The Swiss watch and jewelry manufacturer Chopard has existed for over a century and a half, but it only in the last half-century, since it was purchased from the grandson of the original owner by the Scheufele family of watchmakers, that it has taken its place as a leading luxury brand.
The company’s original founder Louis-Ulysse Chopard did not produce watch parts on his own, but purchased them from other craftspeople and packaged them as a finished product, since this is where the bulk of the industry’s profits lay. In the early twentieth century Chopard expanded his sales to the countries of Eastern Europe and his clients included the then-Tsar of Russia, Nicolas II.
In 1974, about a decade under new management, Chopard began to introduce women’s jewelry to its line of retail products. In 1976 it began to produce a watch called Happy Diamonds, which included polished diamonds that float freely inside of sapphire crystals.
