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Karl-Friedrich Scheufele
an accomplished gentleman
A passionate aesthete, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele is the man behind a watchmaking success story that has shaped the destiny of Chopard. In the 1990s, when traditional watchmaking was just recovering from the quartz crisis, he foresaw the historic take-off that the mechanical watch was about to experience.
He then set about creating a watchmaking workshop whose mission was to develop the first in-house caliber to honour the heritage of Louis-Ulysse Chopard, the founder of Chopard in 1860. Christened L.U.C 96.01-L, this automatic movement with automatic winding via a micro-rotor was both versatile and unequalled at the time, marking the birth of Chopard Manufacture and the L.U.C. collection.
Chopard Manufacture
Chopard Manufacture
Exceptional watchmaking development
Some 25 years after their creation, the expansion of our workshops has gone hand in hand with the development of a complete repertoire of calibers covering almost all existing horological complications. Twenty-two registered patents testify to this continuous quest for innovation and improvement.
Feats accomplished include an ultra-thin mechanical movement with automatic winding via a micro-rotor , several references with very long power reserves, an integrated automatic flyback chronograph, a high-frequency movement, a tourbillon and an ultra-thin flying tourbillon, a perpetual calendar with large date and astronomical moon phases, a world time function, an in-passing striking mechanism, a minute repeater and multiple combinations of these complications.
Watchmaking feats
[MUSIC PLAYING] CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: I'm amazed at what the hand can do, particularly in precision work with such small parts.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: I am a watchmaker in the Grandes Complications workshop.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: I think watchmaking is a real vocation.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: I've always aspired to it.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: My home still has dismantled clocks; as I child, I wanted to see how they worked.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: If someone had said to me at watchmaking school that I would work on minute repeaters at Chopard, I'd never have believed them.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: It was my holy grail to work on pieces like that.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: We're pretty much the ones who finish the job, but beforehand, a lot of work is done to make all these parts correctly, so we can assemble them and ensure they work well.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: We receive the watch in separate parts, so we have over 500 parts in little boxes.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: And we assemble them from the beginning until the watch is finished, inspected and approved.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: It's amazing that we manage to fit all these parts in the movement.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: When you look at them all and realise they are all to be placed within such a small space, it's quite incredible, but we manage it with time and perseverance.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: Working on Poinçon de Genève watches requires us to be more cautious, more attentive to the parts with all their extra decoration.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: It's a real team effort.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: Some think we work all alone, but that's not true.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: We help each other a lot.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: We all have different perspectives on what's happening, and it's important to talk so we can continually improve.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: You need around 10 years of experience with complicated watches before you can assemble a minute repeater, because it's a mechanism that's hard to adjust to ensure the hours, quarters and minutes chime correctly, the right number of times exactly when they should.
CHRISTOPHE GRAND COMPLICATIONS WATCHMAKER: And I believe this can only be done by the human hand.
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A hive of talents
Promoting artisanship
Since its founding, Chopard Manufacture has consistently demonstrated its vocation for uniting Artisans whose expertise must be preserved at all costs. For certain professions, this sometimes implies resurrecting techniques that were thought to have been lost forever.
For others, it involves perpetuating skills that are in danger of extinction. It is through training, apprenticeship, research and constant investment that Chopard Manufacture has built up a 'library' of applied and living skills. Today, our workshops house more than 20 artisanal trades, including Grand Feu enamelling, Fleurisanne engraving and circular-graining.
Sustainable Luxury
Fine Watchmaking
Hailed for their respect for watchmaking traditions and for their great accuracy, Chopard Manufacture creations have been shining even brighter since the Maison's commitment to its Journey to Sustainable Luxury. In 2014, our workshops produced the first complication watch ever made in Ethical Gold: the L.U.C Tourbillon QF Fairmined timepiece.
Since this world first, the Maison has generalized the use of Ethical Gold: like our entire watch and jewelry production, the gold used to design L.U.C timepieces is Ethical.
New Creations
L.U.C timepieces
Sharing and Safeguarding
Craftsmanship Legacy
Keenly sensitive to our responsibility for preserving the expertise and techniques developed by generations of master watchmakers over the centuries, we are aware that our greatest heritage is above all human. That is why Chopard Manufacture is at the heart of our policy of passing on skills. A total of 40 apprentices are trained each year in our school, spread between our Fleurier and Meyrin sites.
At the end of their multi-year course, during which they are introduced to all watchmaking techniques, including the rarest and most traditional, these qualified artisans are ready to take their place among a new generation of masters. In addition, Chopard, recognized as the "best training company" by the State of Geneva in 2008, provides the study piece serving as the basis for training at the Geneva School of Watchmaking.
Responsible Sourcing
