Chopard have been making beautiful watches for years, that are somewhat forgettable. If you think of them at all, it’s likely for the Mille Miglia Chopard watches with silicone rubber strap made to look like tire tread.
But now, they’re going old school, and reaching further upscale. The Alpine Eagle XL Chrono is a 3 register chronograph in a sports watch steel case, with integrated bracelet. It’s very 70s, babe. Boffo, babe, socko, babe.
The recipe is simple: Start with a 3 register chrono, 3-6-9 positions. Put it into a case with integrated lugs and a bezel that is screwed to the caseback through the mid case, sandwiching the whole thing together.
Load it up with a mix of polished and brushed surfaces. The functional bezel screws are polished, and indexed so that they’re all aligned around the circumference of the bezel.
The dial is textured with almost a swirl-shaped brushing. The subdials are flat by contrast. The center link of the bracelet is polished, and the beveled edge of the bezel is, too. The rest is brushed entirely, excepting a little polish on the case sides, but not the lugs.
The material is interesting, too. This is Chopard’s own alloy, called A223. A223 steel is less allergenic than surgical steel, 50% more scratch resistant than other stainless, and contains recycled steel in it.
The movement is Chopard’s 03.05-C. The complications in this chrono are hours, minutes, small seconds, date, and a flyback column-wheel chronograph with counters for 30 minutes and 12 hours.
The options are kept under tight control as well: You can have a blue dial or black dial, a steel case or two tone rose gold and steel. That’s it. The indices are applied, and the whole thing is water resistant to 100 meters. If you have around 20 to 30 grand, it could be yours. The Lucent Steel A223 is $19,200; Lucent Steel A223 and ethical gold, for a mere $26,800. Chopard.com
