| Le Petit-Fils de L.-U. Chopard & Cie S.A. | |
| Trade Name: | Chopard |
| Type: | Private (société anonyme) |
| Founder: | Louis-Ulysse Chopard |
| Location City: | Geneva |
| Location Country: | Switzerland |
| Key People: | Co-Presidents: Caroline Scheufele Karl-Friedrich Scheufele |
| Industry: | Watchmaking, luxury goods |
| Products: | Watches, jewellery |
| Production: | 75,000 watches (2016) 75,000 jewelleries (2016) |
| Revenue: | More than CHF 500 million (2016) |
| Owner: | Scheufele family |
| Homepage: | chopard.com |
Le Petit-Fils de L.-U. Chopard & Cie S.A.,[1] commonly known as Chopard (pronounced as /fr/), is a Swiss manufacturer and retailer of luxury watches, jewellery and accessories.[2] [3] Founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard in Sonvilier, Switzerland, Chopard has been owned by the Scheufele family of Germany since 1963.[4] [5]
Chopard is best known for making high-quality Swiss watches and jewellery, and its clients have included Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.[6] The company is headquartered in Geneva and has a site in Fleurier, Canton of Neuchâtel, that manufactures watch movements.[7]
The company founder, Louis-Ulysse Chopard, was a Swiss watchmaker who grew up in Sonvilier, a town in Swiss Jura. In 1860, he established his L.U.C. manufacturing company in Sonvilier, having observed that it was more profitable to market a finished watch than to just make the mechanical movement.
After Louis-Ulysse's death in 1915, the company was taken over by his son Paul-Louis and grandson Paul-André. The company specialised in making pocket watches and ladies’ wristwatches. In 1921, Paul-Louis moved the company operations to a larger town, Chaux-de-Fonds, in the Canton of Neuchâtel. In 1937, at that time a company of 150 employees, the company relocated to Geneva. This enabled the movements made by the company to be certified with the Geneva Seal, a mark applied only to watch movements made in the Canton of Geneva.[7] Paul-André took over the company in 1943.[8]
In 1963, having no children wishing to continue in the business, Paul-André Chopard sold it to Karl Scheufele III, a German goldsmith and watchmaker from Pforzheim, who was seeking a watch movement manufacturer exclusively for his own business.[8] [9]
In 1974, the Chopard factory moved from the center of Geneva to Meyrin-Geneva and in 1976 the company started making watches that contained its signature free-floating diamond behind sapphire glass. In the 1980s, the company expanded into making sports watches for men and diamond jewellery for women.[9]
In 1996, the company established its own complete watch movement manufacturing facility in Fleurier, in the Swiss Canton of Neuchâtel. Prior to that time, all Chopard's movements had been assembled from third-party components. The movements made in Fleurier were intended for the high-end watches in the Chopard range.[7]
In 2010, the company celebrated its 150th anniversary, by which time the company's estimated sales were €550 million in total (of which €250 million were from watches) with about 100 stores around the world.[10]
In 2014, Chopard recorded sales of CHF800m (US$915m) and had roughly 2,000 employees worldwide, of whom 900 were working in Switzerland.[8] The European Patent Office lists more than 20 references to Chopard since 2002.[11]
In 2015, French actress Marion Cotillard designed a bracelet for Chopard's Green Carpet Collection made of ethical Fairmined-certified gold.[12]
In December 2018, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) released a report assigning environmental ratings to 15 major watch manufacturers and jewelers in Switzerland.[13] [14] Chopard was given a below-average environmental rating as "Lower Midfield", suggesting that the manufacturer has only taken a few actions addressing the impact of its manufacturing activities on the environment and climate change. Since 2013, Chopard has been promoting its products as using ethical and sustainable gold; implementing this practice with the company's full product line remains a long-term objective.[15] [16]
In 2020, Cotillard designed her own sustainable jewelry collection for Chopard entitled "Ice Cube Capsule". She designed seven items curated from Fairmined-certified ethical gold and diamonds.[17]
The company produces around 75,000 timepieces and 75,000 jewelleries each year, and is an active member of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH.[18] [19] [20]
See main article: List of most expensive watches sold at auction. A Chopard "Happy Diamond" wristwatch was sold in auction by Christie's for around US$1.67 million (CHF 1,685,000) in Geneva on November 10, 2015.[21] The watch has quartz movement and carries a pink marquise-cut diamond, weighing approximately 2.62 carats, and a blue marquise-cut diamond, weighing approximately 1.48 carat.
Chopard is a corporate partner of: