Post by Archer on Jun 18, 2007 15:32:29 GMT -6
I am starting my series of reports with an easy one, and that is Chopard. The reason it is easy is because they did not allow any photos in the plant. 
However, I did take various notes on the facility.
The Chopard facility is located in Fleurier, which is a small town in the Val-de-Travers. We arrived in this very nice area and took some shots of the outside of their facility.
Many of us took photos of what looked like some sort of mansion at the top of a mountain – it was quite a spectacular view. More on that place later.
The tour of the manufacture lasted a couple of hours and aside from the restrictions on photos, was a very good tour. They showed us a lot of the manufacturing details and we saw things there that we didn’t see at the other places we visited, for example their in-house plating department. Here are some stats on Chopard:
- They employ over 1,000 people in 3 facilities.
- They make approx. 75,000 quartz watches per year.
- They also make approx. 3,000 of the L.U.C. mechanical watches per year.
- Chopard make their own cases at the facility in Geneva.
- They do their jewels in a factory in Germany.
Chopard is known for their jewelry and really many watch collectors write them off as a fashion brand, but in fact they are quite accomplished in the world of watches. Their various L.U.C. movements are very well made, and I find their dial and case work to be quite good. A couple of the people on the tour owned Chopard watches and were very satisfied with them. Here are some of their particular accomplishments:
- Their perpetual calendar models can't be damaged by using a pusher at the wrong time - not many on the market like this.
- Their moon phases can be ordered so that the direction of the waxing and waning of the moon can be tied to the hemishpere you are in.
- The stars on their moon phase disks are actual configurations in the sky.
- Chopard buys in flat hair springs and manually bends the Breguet overcoil on each one destined for an L.U.C. movement. We watched the ladies that do this work (there are 2) and each person can do 5 hair springs per day.
- All of their Geneva seal watches are COSC certified.
- All of their tourbillons are COSC certified, and I don’t believe any other manufacturer can make that claim.
Now discussing the tourbillons, most people (myself included) feel that tourbillons are nice to look at, but really don’t belong in wrist watches since the problem they were designed to solve really doesn’t exist in a watch that is worn on the wrist. But rather than make it simply eye candy, Chopard decided that they should at least make the tourbillon watches they produce as accurate as possible, so they strive for chronometer certification on each watch. At least if you buy one you won't have worse timekeeping than in a non-tourbillon watch!
They were very gracious hosts, and we all very much enjoyed the tour and the watches they showed us. A common theme among the people on the tour was that Chopard was very much an underrated company, and paid a price for being a "bling" supplier with their women’s line of “Happy Fish” and Happy Diamond” type watches.
After the tour we discovered, to our delight, that the mansion on the mountain was where Chopard was taking us all for lunch! We climbed on the bus, and made the trip up the hill. Our bus driver was to be commended for his skill in navigating the roadway to the top – it wasn’t easy, and there were some tense moments when we came upon vehicles going the other way. Apparently in Switzerland the vehicle climbing the hill has priority, so we were okay on the way up, but had to give way to a couple of cars on the way down - I swear some were mere millimeters from hitting our bus as we passed!
Lunch was a very nice meal of veal in sauce with noodles, complete with a salad to start and a nice dessert of cream in a cone – like ice cream but this was whipped cream. The view from the restaurant was nothing short of spectacular. These photos certainly don’t do it justice.
Approaching the restaurant:
A view of the valley:
Chopard factory using the telephoto lens:
Jacqui and me with the scenery in behind:
So I have new respect for what Chopard is capable of, and I think they are a good value in that you can pick up a pretty nice dress watch for very little money since they are not highly valued on the used market. Certainly worth a look!
I hope you enjoyed this first report and I promise more watch content in some of the others.
Cheers!
However, I did take various notes on the facility.The Chopard facility is located in Fleurier, which is a small town in the Val-de-Travers. We arrived in this very nice area and took some shots of the outside of their facility.
Many of us took photos of what looked like some sort of mansion at the top of a mountain – it was quite a spectacular view. More on that place later.
The tour of the manufacture lasted a couple of hours and aside from the restrictions on photos, was a very good tour. They showed us a lot of the manufacturing details and we saw things there that we didn’t see at the other places we visited, for example their in-house plating department. Here are some stats on Chopard:
- They employ over 1,000 people in 3 facilities.
- They make approx. 75,000 quartz watches per year.
- They also make approx. 3,000 of the L.U.C. mechanical watches per year.
- Chopard make their own cases at the facility in Geneva.
- They do their jewels in a factory in Germany.
Chopard is known for their jewelry and really many watch collectors write them off as a fashion brand, but in fact they are quite accomplished in the world of watches. Their various L.U.C. movements are very well made, and I find their dial and case work to be quite good. A couple of the people on the tour owned Chopard watches and were very satisfied with them. Here are some of their particular accomplishments:
- Their perpetual calendar models can't be damaged by using a pusher at the wrong time - not many on the market like this.
- Their moon phases can be ordered so that the direction of the waxing and waning of the moon can be tied to the hemishpere you are in.
- The stars on their moon phase disks are actual configurations in the sky.
- Chopard buys in flat hair springs and manually bends the Breguet overcoil on each one destined for an L.U.C. movement. We watched the ladies that do this work (there are 2) and each person can do 5 hair springs per day.
- All of their Geneva seal watches are COSC certified.
- All of their tourbillons are COSC certified, and I don’t believe any other manufacturer can make that claim.
Now discussing the tourbillons, most people (myself included) feel that tourbillons are nice to look at, but really don’t belong in wrist watches since the problem they were designed to solve really doesn’t exist in a watch that is worn on the wrist. But rather than make it simply eye candy, Chopard decided that they should at least make the tourbillon watches they produce as accurate as possible, so they strive for chronometer certification on each watch. At least if you buy one you won't have worse timekeeping than in a non-tourbillon watch!
They were very gracious hosts, and we all very much enjoyed the tour and the watches they showed us. A common theme among the people on the tour was that Chopard was very much an underrated company, and paid a price for being a "bling" supplier with their women’s line of “Happy Fish” and Happy Diamond” type watches.
After the tour we discovered, to our delight, that the mansion on the mountain was where Chopard was taking us all for lunch! We climbed on the bus, and made the trip up the hill. Our bus driver was to be commended for his skill in navigating the roadway to the top – it wasn’t easy, and there were some tense moments when we came upon vehicles going the other way. Apparently in Switzerland the vehicle climbing the hill has priority, so we were okay on the way up, but had to give way to a couple of cars on the way down - I swear some were mere millimeters from hitting our bus as we passed!
Lunch was a very nice meal of veal in sauce with noodles, complete with a salad to start and a nice dessert of cream in a cone – like ice cream but this was whipped cream. The view from the restaurant was nothing short of spectacular. These photos certainly don’t do it justice.Approaching the restaurant:
A view of the valley:
Chopard factory using the telephoto lens:
Jacqui and me with the scenery in behind:
So I have new respect for what Chopard is capable of, and I think they are a good value in that you can pick up a pretty nice dress watch for very little money since they are not highly valued on the used market. Certainly worth a look!
I hope you enjoyed this first report and I promise more watch content in some of the others.
Cheers!
