The Chopard L.U.C 1963 Heritage Regulator: An Elegant Execution of a Classic Watchmaking Look

I’ve always found regulator watches fascinating. They’re not complications necessarily, but a clear nod to an important past of watchmaking and manufacturing history. They’re wonderfully historic, wonderfully romantic, but they rarely draw me in to actually pick one up.

Think of working in a big old factory with the only light coming from dusty windows. Yet, everyone in that factory may need to operate on the same time for everything from quotas to setting watches. Regulators got their names because they helped regulate and tell time in a factory, and to do that, they had to make sure that there was no chance of any confusion between an hour hand and a minute hand up on a high, far wall. Because of this, they ended up using a single minute hand over the 60-minute circle, applied for watch companies not only because they were setting and checking time on different pieces, but because it was also used for other types of factories and departments, from logistics to management. They were used, of course, by Chopard itself, and the precision clocks used by the maison over the years are on display at Chopard’s museum in Fleurier, L.U.CEUM, which is a wonderful place to visit if you ever get the chance.

I always really like the vision of a two-handed watch because to me, there’s romance and tradition and balance, but as much as there are some regulator models that I’ve truly appreciated, I can never move into that direction. Perhaps what I feel is a lack of that balance, which just doesn’t work for me.

That is, until now. What Chopard just did with the new L.U.C. 1963 Heritage Regulator has shown us that with proper vision, it can have that balance. This is a limited edition revival of a classic and what they are calling an elegant reinterpretation of one of their most important pieces.

Aesthetically, it is more contemporary than many more traditional executions. One of the reasons may be that to achieve balance, they used four sub-dials. Keep in mind that Chopard is a jewelry maison just as much as it is a watchmaking maison, so their artistic vision can be very different from strict haute horlogerie houses. In this case, that point-of-view brings quite a nice aesthetic for a very key part of watchmaking history.

The new wristwatch itself is 40 millimeters in diameter with a thin 10.30 millimeter profile and an 18 karat ethical white gold case. The dial is silver-toned, so that also contributes to the balance of the whole piece while still making clear the time display. The minutes are indicated by the longest hand that stretches out from the center to the perimeter. Hours are displayed in a sub-dial at three o’clock, small seconds at six o’clock, and a single-hand 24-hour GMT display is at nine o’clock. There’s a half-circle subdial pointer power reserve indicator at the top of the watch face, a relatively discreet dial date display at the bottom, and an aperture where the thirty-minute numerals would be.

This means six indications, which on its own can make it somewhat challenging to design in a nicely harmonious way. Perhaps it is exactly the single long regulator minute hand that works where a more traditional two-hand wouldn’t. I find it a nice, fresh approach executed in the very well-done Chopard way.

The watch is powered by the hand-wound L.U.C. caliber 98.02-L, which is devised and developed and assembled in-house at Chopard. Their exclusive Chopard Quattro technology delivers around nine days of power reserve. The watch is COSC certified in terms of accuracy and consistency with the Poinçon de Genève, guaranteeing that it passes the highest standards of construction, finishing, and craftsmanship. And it is truly limited: they will make only 25 of them.