Chopard

The Manufacture Chopard in Geneva - visiting the birthplace of the L.U.C. Full Strike (with some special PuristS delights!)!

 

Chopard has two major production facilities, one in Fleurier (Swiss canton of Jura) and one in Meyrin (canton Geneva). In respect to the L.U.C Full Strike, the focus most naturally will lie with the latter, Genevan, facility:



The L.U.C Full Strike proudly carries the Poinçon de Genève, which stipulates that the watch has to be assembled in the canton, and it has further a case crafted from Fairmined® gold. Chopard operates its own foundry directly integrated into its Geneva factory building, which makes it all the more interesting: Chopard can demonstrate the whole production cycle of a watch from bare metal to final timepiece.

The steps I'd like to cover here comprise:

1. The Gold Foundry
2. Casting Components
3. Milling and Stamping Case Blanks
4. CNC Machinery
5. Polishing Workshop
6. Assembling of Bracelets
7. Detailling of Cases
8. Component Finishing
9. Galvanisation Laboratory
10. L.U.C. Watchmaking Atelier

Approaching the factory, one is surprised that it looks quite purposeful, but for sure not fancy or luxurious (source: panoramio.com):



That does not mean that details are overlooked here, as your first (in my case 7th or 8th...) reinforcement coffee demonstrates:



Watch factories are built according to a very simple layout criterion i.e. creating as much confusion to the occasional visitor as possible. The Chopard facility is no different here: convoluted corridors, backdoors, secret passages are all there in sufficient number and permutation. There are subordinate requirements as well, such as heavy machinery to be placed in the basement, but those are only followed to the extent that they don't interefere with the really important...

Chopard is a brand with a long and rich history, and certainly it knows how to show that:



While guiding you through the premises, workshops and ateliers, I'd like to seize the opportunity the Genevan Chopard facility offers, and try to follow the gestation of a Chopard L.U.C watch from the foundry to the final piece, an opportunity which is rather rare in the Swiss watch industry. Furthermore, at Chopard, it is particularly special since the brand makes use of significant amounts of 'ethically mined' gold called Fairmined®, which requires further provisions to be integrated into the production process.

According to the Alliance for Responsible Mining (http://www.fairmined.org), Fairmined® 'is an assurance label that certifies gold from empowered responsible artisanal and small-scale mining organizations who meet world leading standards for responsible practices, including a fair price paid to miners as well a implementation of investments in mining operations, social development and environmental protection.

(1) The Gold Foundry:
Already at the first glimpse at the foundry workshop the implications of using Fairmined® gold as well as conventional gold is obvious: both types of gold are processed on separate equipment (standard gold to the left,  Fairmined® gold to the right):



Gold, regardless of which flavour, as a raw material comes in two primary feedstocks to the foundry: as gold bullion as well as production leftover from milling operations. All bullions are principally supplied as 999.9—four nines fine grade (above 24 kt) yellow gold. Further additions of silver and copper (right) are used to achieve the desired colour and grade (e.g. 750 18 kt; left):



Each Fairmined® gold bullion carries the certification as well as a batch number, which must be recorded throughout the production process - for the simple reasons of (i) traceability and (ii) reuse of leftovers and debris for further production.

As a note of interest: even if they desired (the markup is only about 10%), Chopard cannot go 100% Fairmined® gold - there isn't simply sufficient raw material on the market!





The bullions are filled into the small, specialised furnaces together with the required admixture of other metals needed to create the desired gold alloy.



The furnaces are actually quite small:



Small peepholes allow you to control the melting process optically - pure gold



After melting the liquid gold drops into a simple mold...



... such that in the end a rectangular-shaped ingot is produced - now with the right gold colour and grade (here: 18kt red gold).



(2) Casting Components:
Only as a small detour, Chopard is a renown jewellery house and can create impressive artisanal pieces directly from the liquid gold. Usually, a raw planchet is cast using the famous plastic trees to create the castings.



