In 1860, Louis-Ulysse Chopard set up his watch manufacturing shop in Sonvillier at the age of 24.  His motto was “Quality with the maximum possible work by hand.”  He travelled to Russia in 1912 through the Baltic countries to the court of Tzar Nicolas II.  Headquarters relocated to Geneva in 1920 and in the 30’s and 40’s with the company expanding, Andre Chopard managed a staff of 150 employees.  The clientele was mostly from the Eastern European and Scandinavian markets.  Grandson Andre-Paul Chopard became head of the family business in 1963, but at the age of eighty he had no one to take over after him.  He met and turned over the family business to Karl Scheufele III, a watch maker and jeweler.  He modernized the company and in 1975 moved the factory to Geneva.  In 1976 the Happy Diamonds Collection was released featuring mobile diamonds that floated between sapphire crystals.  In 1988, Chopard was one of the major sponsors of the Mille Miglia motor race, an annual Italian rally for classic and vintage cars.  Each year, Chopard develops a new special edition Mille Miglia timepiece.  Mr. Scheufele has kept the company as a family business and has grown it to over 90 boutiques and hundreds of authorized retailers in every major city of the world.