Contemporary, refined and assertive, the Alpine Eagle sporty-chic timepiece collection is a state-of-the-art reinterpretation of the St. Moritz, the first watch created in 1980 by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, now Co-President of Chopard. Imagined and personally designed by him, Alpine Eagle is driven by his passion for the Alps and by the lofty power of the eagle that reigns supreme there. Crafted from Lucent Steel™, Chopard’s exclusive, ultra-resistant, light-reflective steel, with a recycling rate of at least 80%, the Manufacture’s icon features an Aletsch Blue dial and beats to the rhythm of a chronometer-certified in-house movement. Available in a wide range of sizes to suit both men and women, it is now available in a 41 millimetre-diameter model and a 33-millimetre version with a diamond-set bezel. Alpine Eagle is thus dedicated to contemporary eagles, the aspiring men and women who outperform in their daily lives and whose vision inspires and elevates.
A gentlemen’s story
While vision is essential to running a family Maison, it is perseverance and determination that lead to success. Such was the path taken by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele in 1980, when he presented his very first watchmaking project. As a youthful 22-year-old employee in the family Manufacture at the time, he submitted an idea to his father for a watch to be named St. Moritz. A project with a resolutely coming of age dimension, within which a young man asserts himself, spreads his wings and takes flight.
The first sports watch from the Maison as well as the first timepiece made of steel in its workshops, the St. Moritz was profoundly innovative for Chopard, then a specialist in gold and diamond-set gold watches. It represented a real and carefully calculated risk. Karl-Friedrich Scheufele made it a success that was to become one of the Maison’s best-sellers for the next decade. Since then, he has become Co-President of Chopard and taken on many other challenges. He was one of the first to sense the strength of the bonds between passionate enthusiasts of the automobile world and of watchmaking mechanics. It was he who set Chopard on the path of its now legendary partnership with the 1000 Miglia race. In 1996, he decided to restore Haute Horlogerie to the place it deserved by founding Chopard Manufacture in Fleurier. In the same pioneering mode, it was on the same site in Fleurier that Chopard’s Co-President had premises built, complete with the Minergie label certification criteria, thereby paving the way for sustainable luxury.
With Alpine Eagle, history is repeating itself, since it was at the insistence of his son Karl-Fritz, secretly supported by his grandfather Karl, that Karl-Friedrich Scheufele looked into the updating of the St. Moritz. At first reluctant, he was won over by his son’s strength of conviction, just as he himself had been able to win his father’s support 40 years ago.
Nature, the premier artisan
Drawing on his creative strength and his passion for the Alps, but also on Louis Sullivan’s principles of harmony which dictate that “form follows function”, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele created a new collection in 2019: Alpine Eagle. Belonging to the select circle of watches with an integrated case and bracelet, this timepiece presents a design that is both refined and contemporary, featuring a wealth of references to the Alpine eagle and its biotope. Its rock-like textured dial evoke an eagle’s iris, its hands call to mind the raptor’s feathers and the cold glinting steel is reminiscent of glaciers. Finally, the dial colour directly refers to the shades of Alpine ranges: Aletsch Blue is inspired by the bluish shimmer of the largest glacier in the Swiss Alps.
The gently tapered Alpine Eagle bracelet comprises a single ingot-shaped link, topped by a raised central cap. The case is distinguished by a protrusion protecting the crown engraved with a compass rose, an instrument that has helped adventurers find their way since ancient times. Today, it becomes the emblem of contemporary eagles capable of choosing the right direction in the pursuit of their destiny.
Alpine Eagle’s round bezel is punctuated by eight screws, grouped in pairs at the four cardinal points. Their slots are set at a tangent to the circle of the bezel, a sign of high-quality finishing and sophisticated aesthetic purpose. These screws also serve a technical function by guaranteeing the water resistance of the watch to 100 metres. Like all the Alpine Eagle’s flat surfaces, the bezel of the 41 mm model is satin-brushed, a finish carefully crafted to create light effects further enhanced by polished chamfers. On the 33 mm version, the bezel is delicately set with diamonds that sparkle like stars in a mountain sky.
The hours and minutes hands, like the hour-markers, are coated with Super-LumiNova® Grade X1 to enhance nocturnal legibility. Like the snow, torrents and rock of the Alps that inspired Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and change their appearance according to the light conditions, Alpine Eagle constantly alternates between polished and matt finishes.
Chopard Alpine Eagle (41 mm)
Lucent Steel™: an Alchemist’s quest
To bring the Alpine Eagle project to life, Chopard has created a new material that is as rich, precious and complex as gold, transforming the dream of Renaissance alchemists into glowing reality. Lucent Steel™ is an alloy resulting from a re-smelting process featuring four unique characteristics.
Firstly, Lucent Steel™ is part of Chopard’s responsible approach since it is at least 80% composed of recycled elements. Thanks to its anti-allergenic composition, Lucent Steel™ also has properties comparable to surgical steel, making it highly dermo-compatible. It is 50% more resistant to abrasion than conventional steels and has a unique hardness. Lastly, with its superior homogeneous crystal structure, its purity enables it to reflect light in a unique way. Like diamond, whose brilliance depends on the lowest degree of impurities, this innovative steel has far less impurities than conventional steel, guaranteeing it brilliance and brightness comparable to that of gold.
The industrialisation of this alloy, which required no less than four years of research and development to produce, was a real challenge to manufacture to extremely strict specifications, significantly increasing its manufacturing time as well as wear and tear on machining tools. Lucent Steel™ is now a rare and extraordinarily precious metal, stemming from a very complex development and manufacturing process. Since 2023, Chopard has extended its use to its entire steel watch production.
A Manufacture-made movement
True to Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s deep commitment to fine watchmaking, the self-winding movement embedded in the heart of the Alpine Eagle 41 watch is developed in Chopard‘s watchmaking workshops and chronometer-certified by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute.
The Alpine Eagle model with a large case houses Calibre 01.01-C with its 60-hour power reserve, while the 33 mm-diameter, 8-ligne model is fitted with Calibre 09.01-C featuring a 42-hour power reserve and is one of the smallest to receive COSC certification. Both are visible through a transparent sapphire caseback. Thanks to its vertically integrated production process, Chopard has produced and assembled all Alpine Eagle components in-house, from all the components of its movements to the making of its case and bracelet.
