“Right from the beginning, we have placed the emphasis on quality,” affirms Karl-Friedrich Scheufele at the start of the conversation. “And this concern for quality has been integrated into all stages of production. Our chance, and our advantage, has been to start from nothing, from a blank page. Everything therefore has had to be created, imagined: methods, procedures, the industrialization…everything. This was a slow process of acquisition and mastering the savoir-faire and the understanding. Step by step, we have integrated new know-how. We have gradually verticalized our operations, without ever having compromised our requirements for quality, to the extent that, even within Chopard, we have forged a reputation as being an extremist in quality.”

Familial protection
This achievement, the fruit of reasoning aimed at the long term, is comforted, if not simply made possible, by the familial character of the Chopard company (a powerful company that today employs 1,370 people worldwide). But it is also, in its way, a return to its roots, an endeavour to gradually balance the offer with the brand’s essentially jewellery image. “L.U.C. is Chopard in depth," says Scheufele, who evokes the watchmaking heritage of the brand. “Protected as we are, because as a family brand we don’t have to answer to stockholder pressure, we are able to build the brand for the long term. The only things that count for us are authenticity, consistency, continuity, and the coherence of the process.”

A ten-year plan
Karl-Friedrich Scheufele gave himself ten years to accomplish what he calls the “first step” in setting up the L.U.C. manufacture. During these ten years, the company has progressively integrated “a new atelier” each year. Little by little, the brand has extended its mastery over the various stages of production. To arrive at this point, it was not only necessary to acquire a range of knowledge, to rediscover “the chef’s small secrets”, and to learn the indispensable little tips, but it was also necessary to train its people in order to assure a consistent level of quality. “All these processes take a lot of time,” he explains, “and cannot be merely improvised. As one example, chamfering. It takes at least a year to be able to acquire the consistent quality that we demand. A culture is constructed little by little, then it continues to be cultivated.”
At the end of this first ten-year stage, much has been accomplished, as this visit to the manufacture demonstrated. And, while some skills remain to be integrated (we mention notably the cutting of the gears and the fabrication of the pallets and escapement wheel, it is now time for the second step: to “establish” the reputation of the products and the manufacture, “which will take us another ten years,” estimates Scheufele.

Five basic movements
This reputation can, as of now, be constructed using five basic movements, which have been designed and totally produced by the manufacture:

 the L.U.C. 1.96, the basic automatic movement;

 the tonneau-shaped version (the sole existing on the market) of the basic automatic movement;

 the Quattro 1.98, a patented movement, with four barrels, which has notably given birth to the L.U.C. Regulator model;

 the tourbillon, also equipped with four barrels;

 the L.U.C. 96 QP, a modified version of the L.U.C. 1.96 that can accept a perpetual calendar, with orbital lunar phases.
All these movements are COSC-certified and some of them bear the Poinçon de Genève (Geneva Seal). They have given birth to a collection of truly remarkable watches, significant as much for their design as for the quality of their finishing. The brand has revisited the criteria and classic values of the great watchmaking traditions (decoration, guilloché, readability, raised hour markers, etc.), and has brought them up to date, in order to offer a very contemporary vision of timekeeping with watches that have a strong identity. Readability, purity, and cleanness of lines all come together harmoniously with an added playful touch… for example, alternating between the hour markers and the large Roman numerals that decorate the dial of the Perpetual Calendar.




LUC LUNAR ONE , LUC QUALITé FLEURIER and LUC TWIST


Tradition and youth
The form of “youth” and freshness is found in the company’s facilities (well-lit workshops, state-of-the-art equipment, and the rigorous modernity that is present everywhere) and in the force of its workers. When visiting the manufacture, and when speaking to the men and women (young for the most part) who practice their special skills, one does not feel that timekeeping traditions are a heavy load. It seems more like they represent a standard, of course, but one that is only a starting point…
There can be no question that the next ten years now before the L.U.C. manufacture will reserve surprises for us, and will allow Chopard to definitely gain its place at the heart of noble watchmaking. For many, Chopard is glamour. L.U.C. is demonstrating that it is also excellence in the art of timekeeping.
With its 1,500 sales points around the world and its 91 Chopard boutiques (of which 40 percent belong to the brand), Chopard has the tools necessary to build the long-lasting reputation of L.U.C.


Source: February - March 2006 Issue