STRIKE GOLD

To mark an important milestone, Chopard chimes in with a wristwatch that fuses technical brilliance with enhanced sound quality

- BILL PRINCE

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of Chopard's in-house movement workshops in Fleurier, Switzerland.

Representing the company's haute horlogerie division, the LUC collection was launched the following year, in 1997, achieving a major milestone in the history of a business founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard, and owned since 1963 by the Scheufele family.

In honour of the occasion, last November, Chopard's co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele unveiled the brand's most complex wristwatch yet. The 686-component LUC Grand Strike features two sonnerie settings and a minute-repeater function regulated by a 60-second tourbillon, all housed in an ethical white gold case measuring 43mm in diameter.