KINDRED SPIRIT

The phrase ‘family-run global firm’, after decades in which it has crept into oxymoronic territory, is now peeping over the abyss into obsolescence. In the highest echelons of watchmaking and jewellery, there are perhaps only a handful of these enterprises still in existence, and none that is thriving creatively and culturally like Chopard.

This fact is a credit to the house’s co-presidents, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and his sister, Caroline, who is often referred to as the Queen of the Cannes Film Festival. Their family purchased Chopard in 1963 from the grandson of the founder. Learning the trade as a young man, touring the globe visiting jewellers with his father, Karl-Friedrich went on to become a horological titan. Sparkling achievements to date include the idea to develop sports watches and steel watches under the brand’s aegis in the 1980s (he designed the first one aged just 22); the founding of a high precision mechanical