Hands-On: The Chopard L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon, 28 Years In The Making
In 1996, Chopard presented its first in-house manufacture caliber 1.96. Introduced a year later in the L.U.C 1860, it’s a Geneva Seal and COSC-certified micro-rotor caliber produced at Chopard’s Fleurier manufacturer.
Chopard L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon
As I wrote in my collector’s guide to the original L.U.C collection, one of the criteria that Chopard owner Karl-Friedrich Scheufele set for the brand’s first in-house caliber was that it be “strong enough to power complications later on, with a larger than average power reserve.” Twenty-eight years later, his insistence on this technical criteria has resulted in one of the most beautiful modern tourbillons I’ve seen, the Chopard L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon.
Packed into the same case size as the original Chopard L.U.C 1860, the new Flying Tourbillon measures 36.5 x 8.2mm. Not only does this make it the smallest flying tourbillon in the world, but it’s also the only one that has the Geneve Seal and is COSC certified. It uses the caliber L.U.C 96.24-L, introduced in the larger Flying T in 2019. Revolution first put this movement in the smaller 1860 case a couple of years later in a beautiful white gold and salmon limited edition.
The caliber 96.24-L visible under a hinged hunter caseback.
This year’s edition is limited to just 10 pieces and I’d assume they’re all spoken for, even with the €144,000 price tag. The 18K yellow gold case matches the gold dial, giving the watch a warmth typically reserved for vintage “doré” dials from Patek and the like. The dial is made by Metalem, the manufacturer Chopard acquired a few years ago after using them for years, including for the original L.U.C 1860 (Dufour famously used Metalem for his Simplicity too). The gold dial features hand guilloché, and according to Chopard this is one of the factors that naturally slows down its production (and last year’s L.U.C 1860 in Lucent Steel). Additional guilloché surrounds the outer tracks and the tourbillon at six o’clock. The rhodium-plated hour markers and dauphine hands provide a bit of contrast against the yellow-gold dial and case. My only (minor!) critique of this watch is that I would’ve liked to see the markers and hands get the full-gold treatment too.
The flying tourbillon movement is based on the time-only micro-rotor caliber and measures 27.4 x 3.3mm (again, the smallest one around), and has twin barrels for a 65-hour power reserve. Its other technical features read like a checklist of things that so many brands just don’t do anymore: Breguet overcoil, swan neck regulator, Geneva stripes, hand anglage. It’s also one of only a handful of flying tourbillons with a stop-seconds function. A hunter caseback hinges open to reveal the caliber L.U.C 96-24-L under a sapphire caseback.
The Chopard L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon is just about the perfect dress-watch tourbillon. It’s slim, wearable, and doesn’t shout about its technical bonafides, even though they surpass almost every watchmaker producing at Chopard’s scale. But it’s not only a beautiful watch. It’s Scheufele’s insistence on technical innovation 28 years ago during the original development of the caliber 1.96 that has enabled such a perfectly executed watch.
With releases like this Flying Tourbillon or last year’s L.U.C 1860 in Lucent Steel or the Alpine Eagle XPS, more collectors are starting to understand how impressive Chopard’s L.U.C collection can be. The L.U.C collection is really a bastion of fine, in-house watchmaking that lives inside a larger luxury watches and jewelry house. Natural constraints on movement production mean Chopard produces only a few thousand L.U.C watches per year – a number much closer to Lange than say, Patek or Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Karl-Friedrich Scheufele wearing the L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon.
To be clear, some of the L.U.C collection is still too large, or I find the designs too sterile. But as I wrote last year, that L.U.C 1860 in Lucent Steel is still my favorite modern watch in its category. Now, I feel the same way about the L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon.
The Chopard L.U.C 1860 Flying Tourbillon has an ethical 18K gold case measuring 36.5 x 8.2mm. The caliber L.U.C 96.24-L is COSC-certified and carries the Geneva Seal: Micro-rotor with 189 components, measuring 27.4 x 3.3mm – twin barrels provide a 65-hour power reserve. Gold dial with hand guilloche, rhodium-plated markers and hands. Price: CHF 127,500 (~$150,000). Limited to 10 numbered pieces. For more, see the watch’s page on Chopard’s site.
Hodinkee