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Watches and Wonders 2024: Chopard Alpine Eagle & L.U.C XPS 

Chopard’s wide-ranging Watches and Wonders 2024 debuts include a premiere, ongoing titanium chronograph within the high-flying Alpine Eagle collection, plus a beautiful forest green-dialed model that now enhances the dressy L.U.C XPS series.

The new Chopard Alpine Eagle XL Chrono

Alpine Eagle 

Chopard’s sporty Alpine Eagle collection now includes the 44mm Alpine Eagle XL Chrono, the watchmaker’s first serially produced titanium chronograph within the collection. Though Chopard did previously offer two high-frequency Alpine Eagle watches using the lightweight, anti corrosive metal, the new chronograph joins the collection full-time.

With a new Rhône Blue dial color, the watch retains the Alpine Eagle’s characteristic ‘eagle’s iris’ pattern dial, meant to evoke both the strength of the namesake bird and the beauty of the Alps.  Chopard says this particular hue is inspired by the Rhône river, which originates in the Alps.

Chopard’s superb 03.05-C chronometer-certified flyback chronograph movement.

Powering the chronograph is Chopard’s superb 03.05-C chronometer-certified flyback chronograph movement, which boasts a sixty-hour power reserve and is the subject of three technical patents. Its unidirectional gear drive system reduces energy loss, according to Chopard, while also ensuring rapid automatic winding. In addition, a vertical clutch ensures accurate time-measurement starts.

As with all watches sold from within the Alpine Eagle collection, part of the proceeds from sales of this model will be donated to the Alpine Eagle Foundation, which aims to protect the white-tailed eagle population around Lake Geneva, among many other environmental causes. 

The watch, Ref. 298609-3008, is a Chopard Boutique exclusive. Price: $25,000. 

L.U.C XPS Forest Green 

Chopard’s L.U.C collection debuts have been highlights of many previous Watches and Wonders exhibitions, and the latest entry, the L.U.C XPS Forest Green, is no exception. 

With its retro sector-type dial, the new with oozes vintage charm. Teamed with a movement from  Chopard’s well-known L.U.C series ( the automatic L.U.C 96.12-L caliber), the watch combines an ultra-thin profile with both traditional and very modern touches.

The vintage-looking satin-brushed dark green dial is achieved, ironically, by use of a modern PVD treatment.

The 40mm by 7.2mm steel case is very modern too. It is composed of in Lucent Steel, Chopard’s own alloy produced with a recycling rate of at least 80%. The movement is an ultra-thin caliber measuring just 3.30 mm thick.

It features a bidirectional 22-karat gold micro-rotor and twin stacked barrels, called Chopard Twin Technology, that provides a sixty-five-hour power reserve.

Price: $11,800. 

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Watches & Wonders 2024: The Zenith Defy Skyline Chronograph

  

Zenith adds a chronograph to its Defy Skyline collection, the watchmaker’s contemporary version of its Defy series from the early 1970s characterized by its octagonal case and multi-sided bezel.

The new Zenith Defy Skyline Chronograph.

Debuting three years ago with time-only models, and now including tourbillon and skeleton models, Defy Skyline has become one of the watchmakers best-selling collections. With the new Defy Skyline Chronograph, the collection offers an even sportier option within the same contemporary design.

The new watch also adds another Zenith series that highlights the Manufacture’s El Primero 3600 automatic high-frequency chronograph caliber with a 1/10th of a second chronograph function.

With three dial options, the new watches retain Skyline’s 41mm steel case and add pushers, the collection’s first, with a design that echoes those seen on existing Defy Extreme models. A screw-down crown with the Zenith star logo helps ensure a water-resistance of 100 meters.

Available in metallic black, blue or silver, the Defy Skyline Chronograph’s dial maintains the signature sunray pattern metallic design, engraved with four-pointed stars, found throughout the Defy Skyline series.

To display chronograph times, Zenith places a set of three overlapping counters, which show the elapsed seconds and minutes of the chronograph and the constant running seconds. The date window matches the dial color, a feature seen throughout the El Primero models. The flange ring with the 1/10th of a second scale has twelve facets to form the dodecagonal bezel, which are essentially hour marker extensions.

As with all Defy Skyline models, the new Defy Skyline Chronograph offers an integrated quick strap-change mechanism. With a push of a button, the three-link steel bracelet can be swapped with the supplied star-patterned rubber strap with steel folding buckle. 

Price: $12,300.

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Watches and Wonders 2024: The TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph

 

The new TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph, TAG Heuer’s highlight Watches and Wonders 2024 debut, pairs the square Monaco case with a wholly new split-seconds chronograph caliber.

The TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph features an all-titanium TH81-00 mechanical split-seconds chronograph caliber.

Made entirely of titanium, the watch’s TH81-00 movement is the lightest automatic chronograph movement ever created by the watchmaker, which teamed with Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier to create the caliber.

