So no one was surprised to see a prominent Chopard stand at this year’s 50th anniversary edition of the ever-growing Paris Retromobile car show - or to discover that Karl-Friedrich Scheufele was there to unveil a remarkable new driving watch.
The Zagato Lab One Concept is the fruit of a collaboration between Chopard and the Italian coachbuilding company Zagato which, since its founding in 1919, has been responsible for such automotive hits as the Alfa Romeo 6C Spyder of the ‘20s, the jaw-dropping Aston Martin DB4 Zagato (1960) and the current $3.3m Capricorn 01 Zagato hypercar.
Zagato’s body designs are historically known for achieving lightness through the use of a tubular ‘skeleton’ that allows extreme rigidity with the minimum of weight – a combination that’s central to the construction of the Zagato Lab One Concept.
Made from ceramicised titanium, the 42mm case features ingenious, articulated strap lugs in the form of miniaturised chassis tubes and houses a hand-wound, 207-part hand-wound movement supported by a network of further tubes surrounding the ceramicised titanium dial.
The combination of ultra-light titanium and Zagato’s tubular construction method results in a watch weighing just 43.20 grams, complete with technical fabric strap.
That lightness and the ergonomic benefits of the articulated lugs make the Lab One Concept totally unobtrusive to wear – in fact, if you couldn’t see it, you might not know you were wearing it at all.
But when an owner glances down to double-check they haven’t mislaid their Lab One Concept, they’ll get to see the 60-second tourbillon whirling in its aluminium carriage within a prominent aperture at six o’clock - and supported by a bridge based on the spokes of a race car steering wheel.
Other subtle automotive tropes incude a mainplate subtly embossed with Zagato’s ‘Z’ logo in repeat and a ‘fuel gauge’ power reserve indicator to show how much of the hand-wound movement’s 60 hours of autonomy remains ‘in the tank’.
The crown takes the form of a tiny gearbox cog engraved with the steering wheel logo that adorns all of Chopard’s Classic Racing watches, while the transparent case back reveals the engraved titanium plates that show this movement to be an evolution of the Engine One Tourbillon calibre from 2010 (a rectangular, nickel silver mechanism in a tonneau case).
The Lab One Concept is the third watch making collaboration between Chopard and Zagato (the first being a 2013 Mille Miglia model, the second the Zagato centenary edition of 2019) and marks an ongoing partnership between the two marques.
The relationship grew out a friendship between Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and Andrea Zagato, the grandson of Carrozeria Zagato founder Ugo.
The two men met as a result of being long-standing competitors in the annual Mille Miglia old car rally which also led to Chopard becoming the official sponsor of the Scuderia Zagato team.
“A shared passion for craftsmanship, engineering excellence and good design brought Chopard and Zagato together, “ said Karl-Friedrich Scheufele at the unveiling of the watch.
“It was a difficult task to construct a watch case in a similar way to a Zagato car”. The tubular ‘chassis’ was inspired by Zagato’s many successful road and racing mols and the chronometer certified, titanium movement was developed specifically for it.
“The result is the lightest watch we have ever made – I wore the prototype for around six weeks and it is almost as though you do not even have a watch on your wrist,” he said.
Alongside the Zagato Lab One Concept, Chopard also chose Retromobile to unveil a one-off metiers d’art piece from the high-end L.U.C Manufacture called the Quattro Spirit of ’72 that has been created in honour of Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s long-standing friend and regular Mille Miglia co-pilot, six -times Le Mans 24 Hours winner Jacky Ickx.
The jumping hour watch features a dial decorated with a hand-enamelled reproduction of a famous photograph taken in 1972 that shows Ickx competing at Belgium’s Spa circuit behind the wheel of a Ferrari 312 PB.
