Chopard's Manufacture in Fleurier

From the watch factory to the manufacture - a historical review
In 1860, Louis-Ulysse Chopard established the first watch manufacture of his own in the small farming village of Sonvilier in the Swiss Jura, on the road from St. Imier to La Chaux-de-Fonds. The name has retained an excellent reputation to this very day. As a symbol of a return to its roots, Chopard has once again developed a movement of its own, which was named L.U.C in the founder's honour. The L.U.C 1.96 is the first model with the new movement, which was developed and manufactured by a group of engineers and technicians in the workshop of the company's own high-technology Manufacture Chopard in Fleurier, 40 kilometres from Sonvilier, where the company still has firm roots. This achievement admits Chopard to the exclusive circle of the genuine Geneva watch manufactures. “Creating the first L.U.C 1.96 movement took more than 4 years of hard work. This was a veritable industrial adventure,” recapitulates Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Chopard's Vice-President. After all, the development costs for the very first movement from the initial drawing to the machinery amounted to no less than 3.5 to 4 million Swiss francs. Incidentally, the L.U.C was voted Watch of the Year in Switzerland in 1997, which must also be mentioned here. The Fleurier branch rapidly grew from zero to more than 50 personnel. Initially, 2,000 haute-de-gamme movements were supposed to have been made in Manufacture Chopard, an independent subsidiary. In retrospect, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele thinks that the huge expenditure in terms of time, energy and money has paid off. “Either you are a manufacture, or you're not. There's nothing in between, like with some firms which buy some movement parts and then process them. We wanted to create a complete movement from scratch, and then there's not a lot of scope. Either you do it, or you don't bother. We have a wide range of production facilities anyway; we make the cases, the wristbands and all sorts of individual parts,” says Chopard's Vice-President, and adds: “The only competence that we lacked before was the manufacture of movements.” Manufacture Chopard now satisfies this requirement, and the result is something to be proud of. Among the various models of the L.U.C Collection, the L.U.C Quattro with its hand-winding movement with four stacked barrels - which were presented in Basel in 2000 - plays a very significant role.


Manufacture Chopard in Fleurier: today
At present, Manufacture Chopard employs 58 watchmakers. By now, they produce five different high-quality L.U.C movement types. This year, Chopard will again present a world first at the Basel World Watch and Jewellery Show: L.U.C “”Tonneau“”, whose automatic shaped watch movement, L.U.C 6.96, harmoniously fits into the vaulted case. To date, L.U.C “Tonneau” is the world's only watch which has an automatic shaped watch movement with a micro-rotor. This extraordinary watch caused a sensation in Basel. Apart from the development and production of high-quality L.U.C movements, the Fleurier Manufacture also carries out other work for Chopard. For instance, the Mille Miglia watches are assembled there. It is one of the unwritten laws of the watchmaking industry that a watch producer can only glory in the coveted designation, “Manufacture”, if he manufactures at least one of his movements himself. With the production of top-of-the-range movements, Chopard is trying to secure part of that market for men's watches which was previously the domain of the haut horloger. In response to the question as to whether the investments in Manufacture Chopard have already been recaptured, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele says: “Yes, we've seen the four million again. Not only in the form of turnover, but also in the form of goodwill. The goodwill we generated for the brand in this way was incredible. Indeed, this is that amount many times over. Apart from that, the small firm in Fleurier is going very well. The first two or three years were the start-up years in which we invested; now, we're standing on our own two feet.”

Manufacture Chopard has a future: the vision
On the former ETA premises, which have meanwhile been acquired by Manufacture Chopard, the number of personnel is supposed to be increased to 80 watchmakers by the year 2002. In the coming 3-4 years, production capacity is planned to be increased to 8,000-10,000 high-quality mechanical L.U.C movements. “Today, our ambition is to equip even more Chopard watches with L.U.C movements. 5,000 movements - i.e. not even ten per cent of the 70,000 movements required by Chopard every year - are now being produced by Manufacture Chopard.”To begin with,“says the company's Vice-President,”this is a very good result,“and he concludes:”It was an important step for our brand to launch the L.U.C movement. This movement has earned us a considerable reputation and given us an invaluable degree of publicity in the world of watches."


