GPHG 2024: A win for Chopard in the new sustainable innovation prize category

This year's ‘Oscar’s of the watchmaking world’, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), saw a prize for “eco-innovation” making its debut. The award was simply known as “innovation” in previous editions, of which the industry is never short of.

This time round it has a specific focus on sustainability and traceability, with Chopard winning the award for its L.U.C Qualité Fleurier watch. Founded in 1860, the Swiss watchmaker has continually found ways to shake up to the industry.

The L.U.C Qualité Fleurier watch is made using Lucent Steel, which Chopard originally developed with high-quality industrial scraps from Swiss watchmakers, along with high-grade steel from the medical, aerospace and automotive industries.

Lucent Steel also stems from Chopard’s creation of a local, circular manufacturing loop. All suppliers for recycled steel are based within 1000km of its manufacturing unit, either in Switzerland or its neighbouring countries of Austria, France, Germany and Italy, reducing the need for transportation emissions.

IWC Schaffhausen announced earlier this year that it has created a patent-pending luminous ceramic which will be appearing on its watches in the near future.

In 2020, H. Moser & Cie released a watch with a Vantablack dial, a material which absorbs 99.965% of visible light making it the darkest material on the market today.

Developments in precious materials such as sapphire cases and scratchproof gold have been evolving over the past decade. There’s no shortage of new materials, but the introduction of the eco-innovation category at GPHG will likely sharpen this focus on materials, but with an emphasis on reducing environmental impact.

Maximilian Büsser, CEO of independent watch brand MB&F says that