Retailer Bucherer is kicking off 2025 with the introduction of three special timepieces created in collaboration with watch manufactures Ulysse Nardin, Girard-Perregaux and Chopard. Each watch presents its own unique concept. The Ulysse Nardin Freak X Enamel combines its extraordinary movement construction with a deep green dial. Meanwhile, Girard-Perregaux offers up a tourbillon in a monochrome design, while the Chopard L.U.C Strike One makes an appearance with a light blue dial and a rare hourly striking mechanism. Here are the details on the latest Bucherer Exclusives models.
The overall appearance of the Freak X Enamel is defined by a hand-crafted dial in deep green, at the centre of which lies the characteristic construction that made the Freak stand out from the crowd back when it was first launched. The special aesthetic of the dial, which also serves as the baseplate for the movement, is achieved using a guilloché technique that creates geometric lines, before being covered with green enamel by Ulysse Nardin’s Maître d’Art.
However, the real focal point of the watch is the partially deconstructed UN-230 automatic movement with a power reserve of 72 hours, whose oscillating system and the now classic lever escapement rotate around themselves once an hour, thereby indicating the minutes with the help of the balance bridge. The balance, anchor and escapement are made of silicon, a material that is resistant to magnetic fields.
The intense green play of colours is rounded off with a black calfskin strap with green stitching, whose perforations reveal a second, green layer. The Ulysse Nardin Freak X Enamel is available as a limited edition of 18 pieces and costs 41,100 euros.
Girard Perregaux has chosen its Laureato, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, as the model for the Bucherer Exclusive range. Launched in 1975 and given a complete overhaul in 2016 to mark the company’s 225th anniversary, the Girard-Perregaux Laureato joins the Patek Philippe Nautilus (1976) and the Royal Oak (1972) amongst the steel sports watches of the 1970s. The Laureato Tourbillon Bucherer Exclusive also picks up on the concept of an octagonal bezel, while its interplay with the integrated titanium bracelet, the titanium monobloc case, and the dial in the typical Clous de Paris pattern creates an overall grey appearance.
The monochrome look is interrupted only by the jewel at the 6 o’clock position, which leads us to the crucial elements of the watch: the tourbillon. The combination of balance wheel, escape wheel and anchor, which was initially created to minimise the effects of gravity on the movement, takes its place on a bridge that has an equally remarkable history. The arrow-shaped bridge was first used in a pocket watch in 1867 by Constant Girard, the brand’s founding father, and soon became a recognisable feature of the brand. A feature that even today, more than 150 years later, watch connoisseurs only need to look at the bridge to recognise the watch as a Girard-Perregaux.
The titanium case houses the calibre GP09510. This automatic movement beats at a frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour and has a power reserve of 47 hours. Thanks to a micro-rotor, the timepiece is only 11 mm thick, despite the tourbillon and 322 components. Finally, the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Tourbillon is limited to just 8 pieces and costs 123,000 euros.
Timepieces with a chiming function are generally regarded as one of the supreme disciplines of watchmaking. They enable the wearer not only to see the time, but also to hear it. Together with Patek Philippe, Chopard is today considered one of the greats in the field of chiming watches – a fact that is owed in no small part to the Strike One. Its origins can be traced back to 2006, when the manufacture ventured into a comparatively ultra-rare complication for its first watch with a chiming function: the Strike One with the calibre 96.14-L, which had the complication of the hour strike, also known as ‘Sonnerie au Passage’. It is therefore not surprising that Chopard chose this watch, which is so important to the manufacture, to feature in the Bucherer Exclusive range.
The special effect of the L.U.C Strike One Bucherer Exclusive unfolds whenever the next full hour approaches and the chime is ready to ring. When the full hour arrives, the gong strikes the sapphire crystal monobloc patented by Chopard to sound an acoustic signal. The exposed construction of the hand-guilloché 18-carat white gold dial in light blue allows one to observe the gong at work. The dial also features a honeycomb motif in the centre, which is complemented by a baguette-cut diamond at the 8 o’clock position – a tribute to the year Bucherer was founded, 1888.
Turning over the steel case with a diameter of 40 mm and a height of 9.86 mm, the wearer can admire the movement on which the hour strike mechanism is based via the sapphire crystal caseback: the automatic calibre 96.32-L with 275 components; all of which, according to Chopard, were manufactured in-house. The movement has a power reserve of 65 hours and is stamped with the Hallmark of Geneva. It is also available in a limited edition of only 8 pieces and costs 72,800 euros.
