Chopard L.U.C Fleurier White Gold 9.96 Movement Review

SJX shares his initial impressions of a Chopard L.U.C Fleurier in white gold, noting its distinctive and modern design, which captivated him despite his previous lukewarm reception to L.U.C aesthetics. He praises the exceptional quality of the 9.96 automatic movement's finishing, which bears the Qualité Fleurier seal, positioning this limited edition as a potential winner for Chopard.

The other day I was at the Chopard boutique and something caught my eye. That does not happen often with Chopard. I respect the LUC range for its quality and construction but their designs leave me lukewarm. I once owned two LUC watches, one was the original LUC with the wonderfully finished 1.96 calibre while the other was the Sport 2000. Neither was a particularly exciting watch, though the quaity of movement finishing for the price was outstanding.

What caught my eye at the boutique is the latest LUC Fleurier. It is in white gold with the 9.96 automatic movement bearing the Qualite Fleurier seal. The case is the same size as the previous two LUC Fleurier watches, approximately 39 mm white. And like the previous two it is also a limited edition of 250 pieces.

While I loved the movement in the previous two LUC Fleurier watches, they did not look interesting. This third Fleurier edition looks different and I like it. The centre of the dial is open revealing the top plate of the movement while the applied indices sit on a brush grey ring. This watch enjoys a distinctive, modern (I can't emphasise modern enough) design without looking awkward until other LUC models.

As always the movement finish is of very, very high quality, probably the best I have seen for a mass produced automatic calibre out of Switzerland. The case work is good and so is the dial and hands, though neither is to the exceptionally high standard of the movement.

Chopard has a winner on their hands.

- SJX