First Look

The watchmaking icon showcases its new models: The Alpine Eagle 41 XPS and reinvented Happy Sport 25mm

The Watches Of Switzerland Group 5 minutes
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As part of Watches and Wonders 2023, Chopard expresses its Joie de Vivre with their Happy Sport 25mm.A timepiece for women who stride boldly towards their destiny and whose vitality impels playful dancing diamonds to stage a mesmerising show. At the heart of the new Happy Sport, reinvented in a 25 mm diameter case in steel or steel and ethical gold, the course of dancing diamonds becomes even more fascinating. This new-sized iteration of the Manufacture's iconic watch comes in four variations featuring a choice of materials, straps including a new double tour option – and diamond settings.

Admiring the path of time

A round dial, softly caressing like a protective cocoon and sparkling like a champagne bubble. A fascinating and soothing sight in which we come to immerse our gaze and catch our breath before setting off again on our hectic rush. A companion always on hand to provide playful, poetic time-out from the pace of a world perpetually on the move.

One glance at this watch reveals an invigorating mirror of our own energy, extended through the ballet of five dancing diamonds, caught up by means of a slim gold spinning top in a wonderful game of chance and kinetic energy. Happy Sport is the story of a free-spirited attitude and infinite Joie de Vivre daily reinvented by women everywhere.

A miniature case for an everlasting dance

The Happy Sport watch returns in a version that is daintier than ever with a 25 mm case celebrating the spirit of jewellery watches and staging the wonders of five dancing diamonds. The softness of the pearly silvery grey dial draws the gaze and envelops it in an ultra-chic chromatic texture. This subtle shade accentuates the jewel-like quality of the collection, forming a luminous heart that is an inexhaustible source of soothing gentleness where the eye can come to recharge its batteries at will.

This Happy Sport 25 mm has retained several of the collection’s key characteristics, including the deliberate association of materials belonging to radically different registers: steel, ethical gold and diamonds. Thus unleashed, diamonds are rendered more accessible while losing nothing of their magic and their fascination.

Four versions of this unprecedentedly sized case – the most miniature version of the Happy Sport ever produced – are available: in fully polished steel, or adorned with a diamond-set bezel; and in steel featuring a crown, cabochons and polished or diamond-set bezel in ethical 18-carat rose gold.

A miniature case for an everlasting dance

The Happy Sport watch returns in a version that is daintier than ever with a 25 mm case celebrating the spirit of jewellery watches and staging the wonders of five dancing diamonds. The softness of the pearly silvery grey dial draws the gaze and envelops it in an ultra-chic chromatic texture. This subtle shade accentuates the jewel-like quality of the collection, forming a luminous heart that is an inexhaustible source of soothing gentleness where the eye can come to recharge its batteries at will.

This Happy Sport 25 mm has retained several of the collection’s key characteristics, including the deliberate association of materials belonging to radically different registers: steel, ethical gold and diamonds. Thus unleashed, diamonds are rendered more accessible while losing nothing of their magic and their fascination.

Four versions of this unprecedentedly sized case – the most miniature version of the Happy Sport ever produced – are available: in fully polished steel, or adorned with a diamond-set bezel; and in steel featuring a crown, cabochons and polished or diamond-set bezel in ethical 18-carat rose gold.

A double tour strap: bold style

On the two non-gemset versions, a magnificent double-tour leather strap adds an ultra-chic touch to the Happy Sport. Every inch the daring fashion accessory, this slim, elongated band graces the wrist by reinventing the watch in a manner simply unprecedented within this collection as it prolongs the motion of the dancing diamonds through a light aesthetic touch.

A splendid midnight blue shade has been chosen to enhance the strap: a celestial colour echoing the traditional sapphire adorning the crown and reaffirming the legitimacy of the collection's classic design codes, adjusted to the most contemporary chromatic palette. Teamed with steel and ethical gold, this sultry shade adds an incredibly stylish accent to any look.

The two versions featuring a diamond-set bezel are fitted with a timelessly elegant alligator leather strap, also in midnight blue.

Infinite creativity

The purity of this 25 mm model reveals a new facet of the Happy Sport’s eminently versatile essence. Since its inception, the spirit of the collection has been expressed through multiple shapes and variations echoing the spirit of freedom in which it was conceived.

A true style icon, Happy Sport has been playing the mix & match game since 1993, freely combining genres, steel and diamonds, the timeless and the ephemeral. Its visionary and avant-garde designer Caroline Scheufele designed a beautiful watch that was anything but formal. Sophisticated, yet sporty. Unburdened by conventions, joyful, playful and so very modern, it plays with codes while losing nothing of its femininity. Accompanying the movements of the world, the evolutions of style as well as inner transformations, Happy Sport paves the way for infinite metamorphoses, whisking along in its merry whirl a world on the move (and a work in progress): that of women’s emancipation. "Be Happy", like a talisman on the wrist.

