Chopard makes many of its own tools and performs twenty-five individual watchmaking crafts under its roof, from dial making to gold casting.

Of the many important milestones in the history of Chopard, two dates are key: 1860 and 1996. Chopard began life in 1860 as one of Switzerland’s original watch manufacturers in the Swiss Jura town of Sonvilier.

Like most heritage brands, the firm slowed down or stopped making mechanical movements, particularly with the advent of quartz in the 1970s. Although Chopard has had much success with its timepiece designs – including the iconic Happy Sport and Mille Miglia collections – it wasn’t until 1996 that the company began to produce its own movements again.

Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-president of Chopard (sister Caroline Scheufele is co-president in charge of the jewelry division), was the driving force behind the company’s transformation to its original purpose as a fully integrated manufacture. His vision was to establish a watchmaking operation that does things the hard way – by hand finishing – no matter how much time it takes or what the expense, combining the techniques of age-old hand craftsmanship with modern technology.

All in-house movements are built with Chopard-made components (everything but the screws) and finished with Chopard-made tools. All craftspeople are trained in-house to ensure consistency of workmanship according to the Chopard signature.

The process is about quality, not quantity.
“In my view, a brand can only fully exist in the field of haute horlogerie by achieving complete control of the making of its timepieces: design and development, production and assembly, movements and exteriors,” says Scheufele.

“Chopard has chosen to give precedence to hand craftsmanship, even when this choice involves higher production costs,” he says. “It is the kind of choice only a family business could make, thanks to an entirely independent structure, unbound by the demands of immediate profit stemming from external investors unaware of the nature of fine watchmaking.”

In 1997, a year after establishing Ébauche Fleurier, Chopard emerged with its first caliber, the 1.96, cased in the L.U.C 1860, marking the company’s foundational year.

Today, Chopard produces nine distinct families of watch movements, with fifty movement variations, including a perpetual calendar and a tourbillon.

This year, Fleurier Ébauche produced 7,000 movements, up from 3,000 only two years ago. The goal is to produce 15,000 movements by 2015. Of the 80,000 watches that Chopard produces a year, 4,000 of them are L.U.C, all of which contain in-house manufacture movements. As production increases, the company’s reliance on outside ébauches diminishes.

As of next year, for example, all watches in the Mille Miglia collection will contain only Chopard-made movements. The Imperiale and L.U.C collections already contain in-house movements. And many of the watches with L.U.C designation are also certified by the rigorous Geneva Seal process.

On site
On a recent visit to the Chopard facilities in Fleurier and Geneva, I had the opportunity to see first-hand what happens in a fully integrated watch manufacture.

Chopard performs twenty-five individual crafts under its roof, including everything from making tools and components to creating its own dials and casting gold to achieve its proprietary color. There is also an in-house gemology/jeweling department. Chopard is a major player in the making of high jewelry and high jewelry watches, and it performs its own gem cutting, sorting, polishing and setting.

The manufacture is a contrast of old and new. At Fleurier Ébauches, rows of shiny new CNC machines create the blanks – mainplates and bridges – from brass plates. One of these machines, the size of a small elephant, has an impressive nine robotic arms that churn out a new plate every four minutes (compared to every forty-five minutes using a manual stamping machine). It does this to within tolerances of one micron (one-thousanth of a millimeter).

Everything else – chamfering, engraving, perlage, côtes de Geneve –  is done by hand, using techniques and tools that have been used by watchmakers for more than a century.

25 Ways to Perfection

Chopard employs 25 different types of craftsmen at its manufacture and workshops in Fleurier and Geneva, all of them trained in-house. Here is a glimpse of what it takes to create a modern luxury timepiece.

1.  Beveller: Also called chamfering, bevelling involves using a cutter and file to create 45-degree angles to replace the sharp right angles of the plate and other components that are made by automated machines.

2.  Bracelet assembly: A watch bracelet is made up of many individual links, held together with screws, allowing it to move with the wrist.

3.  Caster: Gold is cast into the desired forms using carved wax molds, known as the lost-wax casting system.

4.  Electroplater: An electrolytic process that applies layers of gold or rhodium to parts in order to protect or embellish them.

5.  CNC Operators: These are masters of the machines that create ébauches (main plate and bridges), from brass plates to within tolerances of one micron.

6.  Precision Timer (régleuse in French): Only two people at Chopard are capable of this task, which involves shaping the curve – creating a Phillips-type terminal curve on the balance spring.

7.  Complications Watchmaker: Assembles and adjusts the L.U.C movements that bear the Geneva Seal hallmark, working from a “kit” of components. Assembling a single tourbillon carriage takes two days.

8.  Cotes de Genève Engraver: Also known as Geneva Stripes, this is a decoration that is often applied to the rotor, plate or case back.
9.  Engraver: The art of forming patterns by hand.

10.  Sculptor in Wax: Wax prototypes are based on design sketches, which are then cast in gold using the lost-wax casting method.

11.  Quality controller: Every step of the production process is inspected and tested.

12.  Stamper: Stamping bezels and plates at Ébauche Fleurier.

13.  Watch Tool Maker: Chopard makes its own tools used to finish and decorate watch components.

14.  Caliber Designer: Chopard watch calibers are purpose designed by master watchmakers.

15.  Case Designer: Ergonomic, aesthetics and technical considerations are all part of designing the watch case.

16.  Fleurisanne Engraving: An almost extinct craft that is distinguished by raised motifs; a Fleurier specialty.

17.   Gem Setter: Chopard timepieces are set with gems at the jeweler’s bench in the fine jewelry workshop.

18.  Jewel Sorter: Gems are carefully sorted for size, color matching and quality.

19.  Jeweler: The master jeweler’s craft is evident in the gem-set timepieces made by Chopard.

20.  Jewelry Designer: The jewelry designer sketches new creations, which are handed off to the sculptor for the preparation of wax molds.

21.  Lapidary: Gems are repolished by a gem cutter to fit the jewelry and watch designs.

22.  Polisher: Components go through several stages of polishing to give them a smooth and shiny finish.

23.  Circular Grainer: The application of what is also known as perlage, a type of decoration that consists of small, overlapping circles, applied to the plate and other components.

24.  Watch Assembler: Casing up the hands, dial and movement is the last stage in assembling a watch. Securely closing the case involves fitting joints or gaskets.

25.  Gold Casting: Gold casting involves mixing pure, 24-karat gold bars with various alloys and then heating them to nearly 2,000 degrees F to produce five categories of 18-karat gold: white, two shades of yellow and two shades of rose.