Chopard has always been owned by a family. Since 1963, that has been the Family Scheufele.

Even as teenagers, Karl-Friedrich and his sister Caroline were immersed in the family business and helped at trade shows in Basel and Geneva.

The Scheufele siblings, Karl-Friedrich and Caroline were appointed Vice Presidents of Chopard in 1985 and Co-Presidents in 2001. During the 1990s, Caroline and Karl-Friedrich Scheufele formed a new leadership doubles team, just as their parents before them. Each re-interpreted the family tradition in their own way: Caroline reinvented the Pforzheim jewellery-making tradition by launching Haute Joaillerie collections, while Karl-Friedrich did the same for watchmaking by launching a fine watchmaking “Manufacture” in Fleurier.

These achievements are well known and documented in 'A Brief History of CHOPARD Time and Jewels part 7: Chopard Manufacture - First 20 Years', but now we can ask:

What did the young "KFS" achieve in the early years?

As Co-President, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele is in charge of the Chopard Manufactures, the gents watch division and all business management aspects whilst his sister, Caroline, is Co-President, Artistic Director and Head of the Creation and Design department at Chopard.  He was born in 1958 and grew up in the city of Pforzheim, where he lived until the age of 15. In 1963, coincidental with the takeover of Chopard, Karl-Friedrich moved to become a boarder at Geneva International School. He served an apprenticeship with a Geneva jeweller, before studying at the 'Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales' in Lausanne. After a sabbatical spent travelling, he joined the family firm, working through all departments.

Famous Chopard Products

Since the Happy Diamonds, the history of Chopard has been conspicuous, dotted with iconic collections that made their mark on developments in both watchmaking and jewellery.

Sports watches
When you consider his youth during that prevailing era of doom and gloom in the Swiss watch industry, the St Moritz watch was perhaps the first notable project that Karl-Friedrich Scheufele produced. He also carved up a niche market: ‘Sporting Chic’. In 1980, Chopard surprised observers by creating a steel sports watch: St. Moritz. He had understood a change in "lifestyle" where the borders between formal evening dress, smart city suits and casual wear were becoming increasingly blurred.

The St. Moritz featured an original reinterpretation of the octagonal shape with eight screws securing the gasket between the bezel and case. It was protected from damp and temperature variations – an impressive technical feat at that time. This grand première proved an instant success and was followed by models evoking other famous resorts: Monte Carlo and Gstaad.

There is an apocryphal story of the Audacity of Youth told about how he "sold" the watch to sceptical retailers in Hong Kong. It is alleged that whilst presenting the prototype at a gathering of dealers, Karl-Friedrich perceived an air of disbelief. He countered this with a bold move that he now admits was impetuous and risky: he tossed his watch into the ice bucket wine cooler. At the end of dinner, the watch was retrieved in working order and sales were clinched!

Conspicuous elegance
An amiable and modest gentleman by nature, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele has realised a vision of Chopard, guided by his twin passions for classic cars and fine watchmaking. He is also known for his indefatigability, demonstrated whilst establishing the brand’s reputation through the world of Classic Racing; and in building Chopard Manufacture.

His wife Christine provides invaluable support in the areas of marketing, production and finance.

However, for decision making, a blend of rational and emotional elements allows him to look past statistics or spreadsheets and get to the nub of the issue – a true PuristS member. 

This was recognised by The PuristS collectors group, who awarded him a PuristS Purity Prize way back in 2009, honouring “the pursuit of perfection in an imperfect world”.

The PuristS officially presented him in Geneva with this distinction for the exceptional work accomplished with Chopard Manufacture since its creation in 1996.

Classic Racing: a love of fine machines
Aficionados of fine automobiles tend to have a weakness for beautiful timepieces, and vice versa. In both cases, sporting elegance and the quest for performance are paramount. Lifting the hood of a car provides an understanding of the engineering, and the same applies to horological mechanisms that may be admired through a display case-back. Today, true connoisseurs can be recognised by their choice of watch: a technical enthusiast will go for a complicated mechanical watch, while car-lovers will opt for a Chopard Mille Miglia, a Grand Prix de Monaco Historique or a Superfast model.

Karl-Friedrich shares his father’s hobby. They have built up a collection of distinguished cars, with father showing a preference for elegant post-war sports models and son displaying tendencies towards pre-war and post-war English and German cars (Bentley, Aston Martin, Porsche and Mini Cooper) with the odd Ferrari thrown in, for good measure. It was inevitable that Chopard would become involved in the world of classic car racing.

