Chopard revives the first bracelet of its iconic watch.
For the timeless and playful Happy Sport watch, perpetual self-reinvention is an expression of supreme elegance. With inimitable panache, it provides a fascinating material embodiment of successive eras, treating them as playgrounds for its ever-creative spirit. The feather-light, perfectly adjusted proportions of its impeccable and distinctive oval shape are now rendered even more feminine by pairing them with the original “galet” (pebble) bracelet adorning the very first watch in this iconic collection, back in 1993. It once again testifies to the in-house skills cultivated by Chopard and expressed in this talisman watch whose slender elegance echoes the gentle easy-going charm embedded at the heart of Happy Sport. Beating steadily inside, like a secret form of luxury, is a self-winding movement developed and crafted by the maison.
The first Happy Sport bracelet
Joyfully blending genres, steel and diamonds, the eternal and the ephemeral, the very spirit of Happy Sport brings together a vast range of possibilities within an iconic watch. Its new bracelet is the quintessence of this kind of paradox, expressed here in a bracelet made of metal and yet as flexible as knitted mesh. Available in 18-carat rose gold or stainless steel, this exceptional bracelet follows the curves of the wrist, the better to accentuate its slenderness. It pays tribute to the original Happy Sport's first bracelet, which, in 1993, reinvented the very notions of style, allure and elegance with a watch that was at once sophisticated and sporty. Finely interwoven pebbled links lend the Happy Sport Oval an elegance tinged with vintage charm: a watch in the form of a simple yet precious talisman jewel. The smooth succession of highly polished rounded pebbles composing this bracelet ensure a uniquely supple feel that makes it wonderfully pleasant to wear.
The Happy Sport Oval watch comes in 18-carat rose gold or in stainless steel with a diamond-set bezel. Its bracelet is entirely crafted in-house by the artisans of the Manufacture Chopard. It testifies to the vertical integration of all the skills and crafts that contribute to the prestige of the maison’s watch and jewellery divisions. A unique combination of talents that are complementary and also ensure the in-house mastery of each stage involved in fashioning exceptional models – as indeed are all creations emerging from the Chopard workshops.
Exalting the oval
To mark the 25th anniversary of Happy Sport, Chopard has interpreted its watch icon in an oval with reinvented proportions. Drawing on the elegance of lines traced by dainty downstrokes and upstrokes, Happy Sport Oval enhances the stylistic repertoire of Chopard's icon by integrating it within a vast trend that, from fashion to watchmaking, now pays homage to timeless femininity through lighter and more closely fitting proportions. The bezel with its calligraphy-like curve lends a sense of distinction and finesse to the watch as well as to the wrist it adorns. Each line of the Happy Sport Oval is an invitation to light-heartedness, with its soft curves epitomising a truly easy-going approach to life that embodies the sparkling optimism of a resolutely Happy Sport spirit. The oval, symbolically a place of refuge as well as of individual blossoming, is the landscape of all possibilities, where transformations take shape. On the dial of the Happy Sport Oval, every second bears the promise of future happiness. Chopard’s watchmaking expertise has enabled it to equip the Happy Sport Oval with a mechanical self-winding movement, the 09.01-C, developed and produced within its own manufacture. Technical sophistication, intriguing allure, supreme femininity: this is about having it all and refusing to renounce anything.
A new vision of time
In 1993, picking up the mood of the moment, Caroline Scheufele – now co-president and artistic director of Chopard – imagined a sporty watch based on an original and quirky association between steel and diamonds. This unprecedented and bold move gave rise to the Happy Sport. Cultivating the spirit of the Happy Diamonds twirling across its dial like étoile ballet dancers performing free variations between two sapphire crystals, the Happy Sport rapidly became an emblem of the maison and indeed of feminine watchmaking in general.
Technical Details
Case:
18-carat rose gold or stainless steel
Total diameter 31.31 x 29 mm
Thickness 10.77 mm
Water resistance 30 metres
Facetted crown in 18-carat rose gold or stainless steel
set with a blue sapphire 5.00 mm
Facetted cabochons in 18-carat rose gold or stainless steel
Bezel in polished 18-carat rose gold or diamond-set stainless steel
Glareproofed sapphire crystal
Exhibition back with screws, bearing Happy Sport logo and a glareproofed sapphire crystal pane
Movement:
Mechanical self-winding movement Chopard 09.01-C
Number of components 147
Total diameter 20.40 mm
Thickness 3.65 mm
Number of jewels 27
Frequency 25,200 A/h (3.5 Hz)
Power reserve approx 42 hours
Dial and hands:
Silver-toned dial
Navy blue transfers
Seven dancing diamonds
Gilded or rhodium-plated Roman numerals or hour-markers
Gilded or rhodium-plated hours and minutes hands
Gilded or rhodium-plated sweep-seconds hand
Functions:
Hours, minutes, seconds
Bracelet and clasp:
“Galet” bracelet (i.e. pebble bracelet) in 18-carat rose gold or stainless steel
Folding clasp in 18-carat rose gold or stainless steel
Ref. 275362-5004 – in 18-carat rose gold with polished bezel
Ref. 278602-3004 – in stainless steel with a diamond-set bezel.
