Chopard

Brand history

Founded 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard in Sonvilier (Bern Jura) as a pocket-watch and precision-instrument manufacture. Acquired 1963 by Karl Scheufele, a German goldsmith, and relocated to Geneva; the Scheufele family has run the company ever since as one of the few remaining independent watch and jewellery groups. The L.U.C manufacture line (launched 1996, produced in Fleurier, Neuchatel) brought the brand into serious haute-horlogerie: L.U.C calibers carry COSC chronometer certification and the Poincon de Geneve quality hallmark. Chopard is the official partner of the Cannes Film Festival and the Mille Miglia vintage car rally.

Founded 1860 in Sonvilier, Bernese Jura, by Louis-Ulysse Chopard as a pocket-watch producer. The family sold the company to Karl Scheufele in 1963; the Scheufele family has owned it since and expanded from jewellery into haute horlogerie. The L.U.C manufacture (initials for Louis-Ulysse Chopard) was established in 1996 in Fleurier in the Val-de-Travers; the in-house L.U.C calibers include the L.U.C 96.01-L (twin-barrel, 65-hour reserve) and the XP Spirit of a King skeleton variants. Chopard remains dual-footed: the Happy Diamonds jewellery-watch line is the commercial engine; the L.U.C line is the manufacture credibility. The Mille Miglia chronograph line ties the brand to the Italian classic-car race it has sponsored since 1988. The buyer's note: the L.U.C pieces are genuinely undervalued in the collector market relative to their finishing quality, partly because Chopard's retail identity is so strongly associated with jewellery. A 40mm L.U.C XPS in steel can be found at prices that make no sense given the caliber.