While Heuer dominated sports timing, particularly automotive racing, during much of the 20th century with its ground-breaking split-second chronograph pocket watches and timers, the Le Locle watchmaker had not previously offered a mechanical wristwatch with the same function. (In 1989, TAG Heuer introduced a quartz split-seconds chronograph wristwatch that became a favorite of racing legends such as Ayrton Senna, Gerhard Berger and Michael Schumacher.)

“In developing this new watch we spent months researching complications, and quickly knew it had to be a chronograph, and particularly with a split-second function, which is the queen of chronographs,” explains Nicholas Biebuyck, TAG Heuer’s Heritage Director. A split-seconds function is capable of measuring two separate time intervals concurrently.

“We found documentation dating to 1889 that advertises the Heuer brand as specializing in the rattrapante platform. As it turns out, we had never made a (mechanical) chronograph with a split second for the wrist,” he adds. 

No compromise

To rectify that somewhat surprising omission, Biebuyck and Carole Forestier-Kasapi, TAG Heuer’s movements director, worked with TAG Heuer’s technical team to create the watchmaker’s first wrist rattrapante “with no compromise.”

The team started with a high-frequency 5-Hz movement to enhance split-second accuracy, and quickly determined that to make a highly wearable, lightweight and ergonomically impressive debut wrist rattrapante, it would need to be made of titanium.

“The reason we chose titanium for the case was because we wanted to create something particularly comfortable to wear, but we then extended this to the movement as well,” adds Forestier-Kasapi.

TAG Heuer offers various titanium-cased Monaco chronographs, though all are powered with traditionally manufactured movements. 

“I cannot think of an example where we have made an entire movement in titanium previously. Certainly not in a commercially available product,” says Biebuyck. Even when the all sides of the 41mm by 15.2mm case and the movement are combined, the TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph weighs a wispy 85 grams.

The new watch enhances the timepiece’s overall novelty with extensive application of sapphire to the case. The clarity created by the clear sapphire offers an open view into the titanium Calibre TH81-00 movement.

The back offers an unobstructed view of the signature checkerboard pattern on the center bridge and the fine-brushed balance wheel bridge. From the edges of the case we can also see the movement’s two column wheels and decorated bridges.

TAG Heuer offers two Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph models. A red variation with black DLC coating is inspired by TAG Heuer’s long history in the world of professional automotive racing.

A blue model pays tribute to the original color code of the Heuer Monaco. Here, gradient blue dial arches transition from light blue, an effect created through a painstaking anodizing process.

Price: CHF 165,000. 

      

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The Watches

Girard-Perregaux Launches a Titanium Laureato Chronograph 

 

Girard-Perregaux adds titanium to its Laureato collection with the new Laureato Chronograph Ti49, a 42mm model that echoes the original 1975 Laureato design, complete with its octagonal bezel, round frame and tonneau-shaped case.

The new Girard-Perregaux the new Laureato Chronograph Ti49.

As the first new-generation Laureato Chronograph with a titanium-case, the new watch exhibits its light reflection and refraction with a material that differs in both weight and appearance from the steel models.

The Grade 5 titanium used here is composed of almost 90% titanium, 6% aluminum, 4% vanadium and small traces of iron and oxygen, which means it is lighter than steel while remaining strong, corrosion resistant, non-magnetic and hypoallergenic.

Girard-Perregaux nicely accentuates the grey monochrome of the titanium alloy with contrasting finishes of brushed and polished angles, all of which re-define the chronograph’s look on the wrist when compared with the steel models. Here, Girard-Perregaux polishes the circular plinth beneath the bezel, the case edges, the chronograph pushers and the central bracelet links.

On the dial the watchmaker also perfectly complements the grey platinum tone with a grey dial finished using the deep Clous de Paris pattern well known to fans of the brand. Grey PVD-treated hour and minute hands and matching baton-type indexes (with white luminescent material) top the dial.

In addition to the chronograph counters, the dial also features the GP logo and name, a minute track and white markers that circle the counters.

Inside the watch Girard-Perregaux fits its superb Manufacture Caliber GP03300 (above), an automatic movement nicely decorated with the high-end finishing expected from this high-end watchmaker.

These finishes include Côtes de Genève in circular and straight form, circular graining, satin finish, chamfering, mirror polishing, snailing, engravings, sunray finishing and blued steel screws.

Price: $19,400. 

 

Specifications: Girard-Perregaux Laureato Chronograph Ti49

(Reference 81020-21-3263-1CM) 

Case:

Material: titanium, polished and satin finished

Dimensions: 42.00 mm

Height: 12.00 mm

Glass: anti-reflective sapphire crystal

Case-back: secured by 6 screws

Dial: grey with a ‘Clous de Paris’ pattern, grey PVD-treated GP logo, ‘baton’-type grey PVD-treated indexes with luminescent material (white emission)

Hands: ‘baton’ type grey PVD-treated hands with luminescent material (white emission)

Water resistance: 100 meters

Movement:

Reference: GP03300-0141

Self-winding mechanical movement

Diameter: 25.95 mm (111/2’’’)

Height: 6.50 mm

Frequency: 28,800 Vib/h – (4 Hz)

Number of components: 419

Number of jewels: 63

Power reserve: min. 46 hours

Functions: Chronograph, hours, minutes, small seconds, date

Bracelet: titanium, polished and satin finished

Price: $19,400.

