In 2000, the Co-President of Chopard, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, was visiting auctions to acquire historic timepieces for his family museum when he came across a pocket chronometer that was beautifully crafted and constructed under the name of Ferdinand Berthoud. Intrigued, he began to dig deeper into the history of the brand. When he discovered that Berthoud was born in a village just 15 minutes outside of Fleurier, where Chopard’s watch manufacture is, he was amazed.
Over the next five years, Scheufele would go on to discover more about the remarkable watchmaker as well as the impressive marine chronometers he produced for the French and Spanish navies. He acquired many of the Ferdinand Berthoud timepieces that were around, and in 2006, he decided to set up a business under the watchmaker’s name, even though it would be another decade before the first watches would be produced. Asked why, he simply replies, “I had to protect the name of Ferdinand Berthoud. I had to ensure that no one would attempt to make a watch in his name that
