Word: chopard
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
European watchmakers are competing for lucrative slices of the China market, but not everyone in the world's fastest-growing economy is interested in a Chopard or a Blancpain. One small clique of collectors prefers to concentrate on homegrown brands - and they don't mean upscale makes. Their obsession is for mechanical watches produced by communist factories from the 1950s to the 1970s, and stems from a mixture of historical curiosity and opportunism. It's an area of collecting that has been barely explored, with no price barriers to entry...
Gruosi-Scheufele, an energetic blond with a 20-carat sparkle in her eye, is sitting with her father, Karl Scheufele, in Chopard's New York headquarters several days before the opening of the company's Thierry Despont-designed Madison Avenue flagship. Just for the occasion (it's the brand's 100th store), she's had 20 exceptional pieces of jewelry specially crafted in Chopard's Geneva workrooms, and the pieces are finally starting to emerge?one more extraordinary than the next. There's a necklace of black diamonds, amethysts and sapphires, and another one that features at least 20 emeralds...
...passionate about stones," says German-born Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele, co-president and design director of Chopard, the Geneva-based fine-jewelry brand. "Real rocks," she insists...
...high-jewelry collection, or what she affectionately calls the "real rocks." "There's not much real creation in the market at that level, and so we wanted to fill the gap," she explains. Ever since Gruosi-Scheufele joined the company, which her father bought in 1963 from Paul-Andre Chopard, a descendant of the founder, Louis-Ulysse Chopard, she has been looking for ways to expand the brand beyond its watchmaking roots. In 1976 she came up with the concept of Happy Diamonds, now a company signature, wherein 30 diamonds float inside a man's watch. It was a huge...
...years ago, Gruosi-Scheufele recognized the need for more fine jewelry?and, frankly, more exceptional, camera-ready pieces?on the red carpet. She signed on as the official sponsor of the Cannes Film Festival and started smothering celebrities like Sharon Stone, Elizabeth Hurley and Charlize Theron in Chopard's "real rocks." One thing led to another, and demand for statement pieces grew along with Chopard's high-jewelry collection. The Madison Avenue store keeps some of these special pieces on the floor. Additionally, Gruosi-Scheufele created a few more accessible pieces to coincide with the New York store's opening...