Timepieces Trade Market

Chopard : History

The Chopard family tree records the birth on 4 May 1836 of a boy named Louis-Ulysse, who spent the next years of his life in the village of Sonvillier, on the road from Saint-Imier to La Chaux-de-Fonds.
In 1860, aged 24, he set himself up as an independent watchmaker.
On the yellow-gray façade of an old sandstone building he painted the name of his company : L.U.C.
To distinguish himself from his eighty or so competitors who in 1888 also made watches and watch-parts in Sonvillier, Louis-Ulysse decided to specialize in precision and quality.
Ail that remained was for customers to be equally convinced of his worthy ambitions.
In search of the former, he packed up his finest pocket-watches in a dark-brown case.
His sales trip in 1912 through Poland, Hungary and the Baltic to Russia turned out a complete success.
Chopard's watches even reached the court of Tsar Nicholas II.
Louis-Ulysse now wanted to expand.
In 1920 he transferred the company to the smart city of Geneva.
Chopard set up his first workshop in a tiny house with an adjoining storage-shed, his motto : "quality through maximum hand craftsmanship."
In the thirties and forties - son André having meanwhile taken over the business - around 150 Chopard employees made their living out of precision pocket and wristwatches.
Clients were to be found mainly in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.
In 1963, the grandson of the founder, Paul André Chopard, aged 80, faced the toughest decision of his life.
None of his descendants was prepared to join the difficult, boom-and-bust watch business.
Shortly before he stood down, he came across Karl Scheufele from Pforzheim who was determined to take the Chopard heritage into the future.
His family had made a name for themselves by supplying watches and jewelry for the ESZEHA brand.
From then on things started going better for Chopard.
The luxury-watch company has also rediscovered its manufacturing vocation.
Since 1996, a few movements have been made in Fleurier, including the caliber 1.96 and 3.96 automatics with mini-rotor and two barrels.