The L.U.C. Strike Force wowed the judges at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2017 and won the Aiguille d’Or prize — the watch industry’s equivalent of the Oscars “We introduced a revolutionary sound system to a minute repeater that is quite amazing,” says Scheufele, who heads the development of Chopard’s L.U.C. collection of mechanically complex men’s timepieces, while sister Caroline oversees the jewellery and ladies’ watches as co-president. This is the first time that sapphire has been used as an acoustic generator and amplifier in watchmaking, and the sapphire gongs — tuned to the C and F key — produce a unique sound that is beautifully resonant and crystal clear. “They really carry the sound outside of the watch case; it’s the only watch where you can actually hear the striking across the room even when people are having conversations. It’s quite unique,” Scheufele points out, rather modestly.
The most striking feature of the limited-edition timepiece, crafted from Fairmined gold, is the transparent sapphire crystal gongs used in place of the usual steel or gold gongs to strike the hours, quarters and minutes Sapphire crystal is commonly used to encase a timepiece, as it is an extremely scratch-resistant material. But it is also for this reason that sapphire is rarely used for the purpose Chopard has so dexterously deployed in the Full Strike. Working with the tough material came with a set of challenges that added an exceptional level of complexity to the entire process. But Scheufele did not back down from the challenges. The gongs and watch glass are machined together from a single sapphire block forming a single welding-, glue- and screw-free unit — a completely new construction that has never been done in watchmaking history. This perfect physical integrity between the gongs and the watch glass is what enables the sound to be transmitted clearly. Then, there is the re-engineering of the typical activating mechanism of a minute repeater. Instead of a sliding lever on the case side, the Full Strike integrates the mechanism into its crown. “We didn’t want to have a lever on the side, as I consider it old-fashioned and also impractical,” explains Scheufele. “We wanted everything to be integrated into the crown, so the crown actually allows you to wind the watch one way and wind the minute repeater the other way. This is easy to say, but very difficult to do. So, the biggest challenge was taking the idea and making it a reality,” he says. Seventeen thousand man-hours of development, three patents and six years later, the Full Strike has turned out to be “an incredible success”, says Scheufele. It wowed the judges at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2017 and won the Aiguille d’Or prize — the watch industry’s equivalent of the Oscars. Wine and watchmaking Soft-spoken yet self-possessed, German-born Scheufele is elegance personified and the embodiment of the Chopard client and brand. On his wrist sits a classic tonneau-shaped timepiece — the L.U.C. Heritage Grand Cru, “the only tonneau-shaped watch with a tonneau-shaped movement”, he says. “It’s one of my favourites because it’s a beautiful shape; it’s in the shape of a barrel and I’m into winemaking, so it’s a meaningful shape for me,” says Scheufele. He went into the wine business in the 1990s with the acquisition of a wine retail business, followed by a wine estate in France. There is a certain timelessness in watchmaking and winemaking that Scheufele can identify with. It is the pursuit of perfection of a craft: one of the viticultural variety and the other, of the mechanical kind. And passion drives both. “I’m a passionate wine producer on the side, but if I wasn’t doing what I’m doing now, I would be producing wine as my main occupation,” says Scheufele. Jamie Nonis is a business and lifestyle journalist with an appreciation for all things beautiful
