Chopard Manufacture: 25 Years of Watchmaking Mastery
Established by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele in 1996, Chopard Manufacture celebrates its 25th anniversary with an array of timepieces that reaffirms its creed of innovation, creativity and independence.
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less travelled by And that has made all the difference."
The final poignant refrain from American poet Robert Frost's seminal work "The Road Not Taken" is highly analogous to the journey that Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Chopard Co-President, embarked upon a full quarter century ago.
In 1996, he founded Chopard Manufacture, the first act in his vision for in-house movement manufacturing that has brought with it extraordinary innovation in every known complication, and innumerable industry awards.
These include the 2017 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) top prize, the Aiguille d'Or, for his L.U.C Full Strike, a transcendent minute repeater using the world's first sapphire-crystal gongs. But it was not the search for accolades, nor was it ego or pride that fuelled his decision 25 years ago to create movements of unrivalled technical innovation married with sublime aesthetic quality that are underscored by their receiving both COSC certification and the Poinçon de Genève. No, his motivation was simply, as his parents Karl and Karin Scheufele had always taught him, to be honest, authentic and to express the greatest integrity through his work.
By the early '90s, it had become clear to Karl-Friedrich Scheufele that to endow Chopard with the greatest legitimacy as a watchmaker, he had to transform it into a manufacture that produced its own movements. Back in those days, the world of Swiss watchmaking had only just recovered from the Quartz Crisis in the late '80s. At the beginning of the '90s, proper manufactures who created their own calibres were still very few and far between with even the world's most famous maisons heavily reliant on third-party movement suppliers. So it was with extraordinary prescience that Karl-Friedrich Scheufele saw that becoming an actual manufacture was the only way for Chopard to have true independence as a watchmaker. To be, as he puts it, "the masters of our own destiny". He knew that the very first movement he created would be a symbol to the world of his ambitions for the L.U.C collection and its intention to contribute to watchmaking's rich canon. But even the loftiest of dreamers could not have predicted the true horological grandeur of what Chopard's Co-President would unveil to the world in 1996.
The first L.U.C calibre
Named the calibre 1.96 for its year of birth, the movement was nothing less than a revelation. It was the first true haut de gamme micro-rotor automatic calibre created since 1977. Pursuing the ambition of thinness, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele knew that the micro-rotor, which could sit recessed within the movement's baseplate, would provide the ideal economy of size. But the calibre 1.96 combined this bi-directional oscillating mass with another new concept, that of twin barrels, to not only extend the power reserve but to provide more consistent torque throughout. The calibre 1.96 was the world's first twin-barrel automatic movement to provide 65 hours of power reserve. Despite the barrels being arrayed as a stacked pair, it was only 3.3-mm thick, and oscillated at a robust and modern 4Hz, also featuring a proprietary balance wheel as well as a beautiful swan-neck regulator.
What was extremely important for Karl-Friedrich Scheufele from the outset was that the L.U.C movement be externally certified, and so every calibre 1.96 received a COSC certification as a chronometer. However, at the time, COSC's criteria was purely performance-related so he also submitted the movement for Poinçoin de Genève -- the industry's loftiest guarantee of aesthetic excellence. The movement and the timepiece it was cased in, a stunning three-hand watch with date named the L.U.C 1860 launched a year later, made the watch world sit up and take notice. Says Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, "It was very important to me that we didn't launch just another automatic movement. Of course, there had been discussion about beginning with a manual-wind movement or an automatic calibre with a full-sized rotor, which would have been far less complicated. But, for me, the very first L.U.C movement had to bring some real innovation, which we introduced with the twin-stacked barrels and the quality of energy they provided. Also, while other micro-rotor movements were unidirectional in their winding, we wanted an ultra-efficient bi-directional winding system. Finally, the Poinçon de Genève and the COSC chronometer certification was, to me, the ultimate statement of the authenticity of our work."
25 years of technical innovation
The calibre 1.96 and the resulting L.U.C 1860 timepiece were but the opening overture to Karl-Friedrich Scheufele's vision, which would encompass 25 years of ceaseless technical innovation that remains unparalleled in the world of modern Swiss Fine Watchmaking.
Amongst his accomplishments are, in 2000, the L.U.C Quattro, the world's first watch to feature four barrels (configured as stacked pairs) resulting in a mighty nine days of power reserve and accompanied by both the Poinçon de Genève and COSC certification. In 2004, Chopard Manufacture unveiled its first tourbillon, a horological tour de force powered by the Maison's four-barrel Quattro technology, featuring a "Variner" variable-inertia free-sprung balance wheel and an overcoil hairspring. Perhaps most importantly, it was the only tourbillon on the market to beat at 4Hz or 28,800vph, necessitating a proprietary-designed escapement, which Karl-Friedrich Scheufele identifies as being key to achieving COSC certification.
