forzheim, Germany. Karl Scheufele I, born in 1877, lost both his parents at the age of 11 and grew up in an orphanage, where he learned watchmaking. In 1904 he set up in business in Pforzheim, the epicentre of German jewellery- and watchmaking. Immediately, he specialised in gem-set watches as well as selling pendants, medallions, bracelets and brooches in gold, diamonds and pearls, with floral designs inspired by Art Nouveau, under the Eszeha brand name. From these beginnings, a dynasty would grow.

Europa Star: It’s interesting to see that, unlike many of his Swiss counterparts, Karl I did business in both watches and jewellery, a characteristic that still defines the company today.

Karl-Friedrich Scheufele: That’s right. From the very beginning, Karl I specialised in gold watches, not all of which were jewellery watches. He also made travel watches, for example, as well as travel alarms which he fitted with Swiss movements. In 1912 he even filed a patent for a pocket watch that could be attached to a bracelet and worn as a pendant or fastened to the wrist. An immense success in its day, it inspired a model we released for our 150th anniversary. At the same time, his company was active in the jewellery segment, including manufacturing watch cases by hand.

(left to right) Caroline-Marie, Katarina, Karin, Christine, Karl III, Karl-Fritz, Caroline and Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, representing the third, fourth and fifth generations of the international watch and jewellery company. A success story that began in southern Germany at the end of the 19th century.

Karl I was succeeded at the head of the family firm by Karl II, then by Karl III, your father. A dynasty was taking shape.

KFS: Yes, in 1941 my grandfather, Karl II, took the reins. The company was prospering but then war came. In the very last months of fighting, in 1945, Pforzheim was destroyed in a massive bombing raid and the Scheufeles lost everything they had. The factory had to be rebuilt from the ground up. Karl II set to work and reopened in 1947. When he retired in 1958, the factory employed 35 people. He handed over to my father, Karl III, himself a goldsmith and watchmaker. Part of his training had been in Switzerland, including at Blancpain, and he had the firm intention to extend his company to Switzerland by purchasing a Manufacture, preferably in Geneva. Well, in 1963 he travelled to Geneva where he visited a dozen manufacturers, ticking them all off his list except one, Chopard, which hadn’t answered any of his calls. By now it was Sunday evening, his last night in Geneva, when suddenly the telephone rang and who was at the other end of the line but the grandson of Louis-Ulysse Chopard. Neither of his sons — one a banker and the other a missionary in Africa — had any interest in taking on the family business, which by now was doing little more than service and repair. They agreed to meet the following morning on Rue de Miléant in Saint-Jean. Straight away, they struck a deal and the entire family — my father, my mother Karin, my sister Caroline and I — moved to Geneva.

What made him choose Chopard?

KFS: Firstly, it was a well respected name. More importantly, it was located in Geneva and that was important for a business specialising in jewellery watches, as my father planned. He began by manufacturing watch cases then added the assembly of movements from blanks. There was little in the way of inventory, which was an advantage. With Karin at his side, it all came together very quickly. Ten years later, in 1973, Chopard cut the ribbon at its first building in Meyrin, where we are still headquartered.

When the Scheufele family moved to Geneva after buying out Chopard in the 1960s, and concentrated on jewellery watches, for a certain time both names were used, as shown in this 1965 archive from the Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie (JSH).

You were born in Germany in 1958 and started working alongside your parents in 1980. How did the transition into the family business take place?

KFS: From the age of 14, I was a pupil at the International School of Geneva where I took my international baccalaureate in English, but I wanted a better understanding of things, so I completed an intensive apprenticeship in jewellery-making and watch-case making. Part of it was with Weber, which at that time made cases for Rolex, among others. I learned a lot, both manual techniques and how to operate machines, cam lathes and more modern machinery. Following this, I rounded out my academic baggage with a year at HEC business school in Lausanne. I had intended to stay longer but my father was very good at finding ways to get me interested in the family firm, not least trips to the United States and other countries. He kept tempting me until I decided to drop out of business school and join him.

The first Happy Diamonds watch (1976)

It sounds as though this was something you really wanted to do…

KFS: You know, we’re a family business! Talk at the dinner table has always revolved around Chopard. I clearly remember the Happy Diamonds launch in 1976. It was my mother who came up with the name.

A name that certainly contributed to its success.

