Chopard
The Restoration of my Soul: Monestier La Tour and the Chopard L.U.C Flying T Tourbillon
Chopard
The Restoration of my Soul: Monestier La Tour and the Chopard L.U.C Flying T Tourbillon
OK, let’s pause here to discuss something more uplifting, which is my friend Karl Friedrich Scheufele. In 1996 he unveiled what I consider to be one of the seminal acts of modern watchmaking with his creation of the Calibre 1.96. He had intended this movement to be a symbol of his vision for the in-house movements of Chopard L.U.C. And it was a revelation. The first micro-rotor movement of note since Patek Philippe’s lauded Calibre 240, the automatic winding system was completely redesigned by his in-house team when it was found the original system designed by Michel Parmigiani who consulted on the movement during the very initial stages, would not wind efficiently enough.
When the late 20th century gave rise to the renaissance of the tourbillon it also brought with it contrasting perspectives on its efficacy on a watch that adopted multiple positions throughout the day. Tellingly it was only Patek Philippe which provided COSC certification for its admittedly tiny production of tourbillon watches. But when Karl-Friedrich Scheufele decided to add the tourbillon complication to his family of L.U.C watches back in 2003 he did so with his typical integrity. He explains, “Essentially no one else was providing COSC certificates to prove that their tourbillons were chronometers which to me is at the very heart of this complication. We were able to do so because we designed out tourbillon from the very beginning to run at 28,800 vph as opposed to the industry norm of 21,600 vph which made our tourbillons more resistant to micro shocks experienced by wristwatches.” In addition to that Scheufele brought a four-barrel power supply to his Geneve Seal receiving Quattro tourbillon.