The Perpetual Calendar (Quantième Perpétuel aka QP) is one of the coolest complication one can have on a timepiece. But in the world of QPs, only a few brands have the right to brag about that instantaneous jump. Read on to find out what I mean. Today, I feature one of them - the Chopard L.U.C Lunar One Perpetual which features not only a perpetual calendar but also a moonphase.
The perpetual calendar is somewhat of an interesting complication which requires a little explanation. In a typical timepiece, there are 31 days on the date disc but when it comes to months where there are 30 days, the owner needs to advance the date manually. In an Annual Calendar, the mechanism takes care of the 30/31 days issue.
Then what about February? Unfortunately, the Annual Calendar only takes care of months where there are 30 or 31 days... but not so when it gets to February. When it is February in a non-leap year, there are 28 days while the leap year will have 29 days.
In steps the QP... with a complex gearing mechanism, the QP takes care of not only the 30 or 31 days in the year, it also considers the shorter month of February.
In the QP, the timepiece (when correctly adjusted) displays the correct date not only for the "normal" months but also advances from 28 (or 29 in a leap year) to 1st of March.
In a QP, the timepiece will advance to 1st of March from the last day of February. In the case of the Chopard QP, the subdial at the 3 o'clock displays (above picture) the Month of the Year and the Leap Year - leap year being shown as the red 4.
At the 9 o'clock position, the subdial displays the day of the week and also shows the day/night indicator.
The 6 o'clock features the orbital moonphase which is different from the "normal" moonphase we see if other brands where they have two discs rotating around a cut-off M "cover"... if you know what I mean.
The big date is also another less seen complication in a QP. Only a handful of QPs have big dates and I can tell you that when you mature, big date is a plus. The whole package comes nicely laid out - very legible. Another plus, the timepiece is COSC-certified chronometer bearing the Poinçon de Genève seal. Unlike most other QPs, the Chopard Lunar One Perpetual has an instantaneous jump on the calendar - date, day and month. For other brands, the change of the day, date and month happens over a period of time.
The Calibre 1.96 QP features a micro rotor powered by 2 barrels (see below top right) providing 65 hours of power reserve. There are four pushers around the case, one for the Date (12), one for Day (9), one for the Moonphase (6) and one for the Month (3). Actuating the pushers are easy as the timepiece comes with a pusher - alternatively, a wooden toothpick gets the job done too.
Finishing on the movement is as one would expect from the Chopard LUC range... exceptional.
If you look closely at the base plate, even that is finished with circular perlage. Many years ago, I attended a Chopard event and Ms Caroline Scheufele mentioned that the Manufacture goes the extra mile to finish areas unseen by the eye. That's the level of quality they go through with every Chopard L.U.C timepiece.
This is my second Chopard L.U.C timepiece and I have to say that they give great value for what they are. This example is in platinum and limited to 250 pieces. And I believe also the only one with Arabic numerals instead of Roman numerals.
The layout is visible and legible and while there has been comments about the leap year indicator (and day/night indicator) being too short, I find it reasonably visible.
An amazing QP and I am happy it is mine! Another grail watch crossed off my list.
