Having utilised their award-winning Alpine Eagle sports watch as a platform for the exploration of chronographs, flying tourbillons and an experimental movement that vibrates at Flash-like speeds of 8Hz, Chopard are now tackling the challenge of ultra-thin watchmaking.
For the 2023 instalment of Watches & Wonders, the Scheufele clan-backed luxury brand just revealed the new Alpine Eagle 41 XPS: their proverbial horse in the extra-flat race (these days, a habitual battleground for seemingly every serious watchmaking brand under the sun).
Not much more needs to be said about the watch’s overall aesthetic – defined, as it is, by an 80s-inspired bracelet; ‘Eagle’s Iris’ dial; and sustainable A223 steel construction – though our first impression is a largely positive one, considering the 8mm case thickness and Chopard’s integration of a small seconds display (at 6 o’clock).
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The outcome is an Alpine Eagle that furthers the eponymous collection’s reputation for restrained, classically handsome sports watches. Per all their press material, Chopard reps have been diligently avoiding usage of the word ‘salmon’ to describe this 41 XPS’s orangish hue.
For fans of the prevailing design language, the new ‘Monte Rosa’ colourway adds a welcome bit of variety to the existing line-up: until now, dominated by your more mainstream hues of blue, dark grey and tonally matched rose gold.
Having been designated an ‘XPS’ model, the movement that powers this 41mm Alpine Eagle embodies the best serial watchmaking that Chopard is essentially capable of. The fourth generation of the brand’s hand-finished 96.01-L calibre – widely hailed as a groundbreaking micro-rotor movement, upon its introduction in 1997 – it incorporates multiple engineering solutions (e.g. a ‘swan neck’ regulator) that contribute to the high-precision COSC certification; and an overall quality of decoration that have won it the coveted Geneva Seal.
Additionally, despite its under-the-cuff profile, the new 41 XPS is also powered by twin mainspring barrels – giving the watch a very robust 65-hour power reserve (great for occasions requiring other more situationally specific timepieces to be worn).
PRICE: $35,800
