Chopard

The event that first brought Chopard wide public attention was the introduction of the Happy Diamonds watch in 1976. The concept originated with in-house designer Ronald Kurowski, who, inspired by the movement of sunlight on water, developed a mechanism allowing loose diamonds to move freely between two sapphire crystals on the dial. The piece won the Golden Rose of Baden-Baden in 1976. In 1985, Karl and Karin's daughter Caroline Scheufele extended the concept into jewellery, producing a clown figure with a belly full of floating diamonds, which became the foundation of the Happy Diamonds jewellery line.

The second major development came from Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Caroline's brother and co-president, who in 1996 inaugurated the Chopard Manufacture in Fleurier. The facility was built to produce entirely in-house movements under the initials of the founder, the L.U.C line. The first calibre, the L.U.C 96.01-L, was an automatic micro-rotor movement. The manufacture eventually earned the Poincon de Geneve hallmark.

In 1988 Chopard became the official timekeeper and title sponsor of the Mille Miglia, the historic Italian endurance race. From 2013 onwards Chopard committed publicly to sourcing ethical gold, becoming the first watch and jewellery company to establish a dedicated production line using Fairmined-certified gold. In 2018 the company pledged to use 100 percent ethical gold across all collections.

On the Nordic auction market, Chopard appears across 99 recorded lots, with 27 currently active. Kaplans Auktioner leads with 46 lots, followed by Stockholms Auktionsverk and Bukowskis. Watches account for 61 lots and jewellery for 36. The highest price achieved is 130,000 SEK for an 18-karat white gold diamond ring. Chronographs from the Happy Sport and Mille Miglia lines have sold in the 32,000-46,000 SEK range.