The Sound Of a Legacy
WatchTime|July/August 2022
To mark the 25th anniversary of the L.U.C collection, Chopard has launched a trio of chiming watches, the L.U.C Strike One, L.U.C Full Strike Sapphire and L.U.C Full Strike Tourbillon. WatchTime sat down with Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-president of Chopard, to talk about these milestones.
Roger Ruegger
The Sound Of a Legacy

On one hand, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, the son of German entrepreneurs Karl and Karin Scheufele who acquired Chopard with five employees in 1963, could easily be described as a visionary. Since the 1980s, KFS has been the driving force behind the maison's mission to become a true watch manufacture (at a time when a large part of the Swiss luxury brands still relied on external movements). Thanks to his determination, Chopard quickly evolved into an independent haute horlogerie heavyweight, right at the time when mechanical watchmaking became destined for a renaissance. At first it wasn't just about becoming a manufacture; that was the second step, he said. It was mainly about creating our own automatic movement [the 1.96 that was named after the year it was completed]. This made me realize that we would have to reorganize everything. We did look at a couple of smaller manufactures, but ultimately decided to start from scratch, with a blank sheet of paper, and a lot of verve. -

Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, and obviously also his sister Caroline who is Chopard's co-president and artistic director, could also be described as pioneers. Chopard started to focus on sustainability and corporate governance (e.g., by implementing an ethical gold policy across all watches and jewelry at the family-owned manufacturer), years ahead of the rest of the industry. But perhaps most importantly, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele can probably be described best as the quintessential gentleman: humble, compassionate, cultivated. The opposite of arrogance. He almost always uses us and we in his answers, and rarely talks about himself. In this context, it makes even more sense that the L.U.C collection was named after Louis-Ulysse Chopard, the company's founder.

Denne historien er fra July/August 2022-utgaven av WatchTime.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra July/August 2022-utgaven av WatchTime.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA WATCHTIMESe alt
Mirror of Civilizations
WatchTime

Mirror of Civilizations

With the new Tonda PF Xiali Calendar (Ref. PFH982-1022301100182), Parmigiani Fleurier celebrates the Chinese New Year (Jan. 22, 2023) with a world premiere: a Chinese complete calendar that is covering a period of 12 years. This model follows the maison's earlier Gregorian Annual Calendar and the Tonda Hijri Perpetual Calendar, or Muslim calendar, a feat of miniaturization that was awarded the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) in the Innovation category in 2020.

time-read
6 mins  |
March - April 2023
Return Flight
WatchTime

Return Flight

Longines brings back the famous \"Majetek\" pilot watch from 1935 with a 43-mm case and new bezel system.

time-read
2 mins  |
March - April 2023
Black Capsule
WatchTime

Black Capsule

On January 31, Carl F. Bucherer unveiled five new versions of some of its most popular models in a different cosmopolitan city on the same day - each city having played an important role for the three generations of the Bucherer family over the past 135 years.

time-read
1 min  |
March - April 2023
Touchdown in Le Locle
WatchTime

Touchdown in Le Locle

Aaron Charles Rodgers (born Dec. 2, 1983) is a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL).

time-read
8 mins  |
September/October 2022
Flat Floor
WatchTime

Flat Floor

Just three months after Bulgari had unveiled the world's latest thinnest watch, the 1.8-mm Octo Finissimo Ultra (Ref. 103611), Richard Mille set a new world record with the RM UP-01 Ferrari (in 2021, Ferrari and Richard Mille had announced a multi-year partnership agreement).

time-read
1 min  |
September/October 2022
Tourbillon Waltz
WatchTime

Tourbillon Waltz

On June 26, 1801, Abraham-Louis Breguet (Jan. 10, 1747 Sept. 17, 1823) was granted a patent for a new type of regulator.

time-read
1 min  |
September/October 2022
Tudor's Tool Watch Is Back
WatchTime

Tudor's Tool Watch Is Back

Two years ago, Tudor started to quietly decommission its ETApowered Heritage Ranger from 2014, perhaps one of its most quintessential time-only models that had first appeared in the collection in the 1960s.

time-read
1 min  |
September/October 2022
License To Dive
WatchTime

License To Dive

Underwater explorers and frogmen play as prominent a role in the history of Omega's dive watches as do the seahorse and the world's most famous secret agent.

time-read
10+ mins  |
September/October 2022
HEART-STOPPING MOMENTS
WatchTime

HEART-STOPPING MOMENTS

The TAG Heuer Autavia embodies the excitement of 1960s motorsports and the optimism of the time. The new 2022 models reflect the Autavia's beginnings as a cockpit instrument and build on this history.

time-read
10+ mins  |
September/October 2022
The Lasting Influence of The Nineties
WatchTime

The Lasting Influence of The Nineties

A look back at the decade that saw an industry recover from crisis and steady itself at the cusp of a new millennium.

time-read
10 mins  |
September/October 2022