While Chopard supports the Mille Miglia and the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, the brand’s commitment to Classic Racing goes back to the 1980s – and in fact even earlier, since grandfather was already fascinated by these finely tuned mechanisms. Historical highlights include Chopard’s participation in the Rallye des Alpes in 1993; and an unexpected race around Moscow’s Red Square in 1994. Recently, Chopard became timekeeper for the Porsche Motorsport World Endurance Championship team as well as sponsors of a race team in the Peking - Paris Rallye.

Mille Miglia: winning ways
Chopard and the Mille Miglia have become inseparable. The adventure stemmed from Karl and Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s personal passion for collectors’ cars. The son discovered this re-born race, and he and his father took part in the 1987 edition, at the wheel of their own classic cars. A year later, Chopard became the event sponsor, a partnership that has enabled the Mille Miglia to earn an international reputation.

Grand Prix de Monaco Historique

In 2002, Chopard became official partner and timekeeper for the event, and has also developed refined and classically inspired sports watches of the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique collection.

They are awarded to the winners of each category. Passion, emotion, stringent quality criteria and extreme precision are just four of the common denominators between the world of cars and that of watches.

Eight years ago, to the month, “KFS” said to me:
“When I started with this L.U.C. project, I discussed it with someone in the watch industry whom I appreciated a lot – the late Teddy Beyer (Theodore Beyer of Chronometrie Beyer, Zurich). He used to tell me that the watch industry is a marathon; it’s not a sprint. This is what I kept in mind. You have a lot of ‘sprinters’ in our industry but if you want to make a real impact, it’s more the Long Run. Sometimes, my people come to see me saying, “Look at the others and what they are doing”. I reply, “Let’s see 10 years down the road…” That is why we started with a basic movement and not a grand complication. That’s our philosophy. You can build upon the solid foundation but if you don’t have the foundation, you’re never going to really take off.”

As I am writing part 8 of a brief history of Chopard, I am reminded of that early interview and those words still ring true today as they did when Teddy Beyer said them to the young KFS: “the watch industry is like a marathon and not a sprint”.

TIMELINE

1980: Launch of the first sports watch: St. Moritz.

1983: Launch of the Monte Carlo collection. Opening of the first Chopard boutique in Hong Kong.

1985: Karl-Friedrich and Caroline Scheufele are appointed vice-presidents of the Chopard group.

1986: Launch of the Gstaad collection.

1988: Start of the partnership between Chopard and the Mille Miglia, the legendary classic car rally in Italy. Chopard creates the 1000 Miglia sports watch collection.

1996: Manufacture Chopard, Fleurier started

2001: Caroline and Karl-Friedrich Scheufele become co-presidents of Chopard.

2002: Chopard becomes official timekeeper of the prestigious Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, a classic car race held in Monte Carlo.
Launch of the Elton John watch collection on behalf of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

2008: “Best Training Company Prize” in the “Applied Arts” category awarded by the State of Geneva and honouring Chopard’s long-term commitment to the field of training and education.

Acknowledgements for Facts and Images: 

Chopard Manufacture Archivist A.W.
L.U.CEUM (Chopard Musuem), Fleurier
Scheufele Family

By: Dr. Melvyn Teillol-Foo, 2016.

A Brief History of CHOPARD Time and Jewels part 1: First Generation  CLICK following URL to read:
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A Brief History of CHOPARD Time and Jewels part 2 : Second Generation CLICK following URL to read:
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A Brief History of CHOPARD Time and Jewels part 3: Third Generation  CLICK following URL to read:
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A Brief History of CHOPARD Time and Jewels part 4: New Beginnings CLICK following URL link to read:
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A Brief History of CHOPARD Time and Jewels part 5: Happy Diamonds  CLICK following URL link to read:
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A Brief History of CHOPARD Time and Jewels part 6: Production Sites  CLICK following URL link to read:
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A Brief History of CHOPARD Time and Jewels part 7: Chopard Manufacture - First 20 Years  CLICK following URL link to read:
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A Brief History of CHOPARD Time and Jewels part 9: Caroline Scheufele - Early Years. CLICK following URL link to read:
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A Brief History of CHOPARD Time and Jewels part 10: Noblesse Oblige
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