A skull of straw and eggshell: Chopard unveils a one-off for Día de los Muertos
For the 13th edition of its Día de los Muertos series, Chopard uses eggshell marquetry for the first time. The minute repeater is a unique piece and debuts in New York.
Symbolic image · Photo: Carlos.altmnt / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (cropped and resized)
Chopard has unveiled a new edition of its L.U.C Full Strike “Día de los Muertos” – according to WatchTime, the 13th interpretation of the theme with which the brand marks Mexico's Day of the Dead. The watch, reference 161947-5007, is a unique piece. Its rose-gold dial shows a calavera, a decorated skull, made from more than 70 individually selected, mostly deep-blue fragments of rye straw grown in France, combined with black lacquer and – for the first time in Chopard's workshops – eggshell marquetry. A single artisan spent more than 160 hours on it.
The 42.5mm case in ethical 18-carat rose gold is hand-engraved on the bezel, caseband and crown. Inside is the hand-wound L.U.C 08.01-L calibre with 533 components and a 60-hour power reserve, a minute repeater whose gongs are machined from the same piece of sapphire as the crystal. The movement won the Aiguille d'Or at the 2017 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève. According to Hourstriker, the watch also marks ten years of the Full Strike and 30 years of the Chopard Manufacture.
Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele spoke of “associating an exceptional chiming complication with rare decorative crafts” and praised “the remarkable talents of our Artisans who perpetuate these precious skills.” The unique piece makes its public debut at WatchTime New York, held at Gotham Hall in Manhattan from 16 to 18 October.