[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Inspired by the ancient alchemist's dream to transform lead into gold, Chopard endeavored to create a watch made of a steel so unique it would become a precious material. Chopard asked Voestalpine, its historical metal supplier located in Austria, expert in developing top quality products and systems solutions, to conceive this new type of steel.
THEO CHRISTEN CHOPARD MASTER OF METALWORKING: Mr. Karl-Friedrich Scheufele approached the production to analyze the possibility of integrating the new Chopard Lucent steel in the Alpine Eagle collection. He gave us the instruction to develop and to integrate this steel. Mr. Scheufele wanted to create a work of art.
JOHANN ZAND VOESTALPINE EXPERT: We sought to improve all the properties presented by standard watchmaking steels to find a very unique steel with extraordinary properties. That meant that our team performed and carried out a lot of tests and trials over nearly four years before we could start to promote the launch of the product.
THEO: Its mechanical resistance is very strong, much stronger than normal standard steel. Durability, it has high hardness, it's about 50% higher than usual steel. The steel is anti-allergenic, it's similar to medical and surgical steel in composition and in properties.
JOHANN: The durability is improved by changing the molecule structure and also optimizing the macrostructure. The steel has to be melted a second time, and with this process, we can reduce the number of inclusions as well as the size of inclusions and can achieve very high cleanliness.
THEO: The steel is more shiny than any other standard steel. This material is very clean and pure.