Inspired by a historic Chopard model reinterpreted by three generations of men from the Scheufele family, the Alpine Eagle collection has been constantly enriched by new achievements since its launch. The latest of these is a signature movement from Chopard Manufacture, developed thanks to the watchmaking expertise steadily acquired by its workshops since 1996 – and to which the introduction of the L.U.C 96.40-L movement with small seconds indication within a watch in the Alpine Eagle collection bears vibrant testimony.

Greatly appreciated by watch enthusiasts, the small seconds display made its collection debut with the 2022 release of the Alpine Eagle Flying Tourbillon model. It now once again embodies the horological roots of this collection comprising timepieces powered by in-house movements with chronometer-certified precision, meticulously decorated and equipped with key innovations from the Manufacture, such as the gold micro-rotor and Chopard Twin technology. With the Alpine Eagle 41 XPS, Chopard orchestrates an encounter between the finest Chopard Manufacture movements and the sporty elegance of the Alpine Eagle collection.

A precision-certified movement

The main immediately identifiable characteristic of the L.U.C 96.40-L movement is its extreme thinness: resulting from the development of the first Chopard Manufacture calibre (the L.U.C 96.01-L presented in 1997), it measures just 3.30 mm thick. To facilitate precise time-setting, it is equipped with a stop-seconds function. It also features a swan’s neck enabling finer adjustment of the oscillating frequency – and thus the rate of the watch – by helping to modify the active hairspring length. In addition to its technical interest, the swan’s neck endows the calibre with a more elaborate aesthetic. The precision of this movement, which also powers a small seconds dial display, is certified by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute, as evidenced by the "Chronometer" inscription on the dial below the logo. This demand for accuracy embedded in the DNA of Swiss watchmaking lies at the very core of the philosophy upheld by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele (Co-President of the Maison) and drives the entire creative process of the Manufacture.

Thanks to its two stacked barrels based on Chopard Twin technology, the L.U.C 96.40-L movement guarantees a 65-hour power reserve, and its automatic winding system operates via a 22-carat gold off-centre micro-rotor whose density contributes to the movement's slenderness. Recalling the attention to detail cultivated by the artisans of emotions, each bridge is adorned with a Côtes de Genève motif and all other movement components are finished in compliance with the Poinçon de Genève criteria.

Sophisticated aesthetics

The thin movement has contributed to optimising the proportions of the Alpine Eagle 41 XPS watch: the case is only 8 mm thick, while the sides and bezel have been trimmed compared to a classic Alpine Eagle Large model, resulting in a wider dial. These well balanced proportions that have always characterised the collection imbue this timepiece with a gracefully elegant appearance.

Drawing inspiration from the power of Nature, the Alpine Eagle collection clearly reflects Chopard’s creative richness and visionary spirit. The Alpine Eagle 41 XPS remains true to this aesthetic: a round case with stylised flanks, a crown engraved with a compass rose, a bezel with eight functional screws set at a tangent, a stamped dial with intense colours, luminescent indications and an eminently wearable metal bracelet.

Lucent Steel A223: an innovative metal Demonstrating Chopard's commitment to the use of raw materials combining performance and responsible origins, the Alpine Eagle 41 XPS timepiece is made of Lucent Steel A223, an innovative steel alloy composed of 85% recycled materials, developed by Chopard for its anti-allergenic virtues, its robustness and its incomparable brilliance achieved through a meticulous recasting process.

An unprecedented “Monte Rosa Pink” dial colour The dial is textured on a brass base according to a pattern inspired by the eagle's iris. It is adorned with gold hands, enhanced with Grade X1 Super-LumiNova® – which is 60% more luminous than traditional LumiNova and more resistant to ageing. A new colour is making its debut on the dial of this new model: like Aletsch Blue, Bernina Grey or Pink Dawn, "Monte Rosa Pink" is inspired by the palette of natural colours composing the beauty of the Alpine landscape. This novel hue that is sure to stoke the desire of collectors, evokes the pinkish shimmer after which the second highest mountain range in the Alps is named. The Dufourspitze/Punta Dufour located there is also the highest Swiss peak.

Poinçon de Genève: a guarantee of fine craftsmanship

Vertically integrated throughout its production process, Chopard makes and assembles all the components of its Alpine Eagle collection in-house, from movement to case to bracelet. The entire timepiece is thus certified by the Poinçon de Genève quality hallmark. The latter guarantees the impeccable quality and smooth functioning of the timepieces assembled in the Canton. Stamped on the back of the watch and on the main movement bridge, it represents the coat-of-arms of the city of Geneva composed of a gold key and above all an eagle: a symbol recalling the original inspiration for the Alpine Eagle collection. After the Alpine Eagle Flying Tourbillon, the Alpine Eagle 41 XPS is the second watch in the collection to earn recognition by this prestigious label of excellence.

Discover more about Chopard online, and keep an eye out for new releases from the fair landing both on our websites and in our showrooms soon.