The manufacture of an L.U.C watch: the major stages

Stage 1: Development

A product which first only exists in the realms of imagination, finds its existence as a drawing on a sheet of paper. Transforming an idea into reality, into a working process, requires the utmost accuracy. Computer-assisted software is used to bring the watch to life. Mathematical calculations and the use of the laws of physics make it possible for the watch to be moved on the monitor and enable us to see it as it will really look.

Stage 2: Mechanics

For the cutting and drilling of parts with tolerance amounting to no more than a few microns, precision is imperative. The complex geometries and coordinates are input directly into the machines, and mathematics thus transforms blank metal into workable micro-parts. “Intelligent” machines mill a maze of holes and recesses into the bottom plate of the movement. Laser-guided machines cut out complex steel parts with tungsten threads finer than human hair. Each part is compared with and checked against a template. Accuracy is the basis of precision. Modern optical appliances and measuring facilities check the micro-mechanical parts.

Stage 3: Surface finish

Very many working processes in the manufacture of watches entail the polishing of metal surfaces. This exacting work can only be done by hand. To provide a steel surface with a perfect gleam, it must be made to shine, flawless like a mirror, and this requires the application of a perfectly adapted pressure. Not one millimetre of any metal surface is neglected. By paying a great deal of active attention to polishing and to finishing surfaces, the qualified personnel also demonstrate a great deal of recognition of and respect for other work processes.

Stage 4: Watchmaking

As far as watchmaking is concerned, Chopard represents its fundamental qualities: top-class work provided by qualified personnel, lasting value, and reliability. Assembling hundreds of tiny and seemingly unconnected parts in a machine that measures time, requires patience and discipline, which have become rare in our time. The magical element of Chopard watches is the ingenious movement, which is self-winding. Cams and levers translate the movements of the wrist into energy, which in turn winds up the mainspring. Thus the watch need not be wound up by hand as long as it is being worn. Before the watches leave the workshops, they are subjected to electronic tests day after day. Then, the watches are again returned to the watchmakers for precise tests. Each detail and all the functions are tested with the utmost precision. Creating the whole world of a watch is a challenge that combines traditional skills with innovative technologies.
Chopard - the chronology of a watch manufacture

1860Louis-Ulysse Chopard establishes a manufacture for the production of precision watches (pocket watches and chronometers) in Sonvilier in the Swiss Jura.
1920Chopard moves its base to Geneva and focuses on the production of luxury watches.
1963Karl Scheufele acquires the Chopard company. Scheufele is the third-generation owner of the Eszeha company, which was set up in Pforzheim in Germany in 1904, and which specialises in the manufacture of jewellery watches. Production now continues under the Chopard name in both works.
1975The production plant is moved from the centre of Geneva to the suburb of Geneva-Meyrin. A Chopard distribution branch is opened in France.
1976The Chopard Watch Corporation is established in New York.
1986The Chopard Boutique is opened in Geneva.
1996 Chopard recalls its early days in the Swiss Jura and sets up a production plant in Fleurier, where a new automatic movement is manufactured.
1996The new automatic L.U.C 1.96 movement is presented.
1997The watch L.U.C with the new automatic L.U.C 1.96 movement is presented.
1999The L.U.C Sport 2000 is presented.
2000The L.U.C Quattro with 4 barrels (2x2 stacked barrels) and more than nine days' power-reserve is presented at the Basel Watch Show.
2001Presentation of L.U.C “Tonneau”, the world's only watch with an automatic shaped watch movement with a micro-rotor. The world novelty caused a sensation at the Basel Watch Show.

www.chopard.com

Source: Chopard
February 2003