Superbly complicated shapes are possible, with one really standing out:



The Palme d'Or as the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival:



(3) Milling and Stamping Case Blanks:
Back to the gold ingot: while still warm, the ingot is now milled to the specified thinkness, namely, such that it can directly be used as raw material for stamping out the case blanks:





Before this will happen, defined heat and cold clycles take out the intrinsic tension from the ingot.

The next stop in our journey through Chopard Geneva leads us to the stamping workshop, which in contrast to other factories is equipped with rather modern and safe machineries, and additionally quite a number of them:



The stamping tools are modular devices, with precise case-specific tools (pun-intended!) inserted into the massive support structure. Chopard creates all its cases, regardless of material, itself, and thus there are a mulittude of stamping tools to see. the 'key-ring' in the upper part of the image shows a great number to case blanks to be produced here:



Each case type requires its specific tool set, consisting of three parts: the stamping tool itself, and a top as well as a bottom support tools with a precise cut-out for the stamp:



Here you see the latter mounted...



... as well as the corresponding stamp itself:



Placed into the stamping machine, the assembly looks like this:



The ingot, here red gold, is inserted between the top and the bottom support tools, and the stamp cut out one case blank after the other.








As you can easily see, the case blank is precisely defined, but rather rough and would require considerable detailing and polishing work to be done.



Thus, before a blank is further worked on, e.g. at CNC machines or lather, a first coarse polishing is applied directly after the stamping.



This also removes debries which eventually might have stick to the workpiece. Left directly ex-stamp, right after the first polishing step:



Chopard uses the stamp workshop not only to produce blanks, but also to stamp final finishes such as logos or motifs on components. Here we see a famous case-back obtaining its trademark embellishment:







You recognised it right?

Its not only the cases which are made in-house. Chopard even creates bracelets, clasps and buckles in Geneva.



Sure, also here stamps are at play to produce raw parts, in this case in stainless steel.





But with bracelets, for example, many, many finer parts are needed for assembling a bracelet. Joints, spacers, connectory, clasps, adjustment devise and many more are all tiny and at the same time require complex miniature machining steps to be executed in a very precise manner.

(4) CNC Machinery:
For this, Chopard operates a large and impressive herd of industrial lathes and CNC machinery:





Some of them have intimidating dimensions:







In the rack at the wall you see the feedstock magazine:



(5) Polishing Workshop:
A CNC machine churns out parts which in most cases are ready to use, but of course need to be cleaned, freed from debris and of course polished to specification. Directly integrated into the CNC machinery outfit is the polishing department, where specialist polishers add the final touch to bracelet parts, cases or other pieces.



Finishing departments such as this create utmost fascination for me. It is here where a true human touch is applied to a workpiece, where a superfluous (in a technical sense) and thus decidedly human element is added to a part.

Even more so, what I learned is that each part needs be finished to a technical spec-sheet, however, the means to achieve this is entirely up to the individual specialist and his/her very personal way to achieve the result: which tool, which cloth, how to handle, which pressure... all individual!





Bracelet link, before (left three assemblies) and after (right two). Holding braces help to facilitate applying an even surface and also speed up efficiency.



Others prefer to work on assembles bracelets...



Case finishing...



Bezel notch polishing:





The final result (left before, right after polishing):



Another aspect I learned to appreciate is that every Chopard employee has to go through an introductory course in all aspects of watchmaking, to gain an hands-on feeling on what the industry is all about. This young man here, a future watchmaker, just started to learn how a bracelet is polished.



(6) Assembling of Bracelets:
While I showed so much about bracelets already, why not finishing the task? Next step: bracelet assembly:



That's a job which needs lots of skill and concentration (i.e., its not for me...), for the components look all so similar (but they are not identical and supposed to fit only in their specific, dedicated position on the bracelet). Like with (some) polishing, the assembly is facilitated with dedicated mounting brackets.

First, one row of outer links are placed...



The second mounting bracket, for the inner links, is added...



... and the bracelet pins inserted...





A pointing tool, similar to those a watchmaker uses for inserting the rubies, for example, into a movement plate (see further below), assists in firmly positioning the pins - one by one!