It’s always notable when a brand like Chopard introduces an entirely new collection, but the new Alpine Eagle series, announced today, is particularly special: it revives for a modern audience the very first watch conceived by current Chopard co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, introduces a new, exclusive material to the watch industry, and even contributes to the environmental preservation of the Swiss Alps.
The Alpine Eagle is inspired by Chopard’s first sport collection, the St. Moritz.
Back in 1980, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, then a 22-year-old employee at the watch-and-jewelry firm that his father acquired from the founding Chopard family, submitted an idea for a timepiece called the St. Moritz, which would be not only Chopard’s first sports watch but its first watch in steel. The St. Moritz became one of the company’s best sellers of the era, albeit eventually supplanted in Chopard’s sport-luxury lineup by the Mille Miglia collection that Scheufele established in 1996 upon ascending to the co-presidency of Chopard with his sister Caroline. In a case of family history repeating itself, it was Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s own son, Karl-Fritz, who suggested reviving the St. Moritz for a contemporary audience. The resulting collection was dubbed Alpine Eagle, channeling, according to Chopard, the Scheufele’s family’s “passion for the Alps and… the lofty power of the eagle that reigns supreme there.” A Chopa...