Ref. 3004 in 800 Silver with Breguet Hands, c.1980
A Chopard ref. 3004 open-face watch in 0.800 silver, made in the 1970s or 1980s, with a white dial signed Chopard Genève and the firm's old L.U.C house mark struck inside the back.
Louis-Ulysse Chopard founded the business in Sonvilier in 1860 and moved it to Geneva in 1937. In 1963 it was sold to Karl Scheufele, a goldsmith and watchmaker from Pforzheim, whose family still runs it. This watch belongs to the Scheufele years, when the firm still marked its cases with the founder's initials in a cartouche. The same three letters were taken up again in 1996 to name the movements Chopard began making at Fleurier.
The 3004 was Chopard's open-face pocket watch of the period, made in gold and in silver. This example measures 41.75mm, slim and modest in size, with a high domed crystal and a ball pendant topped by a knurled crown.
The white dial carries black Roman numerals with a IIII at four, a railway minute track with dots at the five-minute marks, and the signature Chopard Genève below twelve. Breguet-style pomme hands, hours and minutes only. The printing is crisp and the dial is clean.
The back is plain apart from a hand-engraved interlaced monogram, JS. Inside are the L.U.C cartouche, L.U. Chopard & Cie Genève, the Swiss grouse mark for 0.800 silver, the reference 3004 and the case number 74096. The pendant is also struck with the grouse and L.U.C marks.
The movement is a 17-jewel manual-wind calibre built on the Peseux 7001, finished by Chopard in gilt with Geneva stripes and signed L.U. Chopard & Cie Genève on the bridge. The 7001 was introduced in 1971 and is just 2.5mm high, a calibre chosen across the Swiss trade for slim dress watches. It has a shock-protected balance and an index regulator, and sits in a fitted spacer ring within the silver case.
The watch winds, runs and sets correctly. The bow is missing; the two pivot holes in the pendant remain. Light scratching and tarnish to the back, tarnish at the rims and a small dent to the caseback lip at the opening notch.
