Chopard Group Acquires La Chronométrie FERDINAND BERTHOUD SA.

This week the Chopard Group announced some exciting news: the Group has acquired La Chronométrie FERDINAND BERTHOUD SA in Fleurier. The move to establish this new company further reinforces Chopard’s presence in Fleurier, in the Val-de-Travers, Canton Neuchâtel in Switzerland.

“In acquiring La Chronométrie FERDINAND BERTHOUD in 2006, I wanted to be sure that one day a watch bearing this name would be worthy of the great master horologist who inspired it,” explained Chopard co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, who has been working towards this acquisition for seven years.

La Chronométrie FERDINAND BERTHOUD will be positioned at the very peak of the collections within the Chopard group, and will be dedicated to offering exceptional timepieces in highly exclusive production runs.

Born in 1727 in Plancemont, in the Val-de-Travers (just five kilometres from the current Chopard Manufacture in Fleurier) Ferdinand Berthoud was officially awarded the title of master clockmaker in Paris in 1753. An exceptional horologist who was at once highly cultivated, refined and intellectually gifted, Ferdinand Berthoud left behind an outstandingly vast body of work encompassing the fields of marine chronometers, decorative clocks and watches, specialised tools, scientific measurement instruments, as well as publications. The latter include dozens of specialised books and treatises representing 4,000 pages and 120 engraved plates.

Berthoud’s career was rich in accolades, having been elected to the Institut de France, and also commissioned “Horologist mechanic by appointment to the King and the Navy” during the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, as well as subsequently under the Empire. In 1804, Napoleon conferred on him the title of Knight of the Legion of Honour.

According to the Group, more details relating to the launch of La Chronométrie FERDINAND BERTHOUD SA will be unveiled by the summer of 2014. In the meantime, you can visit La Chronométrie FERDINAND BERTHOUD SA’s website for more information.

Photos courtesy Chopard.