Chopard
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| Privately held company | |
| Industry | Watch manufacturing |
| Founded | 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard |
| Headquarters | Geneva, Switzerland |
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Key people
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Caroline Scheufele, Co-President; Karl-Friedrich Scheufele; Co-President |
| Products | Wristwatches, jewellery |
| Revenue | more than CHF 800 million (2013) |
| Website | www.chopard.com |
Chopard is a Swiss watchmaker founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard in Sonvilier, Switzerland, originally known for making ladies' watches and pocket watches. In 1963, Chopard was sold to Karl Scheufele, a watchmaker from Pforzheim, Germany. The Scheufele family have owned the company up to the present day. The company is headquartered in Geneva and has a site in Fleurier, Canton of Neuchâtel that manufactures watch movements.
The company founder, Louis-Ulysse Chopard (May 4, 1836 – January 30, 1915) was a Swiss watchmaker who grew up in Sonvilier, a town near Bern. In 1860, he established his L.U.C manufacturing company in Sonvilier, having observed that it was more profitable to market the finished watch than to just make the mechanical movement. Chopard began to market his watches throughout Europe and became supplier to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
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 only applied to watch movements made in the Canton of Geneva. Paul-André took over the company in 1943.
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Wikipedia