Chopard L.U.C Time Traveler One

Quick specs Chopard L.U.C Time Traveler One
Price:
Stainless steel: CHF 12’800 | $ 12,800 | € 12.610 | approx. £ 9,710
Rose gold: CHF 22’500 | $ 22,500 | € 22.170 | approx. £ 17,100
Platinum: CHF 35’200 | $ 35,200 | € 34.680 | approx. £ 26,700
Size: 42 mm
Reference: 168574-3001 (stainless steel) | 161942-5001 (rose gold) | 161942-9001 (platinum)

Chopard’s L.U.C GMT One is Chopard’s first L.U.C watch with a dual-time function, this Chopard L.U.C Time Traveler One is the first L.U.C world timer. There are three different case materials, each with a matching dial. A stainless steel one with black dial, an 18K rose gold one with silver-toned dial and a platinum version with grey-blue dial. World timers can look a bit messy as the dial is full of information.

Chopard manages to keep it more structured and more clear to read by using the right and matching colours and typography. You still have to get used to it for a few days in order to ‘read’ your watch in a split second. But look at the photo’s: it shouldn’t be too hard. Besides, it’s a pleasure to look at.

Inside the 42-millimeter case is Chopard’s mechanical self-winding L.U.C 01.05-L caliber. It offers a power-reserve of 60 hours, enough for most travelers. The Time Traveler One has a central hand that indicates the date. It is surrounded by a railway track circle that serves the hours and minutes of the time zone at home. Both functions can be adjusted by the crown at 2 o’clock.

The Chopard L.U.C Time Traveler One has a clear and easy to read dial, for a world timer

Now the world timer part. A large 24-hour graduated ring operates in coordination with the disc bearing the reference cities symbolizing the 24 main time zones. Once they are synchronized with the time zone at home by the 4 o’clock crown, no more adjustment is required. Now you can see the time wherever you are on earth, and with the same hand as your local time. The ring indicating the hours of your local time is partly light and partly dark colored: day and night.

The time at home is always on the central dial of the Chopard L.U.C Time Traveler One. If you want to know the time at the location where you are, you have to extend your view from the second inner circle (not the first, that’s the date) to the outer circle and find the (nearest) city at your current location. And then read the corresponding hour.

Not everybody like this way of displaying the time. Some want the local time on the main dial and their home time somewhere else. It is a matter of taste perhaps, and a matter of mindset on the other hand. You can get used to both ways. As long as you don’t swap world timing watches every day.