Chopard Alpine Eagle watches

The Chopard Alpine Eagle is the brand's steel sports watch with an integrated bracelet, launched in 2019 as a contemporary reworking of the St. Moritz. The St. Moritz was the first watch Karl-Friedrich Scheufele designed, in 1980, when he was 22. His son Karl-Fritz Scheufele came across the old design and pushed for its return.

The look keeps the St. Moritz outline with less decoration. The eight screws on the bezel are functional: they hold the bezel and the case back. The dial's striated texture is modelled on an eagle's iris, and its grey is called Bernina grey after a mountain range in south-eastern Switzerland. Steel versions use Lucent Steel A223, an alloy Chopard developed over four years, partly from recycled metal, with a hardness of 223 Vickers against roughly 180 to 200 for ordinary 316L. The cases are water resistant to 100 m.

The two core sizes run on different automatic movements, both chronometer certified. The 41 mm Alpine Eagle, 9.7 mm thick, carries the 01.01-C, developed and made in Chopard's own workshops, with about 60 hours of reserve. The 36 mm, 8.4 mm thick, uses the 09.01-C with about 42 hours. Both come in steel, steel and rose gold, and rose gold. The 36 mm also comes with gem-set bezels and mother-of-pearl dials, and as the white-gold Frozen with a diamond-paved dial.

The Alpine Eagle XL Chrono is the 44 mm, 13.15 mm thick flyback chronograph, powered by the automatic 03.05-C with about 60 hours of reserve, in steel, steel and rose gold, or titanium and rose gold. The Cadence 8HF (298600-3005) is the 41 mm watch in titanium, case and bracelet, limited to 250 pieces. Its 01.12-C is a modified 01.01-C beating at 8 Hz, or 57,600 vibrations an hour, yet it keeps the 60-hour reserve; the pale grey dial carries a single Roman numeral instead of four.