KFS: Happy Diamonds began life as a drawing that won a Golden Rose of Baden-Baden award… the price being that we now had to make it! This raised the complex matter of how we could have diamonds moving freely inside a watch without scratching the dial, which could be onyx for example, or the sapphire crystal. The solution was to suspend them in a kind of sheath, which we had to design and make, so they could then move freely without scratching anything.

Designed by Caroline Scheufele and the first jewellery launched by Chopard in 1985, the Happy Clown has articulated limbs and floating diamonds in its tummy.

You were 22 in 1980, the Happy Diamonds was a success to the point that it was almost better-known than the brand itself, when you approached your father with an idea for a luxury sports watch in steel, for all occasions, very much in keeping with the times, but definitely not a jewellery watch.

KFS: Yes, the St. Moritz. My father was against the idea. I had to fight my corner but I eventually won him over.

What goes around, comes around… 30 years later you found yourself in the same position, but we’ll come back to that, if you don’t mind, as it makes the perfect junction between three generations: your father, you and your son Karl-Fritz. So on a different subject, already in the 1980s you were thinking about vertical integration. Why was that?

It was the middle of the 1980s. I’d been to the Basel fair and remember leaving and feeling an almost physical rejection of quartz. I was convinced that mechanical had a future and, seeing the revival in mechanical watches take shape, told myself we had to bring the whole of our movement manufacturing in-house, rather than just assembly.

New 33mm limited edition of the Happy Sport with a lilac-toned lepidolite dial

No easy task! I still remember the inauguration of the Manufacture in Fleurier in 1996. You came under a lot of criticism, things like, “Who do they think they are! They’ll never pull it off!”

Absolutely, and I knew I had no room for error, for all kinds of reasons. We had to learn. We built our first complications, including a perpetual calendar, on LeCoultre and Piguet movements. We also worked with independents such as Jean-Marc Wiederrecht and Svend Andersen. As you said, we had to overcome a lot of reticence. There were those who doubted we’d succeed. Still, we launched our project for an in-house movement in 1993, opened Chopard Manufacture in Fleurier in 1996 and unveiled our first movement in 1997. In the end we silenced the critics, who’d given me even more motivation to succeed!

Meanwhile, led by your sister Caroline, Chopard’s jewellery collections were going from strength to strength. How do you work together as brother and sister?

KFS: Very naturally. We’re three years apart. As soon as I started at Chopard, Caroline was eager to join us. She’d always had a keen interest in jewellery and we quickly saw how we could divide the work between us. She developed the Happy Diamonds concept, then came up with this little sketch of a jewelled clown. It was her first piece of its kind and became something of an icon. These smaller bijoux led us to jewellery, which was the opportunity to integrate an entire new set of skills, such as gem-setting and cutting. It’s exceptionally rare for a watch brand to have these professions in-house, as we have for the past thirty years.

Building on the foundations of this vertical integration, you then further elevated your mechanical watchmaking expertise with the revival of Ferdinand Berthoud. But that’s a story for another day. Returning to our Generations theme, let’s come back to the St. Moritz that was reborn, thanks to your son Karl-Fritz, as the Alpine Eagle.

Karl-Fritz Scheufele (KFS II): Chopard has always been a kind of permanent background noise at home, as it was for my father, so you’re drawn into the company quite naturally. Anyway, I came across the St. Moritz and felt certain we could rethink the design and relaunch it under a different name. My father was far from convinced. The St. Moritz sold 50,000 units during its 15-year run and strengthened Chopard’s reputation as a watchmaker before being phased out in the late 1990s. They were different times but I was still confident it was ripe for a comeback. When it came to convincing my father, I had a powerful ally in my grandfather [Karl III] who was thinking along the same lines. The fact was, we were lacking a collection for the boutiques that we could position between the Mille Miglia and the L.U.C. After that, it was a question of reworking the design and redesigning a model is much harder than sitting down with a blank sheet of paper!

Karl-Friedrich and Caroline Scheufele at the 2017 GPHG. Chopard won the Aiguille d’Or for the L.U.C Full Strike

Were you, like your father, keen on having other experiences before joining the family business?

KFS II: My grandfather had insisted my father join right away and he did the same with me! Even so, I did manage to complete my Master’s at Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne and gain experience in hospitality and winegrowing [the Scheufeles also own Le Caveau de Bacchus, a wine cellar in Geneva].

