Chopard is one of Switzerland’s great family-owned luxury houses, celebrated equally for haute joaillerie and haute horlogerie. The Maison was founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard in Sonvilier, a watchmaking village in the Swiss Jura, where his high-precision pocket watches and chronometers won clients including Tsar Nicholas II and the Swiss railways. The business later moved to Geneva, and in 1963 it was acquired by German goldsmith and watchmaker Karl Scheufele III, whose family still owns and runs the company today — his children Caroline and Karl-Friedrich Scheufele serve as co-presidents.
Under the Scheufeles, Chopard became a genuine jewellery powerhouse. The playful Happy Diamonds concept, introduced in 1976, set loose diamonds dancing freely between two sapphire crystals and remains the house’s signature, later spawning the Happy Sport watch of 1993 — the first to pair diamonds with a steel case — along with the Happy Hearts and Ice Cube jewellery lines. Chopard is also famous for its red carpet presence: an official partner of the Cannes Film Festival since 1998, it crafts the Palme d’Or itself and unveils a spectacular Red Carpet high jewellery collection each year.
The Maison has been a pioneer of sustainable luxury, moving to 100% ethically sourced gold across its entire watch and jewellery production in 2018. Highly vertically integrated, Chopard runs its own foundry and movement manufacture in Fleurier, making it one of the few houses producing both fine jewellery and in-house calibres at the highest level.
Key products
Happy Diamonds Icons Pendant (ref. 79A611-5201)
The purest expression of Chopard’s signature idea: a pendant in 18ct ethical rose gold in which brilliant-cut diamonds float completely free between two sapphire crystals, spinning and sparkling with the wearer’s every movement. First dreamed up in 1976, the “dancing diamonds” concept remains one of the most recognisable motifs in fine jewellery, and the Icons pendant distils it into an elegant everyday piece on a 42cm chain. Made with Chopard’s 100% ethically sourced gold, it’s a wearable slice of design history and a classic first Chopard purchase. Priced around $6,740 (approx. £5,300).
View the Happy Diamonds Icons Pendant
Happy Sport 33mm Automatic (ref. 278608-3002)
Launched in 1993, the Happy Sport made history as the first luxury watch to combine diamonds with a stainless steel case — a radical idea at the time, and now one of the most iconic women’s watches ever made. This 33mm version features five free-spinning diamonds dancing across a silvered dial with Roman numerals, powered by Chopard’s in-house 09.01-C automatic movement, developed specifically for smaller feminine cases, with a 42-hour power reserve. It perfectly bridges the house’s twin identities as jeweller and serious watchmaker.
View the Happy Sport 33mm Automatic
Press coverage
- Diamond World (March 2026) — coverage of Chopard’s new “Caroline’s Garden” high jewellery collection, which debuts a novel scalloped setting technique: Chopard introduces Caroline’s Garden
- National Jeweler — feature on Chopard’s 15-piece high jewellery collection cut from the 6,225-carat Zambian “Insofu” emerald: Chopard unveils Insofu emerald collection