On the sloping north shore of Lake Geneva among the foothills of the Jura mountains — in a region called La Côte — sits the Swiss home of Caroline Scheufele, co-president and artistic director of Chopard, the watchmaker and jeweller. Her brother, Karl-Friedrich, with whom she shares the top job, lives nearby, while their parents, who also work in the company, have a home just a diamond’s throw away.
Chopard, founded in 1860, today employs 2,000 people and has 162 boutiques worldwide. Scheufele’s father purchased the company in 1963 and it remains 100 per cent family-owned. “We each have our tastes and specific responsibilities,” the German-born Scheufele says on a sunny morning on the terrace of her 250-year-old villa. “We start our annual marketing meetings this afternoon, and they’re probably wondering where I am.”
Scheufele spends only half the year in Switzerland — the other half is spent either on the road or at her second home in Paris. Her Swiss villa, where she has lived for more than 30 years, exudes the modern elegance for which Chopard is admired. A table in the entrance hall has a bursting array of fresh white orchids, which are found in room after room.