Hands-On: The Chopard Quattro Mark IV — The Most Impressive Release Of Watches And Wonders 2025
Vats of internet ink have been spent on that first L.U.C caliber, the 1.96 (including here on Hodinkee), and rightfully so, but Chopard’s sophomore release was no Speed 2: Cruise Control. Introduced in 2000, the Quattro was the result of Chopard’s watchmaking team looking at their first movement and asking, “Ok, but how can we make the power reserve longer, like, way longer?” Supposedly, Daniel Bolognesi, now Head of Watchmaking, jokingly suggested removing the 1.96’s microtor to make room for more barrels, and that’s exactly what the team ended up doing. The result was the caliber 1.98 with four stacked barrels, two of which were roughly located in the microtor’s previous location, and the L.U.C Quattro ref. 16/1863 or “Mark I” — a 38mm in diameter limited edition of 1860 pieces across yellow gold, rose gold, white gold, and platinum. As with the first run of 1860 caliber 1.96 limited editions, it doesn’t seem Chopard produced the full number, making both very rare and collectible.
