Discover the new Chopard L.U.C GMT One and the new Chopard L.U.C Time Traveler One timepieces…
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of its Manufacture in Fleurier, Chopard is launching the L.U.C GMT One, the first L.U.C watch to feature a dual-time function built into the movement and its first worldtime watch. The latter, the L.U.C Time Traveler One, is designed to facilitate the lives of long-haul travellers who need to remain in touch with several time zones.
Theoretically, as we are going to discover in this article…
The Chopard L.U.C GMT One GMT function serves to display a second zone-time and tell the time in all places with an one hour offset of UTC. When travelling, the timepiece adjusts to local time while keeping track of home time as experienced by friends and family. A first crown positioned at 2 o’clock serves to adjust the date and local time, while the second crown at 4 o’clock controls the large baton-type hand tipped with a large arrow and pointing to the second zone-time.
So what we have here is a high-end timepiece powered by the in-house calibre L.U.C 01.10-L combined with the above described GMT/UTC-function. If you like to have displayed your home-time always in the center of the watch, on the normal, big display, this could be your watch. You will then read the actual travel-time or local-time always from the two-color-24-hour-ring. I personally do not like these solutions, since I prefer to read the local-time from the center of the watch, from the main hour and minute hand. I like to read the home-time from the 24-hour-ring. So when I travel I want to pull out the crown and only adjust the offset of the hour-hand from my home time in one hour-steps. The minute and second hand must not be influenced when doing this, since I would loose my my correct indicated minutes and seconds and then I would need a reference time given by e.g by a smart phone to readjust my watch again. The 24-hour-ring would then show me my home-time.
Chopard build the L.U.C GMT One functioning the other way round, including the indication of the date which is linked to my home-time and not actual time.
The same principle is used for the Chopard L.U.C Time Traveler One. A central hand indicates the date, while a surrounding railway track circle serves to read off the hours and minutes of the local time zone. This function is adjusted via a crown positioned at 2 o’clock.
A large 24-hour graduated ring operates in coordination with the disc bearing the reference cities symbolising the 24 main time zones. Once they are synchronised with the local time zone via the 4 o’clock crown, no more adjustment is required. Travellers in a hurry, who are sometimes disorientated by successive changes of location and pace, can read off the time around the globe with the same hand as local time.
So what we have here is a high-end timepiece powered by the in-house calibre L.U.C 01.05-L combined with the above described worltime-function. If you like to have displayed your home-time always in the center of the watch, on the normal, big display, this again could be your watch. You will then read the actual travel-time or local-time always from the worldtime-ring, indicating 24 major time-zones by the major cities and the corresponding zone-times. I personally do not like these solutions, since I prefer to read the local-time from the center of the watch, from the main hour and minute hand. I like to read the home-time from the worldtime-ring. So when I travel I want to pull out the crown and only adjust the offset of the hour-hand from my home time in one hour-steps. The minute and second hand must not be influenced when doing this, since I would loose my correct indicated minutes and seconds and then I would need a reference time given by e.g by a smart phone to readjust my watch again. The worldtime-ring would then show me my home-time and the zone-time in 22 other time-zones (one zone-time is shown on the big display and one zone-time is my home-time, so 22 others are remaining).
Chopard build the L.U.C Time Traveler One functioning the other way round, including the indication of the date which is linked to my home-time and not actual time.
It´s a legitimate choice, but I would not have done it that way…
Of course you can set both watches to the way I like it, but in this case you will have to complete reset and set both watches.
Chopard L.U.C GMT One Ref. 168579-3001 – in stainless steel
Case: – Stainless steel – Total diameter: 42 mm – Thickness: 11.71 mm – Water resistance: 50 meters – 2 partly satin-brushed stainless steel crowns with L.U.C logo and globe 6.50 mm – Vertical satin-brushed case middle – Polished bezel and case-back – Exhibition back with glare-proofed sapphire crystal Movement: – Mechanical self-winding L.U.C 01.10-L – Number of components 291 – Total diameter: 31.90 mm – Thickness: 5.95 mm – Number of jewels: 31 – Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz) – Power reserve: 60 hours – Bridges adorned with Côtes de Genève – Chronometer-certified (COSC) Dial and hands: – Black sunburst satin-brushed dial – Snailed chapter ring – Hour-markers and Arabic numerals painted with Super-LumiNova – Circular satin-brushed GMT function disc, slate-grey coloured between 6.30 am and 6.30 pm; and black between 6.30 pm and 6.30 am; white transfers – Rhodiumed Dauphine-type hours and minutes hands – Orange baton-type hand for the GMT function, arrow painted with Super-LumiNova – Rhodiumed baton-type central seconds hand – Railway track minute circle Functions and displays: – Central display of the hours, minutes and seconds – Date display at 6 o’clock – GMT function displayed on the outer dial disc – 2 o’clock crown serving to adjust the date and time – 4 o’clock time serving to adjust the second time zone – GMT function Strap and buckle: – Alligator leather strap with alligator leather lining – Stainless steel pin buckle
