10 minute read
cOVER sTORY
THE lyricism of a waTcHmaking saga
sharmila Bertin
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Watchmaking is detailed, fascinating, and is appreciated like an epistolary fresco, a novel that’s occasionally intriguing where we love getting carried away by the intensity of its tale. The narrative dons an archaeological angle by addressing the origins of humanity, journeying through time and finishing off looking towards the future. It conjures up the paths of savants, great experiments that lead to great discoveries for the inquisitive-minded, changes in lifestyles and, in turn, expectations when it comes to watches. This epic embraces two fundamental constants deep within its heart, love for fine craftsmanship and the transmission of knowledge, two traditional elements that, more frequently than not, are passed on from parents to children. The genealogical tree illustrating the sector history is abloom with watchmaking families, but the ones who keep contemporary-day roots alive can virtually be counted on the fingers of one hand.
The fervour of youth
In 1980, a young man, passionate about outdoor and mountain activities, submitted an audacious idea to the head of the firm he had just joined. in 1980, His name was Karl-Friedrich karl-friEdricH scHEufElE wisHEd To work wiTH sTEEl Scheufele and he was working in Chopard, the firm founded by Louis-Ulysse Chopard (1836-1915) likE onE would work in 1860 in the Berne municipality wiTH a noblE mETal. of Sonvilier and bought almost a century later, in 1963, by the young man’s father, Karl Scheufele III, a German watchmaker and jeweller, who ran it with his wife Karin. The watchmaking vision that dwelled deep inside Karl-Friedrich Scheufele,
which most likely conveyed this twentytwo-year-old’s contagious fervour, was different, modern, intrepid and perhaps even a bit disruptive for the times. In a nutshell, he wished to work with steel like one would work with a noble metal to adorn the sports watch he had imagined whereas the catalogue of the period mainly focused on dress watches, these elegant, classical timepieces created in gold and very much in fashion during the second half of the 20th century. Through perseverance and animated by his own determination, the future Co-President eventually convinced his father and the St. Moritz watch, named after the Alpine ski resort encircling a frozen lake in the canton of Les Grisons where he loved to speed down the snow-covered slopes, rapidly took shape. The model was a huge success and Chopard produced around 50,000 pieces, proposed in a myriad of versions and references over almost twenty years before choosing to store this first-ever sports watch made of steel in its archives. Times change, tastes move on. Of course, times change and tastes move on, yet life is made of cycles and meanders that appear and disappear and, two decades on, i.e. the equivalent of a generation, another member of the Scheufele clan acted out practically the same scene as the one from the 1980s.
In the eagle’s nest
Karl-Fritz Scheufele, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s son, and third generation of the family, would play a pivotal role in Chopard in 2019. The young man, in his early twenties, accidentally came across the St. Moritz and proposed to give it a new lease of life in line with current-day standards. As his father rejected the idea, he turned to his grandfather and, together, they worked on revitalizing the watch and finished off by being persuasive enough that a new collection was born. Alpine Eagle. Everything in this piece and in the resultant range of products (a dozen references) focuses on the powerfulness and beauty of fauna and flora, of the impressive wild, rocky
expanses of the Alps. The embossed dial was created using galvanic treatment to reinterpret the iris of a large bird of prey’s piercing eye, and coloured using a palette borrowed from the steep, rugged landscape: Aletsch blue like the Valais glacier, Bernina grey on a par with Les Grisons’ range of mountains and Sils grey drawn from the sometimes tempestuous water of the lake that connects the eponymous village with that of Maloja, also in the high Engadine Valley. The sturdy case, waterproof to depths of 100 m, is available in two diameters, 41 mm (Large) and 36 mm (Small), and boasts a case middle where metal “hills” emerge on each side, embracing in turn a crown, set on the right side, stamped with a wind rose, companion for freedomloving explorers. To enhance the mineral spirit of this composition,
the large satin-brushed bezel with its polished chamfering is equipped with four pairs of screws set on the cardinal points. Stylistic codes already introduced in the original St. Moritz. The ensemble is streamlined and sleek, thanks to the link bracelet that merges harmoniously with the case featuring solid lugs. The COSC chronometer-certified self-winding calibres, the 01.01-C (power reserve of 60 hours), nestling in the Large version and the 09.01-C (42 hours) in the Small version, drive the hours, minutes, seconds in the centre, with or without a date at 4:30 depending on the model.
The energy of steel
Because the use of steel, born out of Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s determination forty years before, goes hand-in-hand with the creation of the St. Moritz, the arrival of the Alpine Eagle three years ago offered the opportunity to introduce a new alloy, Lucent Steel A223, which required four years of research and development to produce. The metal was reworked a second time to remove any impurities left and to obtain a material whose composition was anti-allergenic, harder and as such around 50% more resistant to abrasion and corrosion than traditional steel, and as luminous as the reflection of the sun on snow. The silky dazzle of the metal, comprising 70% recycled steel, is of incomparable intensity. Lucent Steel A223, the signature of the
Alpine Eagle collection, was chosen to craft the case – brushed bezel, pushers for the chronograph start/stop/ reset function and the engraved crown included on the full-steel model – 44 mm diameter and 13.15 mm thickness of the XL Chrono model unveiled in 2020, the collection’s first complication. The dial of this powerful yet delicate watch, available in Aletsch blue or Absolute Black for the two-tone variation that blends Lucent Steel
A223 with elements fashioned in ethical rose gold, reiterates the aquiline iris effect but is embellished with different snailed counters (running seconds at 6 o’clock, minute and hour totalizers, driven by the central direct-drive, respectively at 3 o’clock and at 9 o’clock) and a date display aperture (at 4:30), all fringed by a tachymetric scale running around the flange. These
EvEryTHing in THE alpinE EaglE waTcH focusEs on THE powErfulnEss and bEauTy of naTurE.