Until 2016, Chopard was one of the rare manufactures that certified their tourbillons as chronometers -- the ultimate testimony to their horological veracity. In 2005, he introduced the L.U.C Lunar One, a perpetual calendar that featured a unique orbital moonphase indicator. In 2006, we were given the L.U.C Strike One, a sublime hour striker and the first step to Chopard Manufacture's mastery over the repeater mechanism. The year 2006 also marked the Manufacture's 10th anniversary celebrated with the inauguration of the L.U.CEUM dedicated to telling the story of man's conquest over time through a remarkable curation of timepieces. As if that was not enough, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele also took the opportunity to launch the L.U.C Chrono One, featuring the calibre L.U.C 03.03-L a transcendent masterpiece featuring a column wheel, vertical clutch, flyback function, small-seconds zero-reset function, and a precise jumping-minute counter. To this day, this remains the most technical innovative automatic chronograph movement in the world.
The year 2009 was a grand vintage for wine but an even better year at Chopard with the unveiling of the L.U.C Tech Twist, the Manufacture's first watch with a silicon escapement. Karl-Friedrich Scheufele also showed us a daring 10Hz oscillator created by Chopard Technologies. The following year, 2010, was truly seminal. To celebrate Chopard's 150th anniversary, the Co-President unveiled a Fine Watchmaking collection with four new calibres that included the horizontally arrayed and bold L.U.C Engine One, inspired by his love of performance automobiles. In 2011, Chopard presented the L.U.C Triple Certification Tourbillon, the first watch in the world to receive the Poinçon de Genève, the Chronometer certification of the COSC and the Fondation Qualité Fleurier qualification, which encompasses a heretofore unknown series of tests that can only be described as torturous in their rigour.
In 2012, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele had the public mesmerised with the world's first Chronometer-certified watch oscillating at the speed of 8Hz the L.U.C 8HF. In 2013, Chopard Manufacture unveiled an extraordinary perpetual-calendar tourbillon the L.U.C Perpetual T. In 2014, the Maison innovated again, but this time in terms of ethics, with the introduction of ethical gold to the L.U.C Tourbillon QF Fairmined.
In 2016, to celebrate the Manufacture's 20th anniversary, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele hosted an event in London to reveal a new world-time watch, a GMT watch, and later that year, the L.U.C Full Strike, the world's first minute repeater featuring sapphire-crystal gongs that result in a song that can only be described as ethereal. In 2017, he found himself in the extraordinary position of potentially having to judge his own watch, the L.U.C Full Strike, for the grand prize of the Aiguille d'Or at the GPHG. He was on the jury that year as a result of having won the 2016 prize for his work on his second watch Maison, La Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud. Ever the gentleman, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele recused himself so his fellow jurors might assess the L.U.C Full Strike with total objectivity. The result was that Chopard won the 2017 Aiguille d'Or, making its Co-President the only individual to win this prize two years in a row for the two different Maisons he leads.
In 2018, Chopard committed to 100% ethical gold in all its gold watches and jewellery, a new statement in time to create a different future for Fine Watchmaking. In 2019, the Maison launched the magnificent L.U.C Flying T Twin, its first automatic-winding flying tourbillon, which received both the Poinçon de Genève and COSC certification. That year, Chopard also unveiled the Alpine Eagle, a beautiful integrated-bracelet watch based on the very first timepiece created by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele 40 years before, named the St. Moritz. The Alpine Eagle was the first watch co-created by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and his son, Karl-Fritz. That year, he received the Prix Gaïa, considered to be the Nobel Prize of watchmaking, where he was honoured for the outstanding expansion of Chopard worldwide and for the unique development of Chopard Manufacture, conciliating humanism, craftsmanship and innovation. In 2020, Chopard announced a partnership with legendary Maison Kiton which yielded the L.U.C XP II Sarto Kiton, reinforcing links with the world of sartorial elegance. That same year, he introduced the Alpine Eagle XL Chrono, featuring a movement that benefitted largely from the L.U.C Chrono One's calibre 03.03-L.
Chopard Manufacture 25th anniversary collection
In 2021, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele celebrates the extraordinary quarter-century anniversary of Chopard Manufacture, living testimony to his incredible vision 25 years ago. Joining in the celebration will, of course, be some of the most breathtaking watches the world of Fine Watchmaking has ever seen. A set of unique timepieces thought as a true concentration of horological mastery and artistic emotions. While all this horological finery is sure to dazzle collectors, the greater significance of this celebration is about the commitment that should never be forgotten by one man to create the most innovative and authentic watchmaking. That man is Karl-Friedrich Scheufele.
Thanks.