It is a paradox that watchmaking loves to cultivate. Despite almost everything about gold its weight, composition, and origin being common knowledge, no one has any insight into where it is born. Very few Manufactures own their own foundries, and Chopard belongs to this highly exclusive circle. In Geneva, the family Maison has its very own highly secure site. It was Karl Scheufele, father of Chopard Co-Presidents Caroline and Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, who wanted to acquire it in 1978, the aim being to vertically integrate and gain complete independence.
This small, timeless space is a rare example of traditional craftsmanship. It is located in Geneva, in the basement of the Manufacture. This is where the raw material is worked. One hundred percent of the gold used by Chopard is produced here. However, whereas watchmaking and jewellery are distinguished by the quality of their manual finishing, the foundry shapes pure, raw gold into ingots. There is something noble and solid about them, as well as an element of mystery: at this stage, no one knows which watch or piece of jewellery will be made from them. The ingot is an embryo. It contains the sum of all possibilities in general, but none in particular.
An age-old tradition
The foundry also cultivates its own unique form of craftsmanship. While CNC machines have long been accepted alongside watchmaker's tweezers, modernity remains at the door of the foundry. The process has not really changed since ancient times: a scale to weigh the components of the desired alloy, a crucible, a 1100°C furnace, a glove to extract the molten material, along with a water tank to cool it.
This simplicity explains why only one artisan is needed to perform casting procedures, and at Chopard, these are done by Paulo, at a rate of between ten and eleven per day. "People sometimes think of me as a bit of an alchemist, because I transform gold. There is no school where you train to become a gold casting specialist, you learn on the job," he explains.
For Chopard, having its own foundry also ensures that the gold is 100% ethical. This has been the case since July 2018. The issue has always been central to the Manufacture, which was a pioneer in its time with Fairmined gold. Customers, especially younger ones, are attentive to responsibility and traceability-related criteria.
Highly Controlled Productions
The gold-shaping process at Chopard is unchanging. It begins with preparing the alloy recipe. Too malleable in its pure state to be used in watchmaking or jewellery, gold is combined with other elements that modify its properties. Depending on the desired result yellow, white, or rose gold the proportions of copper, zinc, palladium, or silver vary. To produce an 8-kilogram gold ingot, Paulo uses 6 kilograms of pure gold and 2 kilograms of alloy. The resulting color is carefully calibrated, with seven shades ranging from light yellow to deep red, numbered 0N to 6N.
Next come the steps for working the molten gold: mixing the components, casting it in a vacuum furnace heated by an induction coil, demolding, cooling, brushing, and rolling to reduce the thickness of the ingot. The cooled pure gold has a hardness of 160 Vickers. Once rolled, it reaches 210 Vickers, still soft enough to be worked. The process concludes with an internal quality check.
This is complemented by a second, external control, as all gold ingots must meet the same specifications. The Swiss Precious Metals Control (CMP) is the custodian of these standards. It descends from the first organizations established in 1880 to control the purity, hallmarking, and trade of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Each Chopard ingot bears its hallmark.
Because you are a WorldTempus reader, we are delighted to offer you the digital version of this GMT Magazine which you can download here.