displays, complemented by the flyback and stop-second functions, are driven by the 03.05-C calibre, an automatic movement that beats at a standard frequency of 4 Hz and delivers a comfortable power reserve of 60 hours. The ballet of the decorated oscillating weight can be admired through the sapphire-crystal porthole that adorns the caseback. This chronograph joins the Alpine Eagle family along with new threehand models, Large ethical rose gold versions and Small Lucent Steel A223 ones crowned with diamonds.
Creative genius
Two years after being launched, the collection continues to grow. The Alpine Eagle has become the blank canvas for expressing creative genius, mechanical genius, totally in tune with the vision of a young, persuasive man, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, who would become Co-President twenty years later. His quest for chronometric precision led him to founding Chopard Manufacture in 1996, in Fleurier, at the very heart of the Neuchâtel region of Val-de-Travers, a key cog in the creation of Chopard watches, the development of new projects and the brand’s independence. In this laboratory specializing in fine watchmaking, he develops useful, classical complications and, for a few exclusive timepieces, marvellous, high-frequency movements. The L.U.C. 01.06-L calibre, imagined in 2012, inaugurated this last category, followed by the L.U.C 01.09-L calibre and, finally, the Chopard 01.12-C. To encase this powerful motor flaunting formidable precision that beats at 8 Hz, i.e. twice as fast as the standard 4 Hz frequency, and delivers a power reserve of 60 hours once fully wound, the option chosen was titanium, a light, resistant metal whose grey hue is darker than steel. On the handpatinated Vals grey dial – yet another reference to the geography of Les Grisons – the indexes and Roman XII numeral are rhodium-plated applique-style, coated with SuperLumiNova®, just like the batonshaped hour and minute hands. The direct-drive features a counterpoise whose design resembles a bird’s feather. “8HZ CHRONOMETER” is mentioned under the Chopard logo at 12 o’clock whilst, the bottom of the dial, at 6 o’clock, sports an arrow hallmark symbolizing the brand’s high-frequency movements. This 250-piece limited Alpine Eagle Cadence 8HF joins the collection along with the Frozen variations, pieces available in Large and Small versions, crafted in ethical rose or white gold and strewn with diamonds, and the ceramized titanium and ethical rose gold XL Chrono accompanied by a black calfskin strap.
Whirling emotions
In 2022, after years that were incredibly inventive in spite of the covid pandemic, the Alpine Eagle collection celebrates its third anniversary with an outstanding piece, totally created in the Chopard manufacture and doubly certified, firstly, by the COSC that endorses its chronometric performances and, secondly, by the prestigious Seal of Geneva (Poinçon de Genève), iconic and synonymous with fine watchmaking excellence. The flying tourbillon, enthralling with its swirling ballet, and completed here by a small seconds, arrives on the scene in this range of products to delight those whose gaze is instantly drawn to this device, an emotion heightened even more by the sunburst pattern of the Aletsch blue dial. This mesmerizing regulator, invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823) in 1801 to counter the harmful effects of the Earth’s gravity that affected the smooth running of pocket watches, is supported by the lower bridge and visible through
an opening at 6 o’clock. The 41 mm-diameter and 8 mm-thick case, dressed in Lucent Steel A223, hosts the L.U.C 96.24-L calibre self-wound via a 22-carat gold micro-rotor, which in 2022, beats at the gentle frequency of 3.5 THE collEcTion cElEbraTE iTs THird annivErsary s Hz (25,200 vibrations an hour). This high-performing motor embraces Chopard Twin technology, i.e. two wiTH stacked barrels, which delivers a an ouTsTanding piEcE power reserve of 65 hours. We get carried away by this joyful dance that seems unstoppable, we dream of immersing ourselves in this grey-blue gaze once we’ve attached the large-linked Lucent Steel A223 bracelet to our wrist.
© Chopard / Federal-Studio - Patrick Csajko waTcHEs-nEws.com X cHopard The journey, which has taken us from the banks of Lake Geneva to the icy peaks of the Alps, via the hilly slopes of Neuchâtel, is coming to an end. Here though, there’s no conclusion because it’s not really a written piece of work where we’d devour chapter upon chapter night after night, there’s no epilogue because the tale has no end. If truth be told, it’s but the beginning and this Romanesque, family-style fresco continues to write its lines as time passes by, observes future generations as they shape themselves discreetly by learning the ancestral art of mechanical exquisiteness from older ones so that, one day, perhaps they’ll hold the incandescent flame of watchmaking creativeness in their own hands and come up with new ideas to ensure the occasionally-complex yet ever-so fascinating craft of mastering time is perpetuated. Just like with nature. Just like the role eagles take on when they teach their offspring, once they’ve flown from the nest for the first time, flapped their wings with might for the first time, to hunt for the first time to ensure their line of extraordinary birds is perpetuated.