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The Watches

Louis Vuitton Teams with Rexhep Rexhepi

In the first of series of watches built in collaboration with independent watchmakers, Louis Vuitton in late 2023 launched the LVRR-01 Chronographe à Sonnerie, developed by Louis Vuitton and the independent Geneva brand Atelier Akrivia (founded by watchmaker Rexhep Rexhepi) in a redesigned Louis Vuitton Tambour case.

The Louis Vuitton/Atelier Akriva LVRR-01 Chronographe à Sonnerie.

The new watch, a luxurious double-faced chronograph with a chiming complication, is powered by an all-new tourbillon movement. The chiming function can be activated by the pusher at two o’clock, which will initiate a chime heard once per minute while engaged.

When compared with conventional movements, the new LVRR-01 caliber is inverted, with the chronograph and chiming mechanisms visible on the front with the more traditional displays on the back.

The cubic motif is a nod to the Spin Time jumping-hours display, one of Louis Vuitton’s patented complications.

Louis Vuitton and Akrivia have devised a contemporary look for the front side of the watch, opting for a modern tinted sapphire crystal that echoes the innovative dual functions placed there.

On the back, the watch offers a more traditional face, with a white grand feu enamel dial. This dial was designed by Rexhep Rexhepi and crafted by Nicolas Doublel, the in-house enameler at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Note that enamel dial echoes the look of the premiere wristwatch made by Louis Vuitton in 1988.

While the white-gold disc for the dial base is produced by Atelier Akrivia, the enamelling is completed by the in-house Louis Vuitton enamel atelier led by Nicolas Doublel.

The two watchmakers not only combined their watchmaking talents, but enshrined their dual efforts on the dial with a new logo. 

While at arms length the logo seems conventional, a closer look reveals a union of the two brand names. The ‘LV’ is incorporated into ‘AKRIVIA,’ which represents the first time in history that Louis Vuitton has combined its logo with of the logo of another brand. 

Historic tourbillon 

Beneath the LVRR-01’s tinted sapphire front, the tourbillon at the six o’clock position completes one revolution every five minutes, far slower than conventional tourbillons, but not unusual among older chronometers.

The innovative chiming chronograph that indicates elapsing minutes marks a first for a wristwatch, according to the watchmaker. However, the combination of elapsed time measurement with a striking mechanism has been used in pocket watches and more recently on Omega’s Speedmaster Chrono Chime, though the Omega chime operates in a different sequence.

Inside the LVRR-01’s tourbillon cage you’ll find a balance wheel with twin broad arms and eight inertial regulating weights, inspired by those found in marine chronometers.

For the chime, Atelier Akrivia has developed a black-polished steel hammer that strikes a tempered steel gong.

In order to power both the chronograph and the chiming mechanism, Louis Vuitton and Rexhep Rexhepi have outfitted the movement with twin barrels, one power source for the timekeeping portion of the movement and the chronograph and another for the chime. Unusually however, the second barrel only supplies power when the chronograph/sonnerie is activated.

The case is somewhat thinner than the traditional Tambour shape, with its more streamlined form.

Louis Vuitton and Atelier Akrivia applied all this innovation within a 39.9mm platinum Tambour case with touches of Rexhep Rexhepi style. This means the case is somewhat thinner than the traditional Tambour shape, with its more streamlined form, sloping bezel and sculpted lugs.

Similarly the crown and pusher are seven-sided, as on Louis Vuitton watches, but they are hand-hammered in the Atelier Akrivia style with added chamfering on their edges.

The LVRR-01 is delivered in a unique Louis Vuitton traditional trunk.

Price: CHF 450,000, limited edition of ten.

Specifications: Louis Vuitton/Atelier Akriva LVRR-01 Chronographe à Sonnerie 

Movement: 

  • LVRR-01 caliber: Manual winding movement developed by Atelier Akrivia
  • Functions: Central hours and minutes, 5-minute tourbillon at 6 o’clock; Chronograph à sonnerie (minutes & seconds)
  • 391 components, including 55 for the tourbillon only
  • 72-hour power reserve
  • 21,600 vibrations per hour
  • 41 jewels
  • Case:
    • Reinterpreted Tambour case
    • Diameter: 39.9 mm
    • Thickness: 12.2 mm
    • Water-resistant to 30 meters.
  • Front dial:
    • Smoked translucent sapphire dial
    • Six gold cubes filled with translucent Plique-à-jour
    fired enamel
    • 3N Gold railway and logo
  • Chronograph dial:
    • Traditional Grand Feu enamel on a palladium-gold base • Enamel dial features twin scales for hours and minutes
    Strap:
    • Natural calfskin leather
    Buckle:
    • Platinum ardillon buckle
    Trunk:
    • High watchmaking special trunk with hand-painted Monogram canvas.
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