WATCHES & TIMEPIECES 85
Its natural fibres create striking plays of light that animate the composition. The eggshell marquetry, as seen on the eye sockets and teeth, undergoes an equally meticulous process. Selected for its subtle hue, the shell is cleaned, dried, carefully broken by hand and assembled piece by piece. The motif is then lacquered and polished to achieve a perfectly even surface. Around the eye sockets, the artisan has created a gradient effect, allowing more black lacquer to remain visible at the centre while progressively tightening the arrangement of shell fragments towards the outer edges.
The iconic moustache is fashioned from hand-engraved gold, decorated with a satinbrushed motif and enhanced by a L. U. Chopard logo in relief. Around the perimeter of the dial, fine hand-executed chasing outlines the contours of the calavera, its finish echoing the structure and characteristic veining of the straw marquetry. These engravings extend harmoniously onto the bezel, caseband and crown, creating a subtle sense of continuity between the dial and the watch exterior.
At the heart of this unique timepiece beats the L. U. C Calibre 08.01-L, the first minute repeater movement developed entirely by Chopard Manufacture. Introduced in 2016, the L. U. C Full Strike earned international acclaim for its innovative sapphire gong technology and was awarded the prestigious Aiguille d’ Or at the Grand Prix d’ Horlogerie de Genève in 2017. The movement’ s patented monobloc sapphire construction, in which the watch glass and gongs are formed from a single piece of sapphire crystal, enables the striking mechanism to produce a sound of exceptional purity and resonance. In a detail created specifically for this edition, the hammers, strike ratchet wheels bridge and repeater inertia governor drum feature a blue CVD treatment, forming a chromatic echo of the blue straw on the dial. Five patents protect the innovations developed for this calibre. Among them are a patented strikeworkpusher disengagement system that prevents any interference while the mechanism is chiming, and a dedicated ratchet-driving mechanism enabling the sequence of hours, quarters and minutes to sound in fluid succession without unnecessary silent pauses, with remarkable clarity and continuity.
“ By associating an exceptional chiming complication with rare decorative crafts, the unique L. U. C Full Strike‘ Día de los Muertos’ Edition 13 celebrates both the richness of Mexican culture and the remarkable talents of our Artisans who perpetuate these precious skills,” says Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard. www. chopard. com
ISSUE 79 2026 THE ART OF LUXURY