Celebrating love with Chopard
Chopard enjoys playing modern-day Cupid, and celebrates the season of love every day. Rather than silver arrows, its quiver contains a sprinkling of diamonds, rubies, and white gold. The Haute Joaillerie and Horlogerie brand is bringing out a curated range of their offerings as their 2017 love offerings
Joaillerie:
Happy Diamonds Joaillerie
Some say it with flowers, others with poems. Chopard unites the delicacy of the former and the romanticism of the latter within a watch. Framed by an 18-carat white-gold case, the shimmering white textured mother-of-pearl dial of the Happy Diamonds Joaillerie model draws all eyes to the joyfully spinning five diamonds and five tiny ruby hearts – a Chopard signature.
The stones are set on prongs – a new feature introduced to mark the 40th anniversary of the Happy Diamonds – and thus shine more brightly than ever. The brilliant-cut gemstones adorning the bezel further enhance this dazzling whiteness that a playful Cupid has shot through with flaming red arrows of passion.
Happy Hearts
What better way to show love than to buy one of Chopard’s flagship products, Happy Hearts? This romantic variation on the Happy Diamonds theme, combining spinning diamonds and hearts, is enriched with rings and also welcomes bracelets with new materials – a welcome addition for the modern young women with a taste for chic and lively fashion.
A token of love, a lucky charm, and a motif cherished by Caroline Scheufele, the heart is a recurrent theme in the work of the Geneva-based Maison. Allied with the famous Happy Diamonds, the other Chopard symbol, it now has its own emblematic collection, naturally named Happy Hearts.
After the exquisite bangle-style bracelets that have become the stars of the line, alongside pendants and earrings adorned with coloured stones such as onyx or mother-of-pearl or set with diamonds, charming rings are making a long-awaited entrance to the collection.
Rings for love
Picking up the bracelet design, the bangle-style rings face each other in a graceful pas de deux – with colourful hearts enclosing a moving diamond appearing at either end. Generous-sized spherical models in rose or white gold display a sprinkling of hearts in the same colour, including an adorable smaller heart housing a moving diamond.
Haute Joaillerie
Some say it with flowers, others with hearts! The universal symbol of love deeply cherished by Caroline Scheufele – who has made it the emblem of Chopard – is imaginatively interpreted through High Jewellery creations distinguished by their exceptional aesthetic purity.
Hearts in the limelight
For each of these models, the Geneva-based Maison chooses gems of incomparable splendour. In this instance, a magnificent 10-carat “fancy vivid” yellow heart-cut diamond adorns a ring featuring a daring design and surrounded by marquise-cut diamonds and brilliant-cut yellow diamonds.
High Jewellery creations spring to life in Chopard’s Geneva workshops. Under the aegis of Chopard co-president Caroline Scheufele, artisans combine their talents and skills to give rise to authentic works of art in which traditional techniques mingle with cutting-edge technologies.
Haute Horlogerie:
Imperiale “La Vie en Rose”
Chopard’s classic Imperiale watch line now welcomes a new interpretation: a delightful pastel pink model artfully combining softness with sophisticated elegance, for those who love to see life through rose-tinted glasses.
The Imperiale watch distils a wealth of details that are nods to the finest hours of ancient Rome. The sovereign nature of the collection is expressed through the powerful stature of the Roman numerals marking the hours, as well as through the tapered hand design reminiscent of combat daggers, while the shape of the lugs echo the tradition of imperial columns famed for their perfectly balanced proportions.
The powerful straight lines of these symbols are softened by the delicate shade of pink infusing the entire timepiece with an aura of exquisite lightness. Even the alligator leather strap takes on the tender blush of finer feelings. The dial centre adorned in old rose mother-of-pearl glows with an opulent velvety radiance. Epitomising a subtle blend of power and gentleness, the Imperiale la Vie en Rose reveals a more sensitive and romantic aspect of the Imperiale personality.
The Imperiale La Vie en Rose is a 100-piece limited edition featuring a stainless steel case.
