Louis-Ulysse Chopard founded his manufacture in 1860 in Sonvilier, a small village in the Bernese Jura. The brand built early repute producing pocket watch chronometers for the Swiss railroad and for aristocratic European customers. By the 1920s, Chopard had relocated to Geneva and was supplying the Russian Imperial court. The Russian Revolution and the Great Depression severely damaged the business, and by the 1960s the brand was dormant.
In 1963 Karl Scheufele III, a German jeweller from Pforzheim, acquired Chopard as a near-defunct brand and relaunched it under family ownership. The decisive 1976 launch of Happy Diamonds, designed by Ronald Kurowski with freely moving diamonds rolling between two sapphire crystals, established Chopard's jewellery-watchmaking identity. The 1988 partnership with the Mille Miglia vintage car rally created the Mille Miglia chronograph collection that has become one of the brand's most recognised lines. In 1996 Chopard opened its L.U.C manufacture in Fleurier to produce fully in-house haute horlogerie calibres.
Today Chopard is run by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele (for the gentlemen's collections) and Caroline Scheufele (for jewellery and women's collections), both second-generation members of the founding family. The brand operates across Mille Miglia (motor sport chronographs), L.U.C (haute horlogerie with Geneva Seal and Fleurier Quality Foundation certifications), Alpine Eagle (the 2019 integrated-bracelet luxury sports watch designed by the Scheufele brothers with input from Karl-Fritz's son Karl-Friedrich Scheufele III), Happy Sport, and Imperiale. Chopard is also known for its use of 100% ethical gold and its ongoing commitment to sustainable sourcing.
