the minute repeater chime at lower power; a coupling-clutch that prevents the regulator from rotating until everything is in place for the striking mechanism to function; and a crown that is disconnected from the movement during the chiming process.

In addition to these technical features, the design of the watch is also surprising, as L.U.C has resisted the temptation to go overboard, opting instead for understatement and simplicity. In fact, it is precisely because of the technical feature of the one-piece sapphire gong and dial system that there was no need to have outlandish case shapes or weird designs that would have achieved a better sound. In this case, the technical solution employed has that wonderful effect of allowing the Full Strike to look every bit an L.U.C, retaining the codes of the collection with a precise and collected elegance on the wrist.

Coming of age
This has been an amazing year for Chopard, and the L.U.C Full Strike not only caps it off in style, but stands as the pinnacle of horological achievement from an impressive 20 years of a manufacture that started everything from scratch. In an interview with Chopard Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele earlier this year on the occasion of the launch of the Traveller One worldtimer, he told me that he had a wish-list for the L.U.C line: to have all of watchmaking’s major complications conquered and full represented within the collection.

A survey of the L.U.C line reveals already a wealth of accomplishments, from the brand’s first in house micro-rotor, long-powered movement in the calibre 1.96, to tourbillons, an in house-chronograph and much more. What was clear, and perhaps indicative in the Strike One of 2010 was the lack of that singular complication that, in our current state of horology, is seen as the most prestigious of them all: the minute repeater.

Today, the line is complete, and what we have now to contemplate, with the L.U.C Full Strike Minute Repeater, is how it signals the end of one journey, and the beginning of a new one. However what is certain is that, the new journey will be nothing if not amazing.