Swiss high quality vintage gold pocket watch Circa 1980

Luxurious vintage pocket watch with a Wempe watch box
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A high quality vintage 18 Carat gold pocket watch, crafted by Chopard in Genève, Switzerland, circa 1980. It had a price tag of over 10,000 Deutsche Marks at the time and the plain open faced case crafted from 18 Carat gold. The white enamel dial with elegant Breguet hands is in very good condition. The metal movement is adjusted to five positions and has 19 jewels.
Dust cover, dial and movement signed.
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Diameter: 49 mm
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Weight: 67 g
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Signed: Chopard, Genève
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Le Petit-Fils de L.-U. Chopard & Cie S.A., commonly known as Chopard, is a Swiss manufacturer and retailer of luxury watches, jewellery and accessories. Founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard in Sonvilier, Switzerland, Chopard has been owned by the Scheufele family of Germany since 1963. Chopard is best known for making high quality Swiss watches and jewellery, and its clients have included Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. The company is headquartered in Geneva and has a site in Fleurier, Canton of Neuchâtel, that manufactures watch movements.

Early history
The company founder, Louis-Ulysse Chopard, was a Swiss watchmaker who grew up in Sonvilier, a town in Swiss Jura. In 1860, he established his L.U.C. manufacturing company in Sonvilier, having observed that it was more profitable to market the finished watch than to just make the mechanical movement.

After Louis-Ulysse’s death in 1915, the company was taken over by his son Paul-Louis and grandson Paul-André. The company specialized in making pocket watches and ladies’ wristwatches. In 1921, Paul-Louis moved the company operations to a larger town, Chaux-de-Fonds, in the Canton of Neuchâtel. In 1937, at that time a company of 150 employees, the company relocated to Geneva. This enabled the movements made by the company to be certified with the Geneva Seal, a mark applied only to watch movements made in the Canton of Geneva. Paul-André took over the company in 1943.

In 1963, having no children wishing to continue in the business, Paul-André Chopard sold it to Karl Scheufele III, a German goldsmith and watchmaker from Pforzheim, who was seeking a watch movement manufacturer exclusively for his own business.