Chopard

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The year 2013 was important for Chopard: Fleurier Ébauches

New Wing at Fleurier Ébauches

Fleurier Ébauches is a manufacture dedicated to industrial production of movements. The old building was bought by Chopard in 2007 and after CHF 25 million worth of renovations, it was awarded the Label MINERGIE certificate in 2013.  It was the largest building (5100 sq.m) to be renovated within the construction standards of MINERGIE in the Canton of Neuchâtel.

Yvan Perrin, Member of the Council-of-State of Neuchatel, and Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard

MINERGIE standards requires high-grade, air-tight building envelopes and the continuous renewal of air in the building using an energy-efficient ventilation system. Specific energy consumption is used as the main indicator to quantify the required building quality. Around 13% of new buildings and 2% of renovation projects are MINERGIE certified; mostly residential buildings.

This is not the first time that a Chopard building has received MINERGIE certification.  In 2010, the Chopard Group certified a building in Geneva fully built up according to the Label criteria.

This time, the Fleurier Ébauches premises was an old building that required extensive renovations.

The ground floor was completely taken up and re-insulated throughout the interior over a 120cm width. The plinths of the facades and roofs were insulated, while a second skin was added to the façade of the wing to ensure ventilation in summer and heat recovery in winter.

You can see the evidence for minimal energy loss because the snow does NOT melt from the roofs!  

Older factory building 

All the electric installations were selected according to MINERGIE standards and the roof is covered in solar panels. The building’s automation system ensures a stable temperature throughout the year without requiring heating oil. Four heat pumps take care of both heating and air-conditioning as well as cooling down the machines thanks the groundwater table.

Commitment to sustainable luxury
 
For the past few years, Chopard has adopted a policy of sustainable business development that involves recognising the planet’s limited resources. In addition to the MINERGIE-certified buildings, the brand keeps an eye on the ecological impact of its packaging. All bags and wrappings are made of certified FSC paper and the boxes comply with environmental norms such as the FSC, Oeko-Tex certification and Recycled PEFC. Chopard has established a recycling system for material and equipment as well as straps, enabling clients to hand in their used rubber strap so that they can be recycled according to sound environmental standards.

Within the framework of this commitment to responsible behaviour in business since 2010, Chopard is a member of the RJC (Responsible Jewellery Council), an organisation with the aim of setting and enforcing environmental, social and ethical standards in the world of jewellery. The RJC  has just renewed Chopard’s certificate of conformity to its charter and its requirements for the next three years.

In this context, the company has already produced three items for the Haute Joaillerie “Green Carpet Collection”, driven by a concern to ensure respectful sourcing and traceability of raw materials. The gold used is Fairmined and diamonds come from mines that comply with RJC regulations.

Consequently, Chopard has signed a partnership agreement with the Alliance for Responsible Mining non-governmental organisation in order to support certain mining communities in Latin America and to enable them to obtain Fairmined certification. Chopard is thus contributing to the development of these communities.

At Fleurier Ébauches, seven different calibers are created.

Located across the railway tracks from the Chopard Manufacture in Fleurier, the refurbished building can help production for four Chopard Collections.

Fleurier Ébauches SA carries on the name of the original company that became Chopard Manufacture and represents another cog in Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s movement to increase Chopard’s vertical integration.

Chopard bought the old factory in 2007, and began production in 2009.

By 2012, the factory was producing 5,000 mechanical movements annually, with plans for 15,000 movements in 2015.

Original staircase

Machine Room: Past

Machine Room: Present

Work Station: Past

Work Station: Present

The new factory, with 5,100 square meters of floor space and more CNC machines and automated processes than the hand-made methods at Chopard Manufacture, integrates four production stages: machining, decoration, jewel-fitting and assembly. 

Machining

Machining starts with brass and steel rods to form baseplates, bridges and components parts. 

Removal of machining burrs and imperfections

Before and After

Decoration

Decoration is applied with computer-aided machines to produce surface finishes such as circular graining, côtes de Genève, and rhodium plating.

There are machines capable of performing fully automated jewel-mounting.

Chopard 'Happy' Decoration

Quality Checks are done at every stage of manufacture

Even the complex process of movement assembly, which takes place on the top floor, is controlled by a computer-aided system that automatically directs each movement to the correct production station.

Testing

At all stages, quality control and testing seem to take as much time as production.

The mantra seems to be: "Do it Once, Do it Right or Do it Again".

Keeping Scores

What was the first watch made with a movement from Fleurier Ébauches?

As an example of the resurgence of mechanical watches for ladies, the first watch to house a mechanical movement from Fleurier Ébauches was the Chopard Imperiale Full Gem-Set in 2010.

Since then, the mechanical models in the Imperiale Collection have been increased.

Current Movements from Fleurier Ébauches

The most impressive fact is that within the first five years of operation, Fleurier Ébauches has developed seven new movements based on two new base calibers, with three types of finishing.

Three are used in Chopard’s motorsports inspired Superfast Collection: Caliber 01.0-M (hours, minutes, central seconds, date), 01.02-M (hours, minutes, central seconds, date, power-reserve indicator), and 03.05-M (hours, minutes, small seconds, date, flyback chronograph). All of these have an open-worked finish.

Superfast Collection 'open-work' finishing

Caliber 01.04-C, with hours, minutes, small seconds, and date, is used in the Classic collection.

Caliber 01.01-C (hours, minutes, central seconds, date) and 01.03-C (hours and minutes only) are used in the Imperiale collection. The latter three have a sunburst finish.

Calibres 01.01-C and 01.08-C were entirely designed, developed and assembled in the Fleurier Ebauche workshops and meet all the quality demands of the Mille Miglia models, respectively equipping the Automatic and Power Control versions of the new Mille Miglia GTS collection.

Learning Centre

Fleurier Ébauches devotes a wing of the facility to a learning centre for eight apprentice watchmaker-repairers, as well as any of the Chopard Group’s other employees who come for horological training.

There is also an after-sales service centre. It may seem small but this is because Chopard has decentralised their after-sales servicing with regional and country centres so the watches do not have to come home to Switzerland. This speeds up service time for customers. 

Chopard’s jewellery pieces (in addition to high-jewellery watches) are also produced here.

The famous Palme d’Or trophy for the Cannes Film Festival, that Chopard sponsors, has its origin at these workshops in Fleurier.

Take Home Messages:

Chopard's Fleurier Ébauches is a low energy consumption manufacture dedicated to industrial production of movements.

Chopard is now able to supply in-house mechanical movements for watches in their Classic, Mille Miglia, Superfast and Imperiale Collections.

Chopard mantra seems to be: "Do it Once, Do it Right or Do it Again".

Chopard is committed to sustainable luxury, recognising the planet’s limited resources.

Chopard is a member of the RJC (Responsible Jewellery Council) and an agreement with the Alliance for Responsible Mining to support Fairmined gold.

Having introduced new models in the Mille Miglia and Superfast Collections recently, I predict developments by Chopard for the via Imperiale.......

Dr M. Teillol-Foo, 2015