Philippe Dufour and Karl-Friedrich Scheufele
Chopard LUC 4R Quattro Régulateur
Chanel J12 chronograph
Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Hometime
| | Le Val-de-Travers, la Vallée de Joux and La Chaux-de-Fonds shared the honours for the 2004 prizes awarded by the magazines Montres Passion and Uhrenwelt.
Karl-Friedrich Scheufele was all smiles on 10 November this year at the Watch of the Year awards ceremony, held in the lounges of the Lausanne Palace. And he had every reason to be, since Chopard's LUC 4R Quattro Régulateur model produced by his Fleurier based manufactory, had just been voted Watch of the Year 2004 by the panel of judges of the magazines Montres Passion and Uhrenwelt, chaired by Philippe Dufour. It came out on top ahead of the Gondolo Calendario from Patek Philippe and the Aquatimer Split Minute Chronograph from IWC. With this honour, the Genevan company has become a member of the very elite circle of manufacturers that have won this prize twice, with Piaget (1998 and 2000) and Cartier (1999 and 2003). The first success for Chopard came in 1997 for another of its products made in Le Val-de-Travers workshops: the first LUC model.
For the first time this year, the panel of judges – the composition of which was kept secret to avoid any outside pressure – also awarded an additional prize in the ladies’ watch category. This was won by the J12 chronograph from Chanel, manufactured by G. & F. Châtelain in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It should be noted that this watch achieved a creditable sixth place in the general category dominated largely by men’s watches.
The last piece to be highlighted at the awards evening on 10 November in Lausanne was the Master Hometime model from Jaeger-LeCoultre, which obtained the public prize. It is customary for the forty finalists to be assessed not only by the panel of judges, but also by readers of l'Hebdo, Cash and Edelweiss. And it was the aforementioned watch from the manufactory in Le Sentier that this year obtained the majority of the 13,500 votes cast by the public.
To be shortlisted, the watches had to feature the Swiss Made label, to have appeared on the Swiss market between 1st October 2003 and 31 September 2004, to have been produced in a quantity of at least 200 pieces, and to have a retail price of not more than 35,000 francs. For the curious among you, the three winning watches can be bought in Switzerland priced respectively at 33,480 francs (Chopard), 6,400 francs (Jaeger-Le-Coultre) and 6,070 francs (Chanel).
A date has already been set (mid-November 2005) for the 12th edition of this prize, which over the years has become a key event in the watchmaking calendar. |
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