Mille Miglia GTS Automatic Speed black
Chopard’s Mille Miglia GTS Automatic Speed black is born of its passion for classic motor racing. Cloaked in deep black, this powerful model joins the Mille Miglia GTS collection launched in 2015 that is inspired by the legendary Italian competition for which Chopard has been serving as official timekeeper since 1988.
Sophisticated design and technical excellence combine in this exclusive timepiece powered by a Chopard calibre and chronometer-certified by the COSC. With its red “Rossa Corsa” detailing, its oversized numerals recalling a 1950s dashboard, its engine-style finishing and its strap featuring a vintage Dunlop racing tyre-tread motif, the new Mille Miglia GTS Automatic Speed black – issued in a 1,000-piece limited edition – perpetuates the Chopard classic racing spirit.
Chopard’s ties with classic racing stems from Chopard co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s personal passion for collector’s cars, and was given shape in 1988 when the Manufacture became partner and official timekeeper of the famous Mille Miglia: an endurance competition that sees more than 400 classic cars facing off each spring on a thousand-mile loop-style course between Brescia and Rome that winds its way through some magnificent Italian scenery.
Referred to by Enzo Ferrari as the “world’s most beautiful race”, it inspired an eponymous watch collection created by Chopard in 1988 and which since 2015 is equipped with Manufacture movements. An authentic benchmark in the field of contemporary watchmaking, the Mille Miglia collection annually welcomes new models distinguished by sophisticated and eminently virile designs.
The intensely dusky Mille Miglia GTS Automatic Speed black now enriches this iconic collection by revisiting the characteristics of the classic cars that took part in the Italian race between 1940 and 1957. Cloaked in deep black from its case and dial all the way to its functional screws, it flaunts a powerful look and a sporting character suited to all occasions.
This contemporary timepiece – issued in a 1,000-piece limited series – comes in a sturdy 43 MM case made of stainless steel blackened by a DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon) treatment creating an extremely resistant coating, topped by a bezel with a graduated black aluminium insert. Its short, streamlined lugs – designed to mould the curves of the wrist to perfection – ensure optimal comfort and a unique style.
The model is ideally complemented by the integrated black rubber strap inspired by 1960s Dunlop racing tyres and fastened by a DLC-coated stainless steel folding clasp. The screw-in case-back guaranteeing water resistance to a depth of 100 metres is secured by eight PVD-treated black screws and engraved with the inscription “Mille Miglia GTS Speed black”. Its tinted crystal surrounded by a bright-red gasket provides fascinating glimpses of the Chopard movement – its engine-style finishes and its open-worked oscillating weight.
The Mille Miglia GTS Automatic Speed black also plays on contrasts. Its velvet-finish matt black dial is lit up by flamboyant red accents in the shape of a sweep-seconds hand, the gasket surrounding the minute track, as well as the arrow-shaped Mille Miglia logo framing the date aperture. The iconic “Rossa Corsa” is the shade formerly allocated to Italy in motor-racing competitions, and is one of the “racing colours” that served to identify rival nationalities.
The superlumionva-painted oversized 6 and 12 o’clock Arabic numerals stand out clearly against the dial. Evoking the dashboards on classic cars, they meet the legibility demands of the Italian race that takes place in any weather. Reflecting the same care for details, the broad facetted dagger-shaped hands and the black metallised applied hour-markers are painted with a luminescent substance, thereby accentuating the sporting nature of this prestigious timepiece.
The impressive lines of the Mille Miglia GTS Automatic Speed black house an ‘engine’ boasting equally remarkable precision and performance. Chopard Calibre 01.01-M, entirely conceived, developed and assembled in the Chopard workshops, is chronometer-certified by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC). Endowed with a generous 60-hour power reserve, this mechanical self-winding movement powers the hours, minutes, seconds and date functions.
Accessories:
The brand’s curated 2017 offerings also include accessories such as the Happy Vintage Baby shoulder bag in nude smooth calfskin leather, rose gold finish, shoulder strap removable chain; Siena Mini shoulder bag in dove-grey smooth calfskin leather and silver-coloured small grained calfskin leather, palladium finished; a Fountain Pen Classic Superfast in black acrylic resin and palladium plated; and Mille Miglia Cufflinks in DLC with black rubber.
