The 19th century marked the beginning of the Chopard's history - Louis-Ulysse Chopard founded the Chopard watch factory in 1860 in Sonvilier, the region in the Swiss Jura Mountains.Sonvilier represents a small town located between Saint Imier and La Chaux-de-Fonds. The first master watchmakers appeared in the area back in 1730. The town was mainly inhabited by farmers who made their living by repairing watches and producing minor watch parts for different brands during long winter periods when they were free from their basic farming activities. The father of the brand's founder Felicien, whose ancestors were mainly involved in bee-keeping and farming, also practiced the art of watchmaking but it brought him neither great fame nor much money. Louis-Ulysse Chopard was born in May, 4th in 1836. He followed the steps of his father and studied watchmaking. However, the young Chopard did not want to remain a simple watchmaker working for other brands. He had an ambitious dream to create timepieces under his own name and opened his personal workshop at the age of 24. The stones at front of the old building still feature the almost obliterate L.U.C. initials.The founder of the company developed watches to reflect his family horologic tradition and introduced new innovative ideas. He concentrated upon the production of pocket watches and chronometers. The precision of Chopard timekeepers was the reason the Swiss railway, the trains of which were always on time, offered the company to become its supplier. In 1920 Chopard moved to Geneva and continued to produce qualitative timepieces. In 1960-s the business was managed by the last watchmaker from the Chopard family - Paul-Andre Chopard. The watchmaker's sons were reluctant to choose the watchmaking career and inherit the family business, so Paul-Andre had to find another solution. Karl Scheufele, a goldsmith, watchmaker and a member of the third generation of jewelry-makers from Pforzheim, Germany, became the one who acquired the company and managed the business. He inherited the jewelry business together with great experience in the field from his ancestors. The new owner of Chopard took care of modernizing the company and integrated the jewelry segment into the watchmaking one. Paul-Andre Chopard remained in the business until his death in 1968.In 1975 the Chopard manufacture was relocated from the center of Geneva to Meyrin-Geneva. For the first time the brand's watchmakers focused their attention upon developing ladies' and jewelry watches. As a result, in 1976 the world of horology witnessed the appearance of Chopard Happy Diamonds collection.The idea of the Happy Diamonds' novel aesthetic and technological concept was suggested by the brand's designer Ronald Kurowski. The designer was inspired by sunshine sparkling in waterfall drops. The concept of Happy Diamonds watches lies in presenting mobile diamonds floating between two see-through sapphire crystals. The same period was marked by the development of the first men's watches with gold cases.The year 1980 saw the introduction of the first Chopard sporty styled timepieces presented on leather straps. The Happy Diamonds watch range was joined by jewelry items based on the same concept.In the period of the 1980-s the Chopard Company established a network of the brand boutiques - the first one opened in Hong Kong, then in Geneva and Vienna.In 1988 Chopard initiated the partnership with the Mille Miglia, an open-road race of vintage and classic automobiles annually organized in Italy. Since then, Karl Scheufele and his son has took part in the competition. There appeared the original Chopard Mille Miglia watches in special edition to honor the vintage automobile racing. The Mille Miglia range is renewed every year.Mr. Scheufele has maintained the tradition of Chopard being a family business. He headed the company together with his wife Karin. In the 1990s, the president's children joined the family business. Caroline Scheufele became the head of the jewelry items division, while Karl-Friedrich managed the watch development department. The year 1993 witnessed the appearance of the Happy Sport collection. In 1996, the Chopard Company returned to the Swiss Jura, having established a movement factory in Fleurier. The first mechanism that was elaborated at the factory became the L.U.C movement followed by the production of other movements developed independently by Chopard.