You’re part of a generation that’s shown a real taste for vintage, which could explain why you were so drawn to the St. Moritz. We have Lorenzo, who also has a passion for vintage watches. Do you see vintage as a gateway into the watch world?

KFS II: While I’m not a great fan of the expression “it was better before”, I have to admit there is some truth in the saying where watches are concerned. Today it’s a race to bring out one new model after another, whereas I feel watches used to be seen as an adornment and that more time and effort went into creating them. They’d nitpick over details and that’s what I like about vintage. It’s nice to see the mark of time on a watch. I started taking an interest and of course discussed it with my father, insisting on how early Chopard models with in-house movements were relevant on the vintage market.

1980s advertisements for the St. Moritz

KFS: I have to confess that, before Karl-Fritz joined us, we never monitored or observed the vintage segment with any great discipline. Through lack of time, we hadn’t kept track of all its developments. Personally, I didn’t feel any real affinity with the vintage market, even though I have a great interest in the history of watchmaking, as the relaunch of Ferdinand Berthoud shows. So I was pleasantly surprised to learn that certain vintage Chopard models were appreciating in value, in particular the St. Moritz. Without even talking about certified pre-owned, this is something we should certainly be discussing more as a matter of routine.

Chopard is enriching its Alpine Eagle sports watch collection this year with a first platinum version.

A case of the new generation reviving what you were doing before them! Which makes me wonder, how do you reconcile the popularity of vintage with the need for constant innovation?

KFS: We have several models which I would say are perfect examples of how it is possible to innovate while still respecting traditional expertise. One that I would like to mention is the L.U.C Full Strike, a completely innovative minute repeater, something that had never been seen before, equipped with a Poinçon de Genève movement. Of course, the only way to achieve this is to master the necessary skills in-house. Even if vintage is on our radar and with all due respect to our forebears, we make watches for the present day.

Karl-Fritz, what exactly is your role at Chopard?

KFS II: That’s an easy one! I do what I’m given… and my father does tend to give me a lot of responsibility. It’s a risk but also an amazing opportunity to grow. Given my experience in hospitality and customer service, it made sense that I should start working with our boutiques.

KFS: I’m a firm believer that you learn by doing. Our teams in the field often suggest Karl-Fritz come and represent the brand… rather than certain others, perhaps. (laughs) I’m delighted that we can move forward together.

What about the other members of your generation? Are they involved in the business, officially or unofficially?

KFS II: My older sister Caroline-Marie officially joined the company long before I did. Having held positions in several departments, from admin to HR, she’s now in charge of product development, mainly bijouterie but also watches. As for my younger sister Katarina, she’s already very involved informally. She takes part in family debates and can have some pretty strong views! She’s a creative, a graduate of Central Saint Martins in London and, as the youngest sibling, represents Gen Z. So there are now three or four generations who can give their opinion on a piece.

Family firms were once the rule, especially in watchmaking. Now they’re more the exception. An opportunity to differentiate Chopard even more?

KFS: I don’t entirely agree with the term “exception”. There are still a great many companies that are family-owned and have been for several generations. On the other hand, it is less common for several members of the same family to be involved in day-to-day operations, as we are. Personally, I’ve always found this to be a rewarding experience and while working as a family isn’t always easy, today I couldn’t imagine it being any other way. Except with growth comes the need for a different structure.

The new L.U.C Flying T Twin Perpetual, hallmarked Poinçon de Genève, features a case in ethical 18k yellow gold measuring 40.5 millimetres in diameter. It houses L.U.C Calibre 96.36-L, an original complication movement pairing a flying tourbillon and a perpetual calendar with a large date display.

Takeover offers, or at least approaches, are also a test.

KFS: There have been and of course will be propositions but we are doing everything we can to continue as a family for the longest possible time. We’re all far too happy doing what we do to swap it for a life I couldn’t even begin to imagine. It’s our passion and that we have both male and female family members giving their input for our creations is very precious.

One last word: Karl-Fritz, given your training and experience, you were closely involved with the opening of your hotel, 1, Place Vendôme, in Paris. Does this signal a new segment for the brand?

KFS: Had we been a group, we might have called it the Chopard hotel and presented it as a first step in diversification. In this instance, we seized what was a unique opportunity above our historic boutique on Place Vendôme. Quite simply.