In this eight-piece limited edition, Chopard unites its watchmaking and jewellery skills to create an exceptional timepiece, the IMPERIALE Flying Tourbillon.
The IMPERIALE collection, created in 1994, welcomes its first-ever flying tourbillon movement, L.U.C Calibre 96.24-C. Entirely designed and crafted by Chopard, this exclusive mechanism is one of the only ones on the market bearing both, Chronometer-certification and the Poinçon de Genève quality hallmark. “Dedicated to women of character, the IMPERIALE collection exudes an aura of timeless chic,” says Caroline Scheufele, Co-President and Artistic Director of Chopard. “This watch symbolises technical performance combined with great aesthetic sophistication.”
Absolute Precision
Entirely crafted in the manufacture’s workshops, Chopard’s flying tourbillon was launched in 2019 in the men’s L.U.C Flying T Twin watch. Since then, the flying tourbillon, known because it does not rest on an upper bridge (the frame of watch movement onto which the other components are mounted), has also been available in a ladies’ limited series. It now benefits from all the technical innovations developed over the last 25 years by Chopard Manufacture. Its remarkable slenderness – at barely 3.30mm thick for 194 components – ranks it among the thinnest in contemporary Haute Horlogerie. L.U.C Calibre 96.24-C is equipped with a stop-seconds function. This technical feature, which is extremely rare in a tourbillon, enables even more accurate time-setting. Further, the IMPERIALE Flying Tourbillon has a 65-hour power reserve.
Aesthetic As Ever
A tribute to the great historical empires, the style codes of the IMPERIALE collection are reflected in the dagger-shaped hands and the case lugs, reminiscent of ancient columns. On the back of the model, a sapphire crystal reveals the Côtes de Genève motif (a pattern of stripes produced abrasively) as well as the diamond-pavéd, platinum microrotor. From the front, the IMPERIALE Flying Tourbillon is framed by an ethical 18-carat white gold case set with diamonds. Their brilliance lights up the glittering midnight-blue sky of the aventurine (a form of quartz) glass dial on which a lotus flower in mother-of-pearl marquetry (decorative veneer craft) blossoms. Its wonderfully curved petals open onto a second flower, this time pavéd with diamonds. In place of the pistil, the flying tourbillon, adorned with four petals, also acquires a plant-like allure, thus instilling new poetry into the rotations of its infinitely small mechanism, like a masterful floral symphony of time…