Price: 9360 Euro including 20 % VAT in Austria
Chopard L.U.C Time Traveler One Ref. 168574-3001 – in stainless steel
Case: – Stainless steel – Total diameter: 42 mm – Thickness: 12.09 mm – Water resistance: 50 meters – 2 partly satin-brushed stainless steel crowns with L.U.C logo and globe 6.50 mm – Vertical satin-brushed case middle – Polished bezel and case-back – Exhibition back with glare-proofed sapphire crystal Movement: – Mechanical self-winding L.U.C 01.05-L – Number of components 262 – Total diameter: 35.30 mm – Thickness: 6.52 mm – Number of jewels: 39 – Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz) – Power reserve: approx. 60 hours – Bridges adorned with Côtes de Genève – Chronometer-certified (COSC) Dial and hands: – Sunburst satin-brushed dial in a black color achieved by galvanic treatment – Finely snailed chapter ring – Hour-markers and Arabic numerals painted with orange Super-LumiNova – Black circular satin-brushed city disc with white and red transfers – GMT function disc featuring a white varnished section for the hours between 6.30 am and 6.30 pm featuring black transferred markings; and a grey varnished section for the hours between 6.30 pm and 6.30 am featuring white transferred markings – Dauphine-type hands: rhodiumed for the hours, enhanced with orange Super-LumiNova for the minutes – Rhodiumed baton-type arrow-tipped date hand – Orange baton-type central seconds hand – Railway track chapter ring Functions and displays: – Central display of the hours, minutes, seconds and date – City display on the outer dial disc – Disc-type display of the GMT function – 2 o’clock crown serving to adjust the date and the time in the main time zone – 4 o’clock time serving to adjust the city disc Strap and buckle: – Alligator leather strap with alligator leather lining – Stainless steel pin buckle
Price: 12.610 Euro including 20 % VAT in Austria
Chopard L.U.C Time Traveler One Ref. 161942-5001 – in 18-carat rose gold
Case: – 18-carat rose gold – Total diameter: 42 mm – Thickness: 12.09 mm – Water resistance: 50 meters – 2 partly satin-brushed 18-carat rose gold crowns with L.U.C logo and globe 6.50 mm – Vertical satin-brushed case middle – Polished bezel and case-back – Exhibition back with glare-proofed sapphire crystal Movement: – Mechanical self-winding L.U.C 01.05-L – Number of components 262 – Total diameter: 35.30 mm – Thickness: 6.52 mm – Number of jewels: 39 – Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz) – Power reserve: approx. 60 hours – Bridges adorned with Côtes de Genève – Chronometer-certified (COSC) Dial and hands: – Sunburst satin-brushed dial in a silver-toned color achieved by galvanic treatment – Finely snailed chapter ring – Hour-markers painted with Super-LumiNova, black numerals and transfers – Circular satin-brushed city disc in a silver tone achieved by galvanic treatment with black and red transfers – Circular satin-brushed GMT function disc with a silver-toned section for the hours between 6.30 am and 6.30 pm featuring black transferred markings; and a midnight blue section for the hours between 6.30 pm and 6.30 am featuring white transferred markings – Dauphine-type hands: metallic black for the hours, enhanced with Super-LumiNova for the minutes – Metallic black baton-type arrow-tipped date hand – Gilt baton-type central seconds hand – Railway track chapter ring Functions and displays: – Central display of the hours, minutes, seconds and date – City display on the outer dial disc – Disc-type display of the GMT function – 2 o’clock crown serving to adjust the date and the time in the main time zone – 4 o’clock time serving to adjust the city disc Strap and buckle: – Alligator leather strap with alligator leather lining – 18-carat rose gold pin buckle
Price: 22.170 Euro including 20 % VAT in Austria
Chopard L.U.C Time Traveler One Ref. 161942-9001 – in platinum
Case: – Platinum – Total diameter: 42 mm – Thickness: 12.09 mm – Water resistance: 50 meters – 2 partly satin-brushed platinum crowns with L.U.C logo and globe 6.50 mm – Vertical satin-brushed case middle – Polished bezel and case-back – Exhibition back with glare-proofed sapphire crystal Movement: – Mechanical self-winding L.U.C 01.05-L – Number of components 262 – Total diameter: 35.30 – Thickness: 6.52 mm – Number of jewels: 39 – Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz) – Power reserve: approx. 60 hours – Bridges adorned with Côtes de Genève – Chronometer-certified (COSC) Dial and hands: – Sunburst satin-brushed dial in a grey-blue color achieved by galvanic treatment – Finely snailed chapter ring – Hour-markers and numerals painted with Super-LumiNova – Circular satin-brushed city disc in a grey-blue tone achieved by galvanic treatment with white and red transfers – Circular satin-brushed GMT function disc with a silver-toned section for the hours between 6.30 am and 6.30 pm featuring black transferred markings; and a grey-blue section for the hours between 6.30 pm and 6.30 am featuring white transferred markings – Dauphine-type hands: rhodiumed for the hours, enhanced with Super-LumiNova for the minutes – Rhodiumed baton-type arrow-tipped date hand – Rhodiumed baton-type central seconds hand – Railway track chapter ring Functions and displays: – Central display of the hours, minutes, seconds and date – City display on the outer dial disc – Disc-type display of the GMT function – 2 o’clock crown serving to adjust the date and the time in the main time zone – 4 o’clock time serving to adjust the city disc Strap and buckle: – Alligator leather strap with alligator leather lining – 18-carat white gold pin buckle
Price: 34.680 Euro including 20 % VAT in Austria
Dear Alexander,
thanks for this post, I really like this watches-and compared to others in this price segment the price for each watch is worth the money!