Ella's Chopard Manufacture Visit

Ella’s Chopard Manufacture visit. A group visit with other ambassadors of Chopard from other jewellers. Chopard is an independent family-owned jewellery and watch maison. Owned by the Scheufele family since 1860, founded by Louis Ulysse Chopard (LU Chopard).

Day 1

After waking up in a Geneva hotel room I get myself ready and meet the group for breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We all aboard the coach to travel 1.5 hours from Geneva on winding hairpin bends, ascending the mountains to Fleurier, where most of the watchmakers live and work. The area is mainly French-speaking as it's just over the border from France.

We are welcomed by Jordan, our guide, and translator, at the L.U.C Chopard movements manufacture site, he offers us white overcoats for the duration of our time here. Firstly we are shown the engraving technique on a rotor, the rotor is small and the engraving is even smaller, the skill is performed under high magnification so perfection is achieved. I’m offered to have a look at the artisans' skill, this is fine and patient work.

Next, we are shown the different finishes of the individual movement parts, each component will have some type of fine finishing and some movements have hundreds of components. One movement I saw had 570 parts. The artisans sit at their own tables and are experts in their finishing techniques. The rooms are very quiet, some artisans wear headphones to listen to music or podcasts whilst others like the silence to create. The rooms are fairly warm, it is 35 degrees outside today, and there isn’t any air conditioning, for good reason. The artisans wear either white clogs or dust nets over their shoes. These measures are in place to control dust in the air, so it doesn’t get into the parts whilst components are finished or assembled.

On to the next room where dial designer and enamelling artisan Christophe creates alongside engraving expert Nathalie. Christophe first designs his dial concepts on paper within a big circle. Chosen designs by the Scheufele family will be enamel painted onto dials and used on special pieces or shown at Watches and Wonders, a trade show of the international watch and jewellery industry. Bespoke dials can be commissioned for clients should they wish to adorn their watch with a one-off wonder of art on their wrist.

We took a 5-minute walk around the corner from the manufacture to ‘Chopard Forum’, a house owned by the Scheufele family where we were welcomed with champagne on the lawn outside and treated to a fine dining luncheon inside. The wine was served from Chateau Monestier, a vineyard owned by the Scheufele family. It was lovely. After lunch we had a tour around the house, a beautiful place with a mountainous vista, I truly knew I was in Switzerland looking out from those windows.

Back on the coach we descended the hairpin bends back to Geneva. After a couple of hours to get ready, we headed out to dinner in Geneva. We managed a view of Jet d’Eau, the water jet in Lake Geneva, and a wander round the streets nearby to the lake as we headed to ‘Chez Bacchus’, a Scheufele family restaurant. We enjoyed great food and lots of laughs, we all got on so well and laughed right on into the evening. Such a wonderful first day.

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Day 2

After a quick breakfast at the hotel we were off on a coach again, but only 15-minutes around the corner to the Geneva manufacturing site of their high jewellery and watch assembling.

We started at the Chopard foundry, which has been on site since 1978, Chopard being one of the first high jewellery and watch maisons to have its own foundry on site, a rare privilege. At Chopard gold is the basis of everything. It’s in their jewellery, watches and is what their precious stones are set into. We meet Paulo, who is Chopards alchemist, and the first person to touch the gold that men and women globally will be wearing from Chopard. The precious metals needed to make the 18 carat gold ingots are placed in the crucible to create the molten metal. I could see the pouring of the fiery-hot orange liquid through a glass viewing porthole on top. This will be poured into moulds that form the bars. The gold is ethical gold and this is of high importance to Chopard. Since 2018 Chopard has used 100% ethical gold for the production of all its watches and jewellery. 100% of the refined gold purchased by Chopard comes from sources that are verified as having met international best practice environmental and social standards. Chopard was a pioneer in this pledge.

Onto another room - high Jewellery, and such a treat to see the very large coloured gemstones that will be used in one-off pieces, of which some are worn at red carpet events and award ceremonies by celebrities.

The jewellery designer starts by creating a 2D design on paper with the actual stones to be used laid over the top. The artisans are a wonder to watch working away, and there isn’t an ounce of rushing or urgency sensed in either of the factories I went to, i feel as if it is being done at the artisans own pace. You can’t rush art. I watched Steve, a gem setter, setting princess cut (square) sapphires into a rose gold bezel. Tediously filing down the sapphires parallel edges to fit into a circular watch bezel setting. I asked how long it takes to set a full bezel. 2 days to set a full bezel. Wow.

The Palm d’Or is the highest prize award at the Cannes film Festival and here is where it’s crafted. The award is made of cut crystal with a 24 carat gold palm leaf. Two awards are made for each ceremony, one to go to the winner, and one as a back up (in case of any accidents, loss or theft occurring). Here I am holding an award. I’m not quite ‘Red Carpet Ready’ but it was fantastic to see and hold one in person, a weighty piece! 

We visited a museum on site to have look through a timeline of Chopard and there was so many beautiful pieces to look at from previous collections.

After the museum, we had a lovely 3-course lunch on site. Full bellied we headed to a board room so we could have a look at some of the new collection pieces. The Ice Cube collection is a popular collection globally so had a look at new pieces, they were gorgeous and I love the way the light interacts and reflects off the highly polished surfaces. I saw new jewellery and watch lines from Happy Sport and Mille Millia collections. I do love Happy sport and their ‘dancing diamonds’ in the sapphire glass. Whilst we are looking at the new collections Co-President Karl-Freidrich Scheufele and his wife Christine walk in, a pleasure to meet them and introduce ourselves with a pleasant chat. They are there very frequently at the manufacture and are heavily involved with the brand and know all the staff very well. A lovely interaction for the whole group to finish a fascinating and informative 2 days.

Chopard's slogan is ‘Artisans of Emotions’ and my emotions were stirred by each artisan I met. The skill, the patience, and the creativity that goes into each piece was a joy to see. The Scheufele family is a connection closely felt in the business and its processes, and it reminds me of Lumbers and its parallel of being a family-owned independent company. I know here at Lumbers we are proud of our success with Chopard and look forward to the longevity of our partnership.

Written by Ella at Lumbers Jewellers.