MikeH,
Unbelievably, I used to be so naïve to have written once that Chopard gave the best value for money in haute horlogerie.
Actually, I used the word "cheap" but usually, luxury people don't like that word.
Compared with high end finished and polished watches with in-house hand crafted movements from the other haute horlogerie proclaimed brands and Chopard is usually the most affordable. There is no need to name brands but you know the three or four compatible names. I asked why once......and Mr KFS gave a discrete answer.
Of course, Chopard is a business for profit but it is a family-owned business with a long-term plan and no activist shareholders that demand excessive dividends and ever-rising retail prices. Chopard charges a whole sale price they can make profit from and recommend a retail price that dealers should cover a profit spread. Any more would be short term opportunism.
This was way before the boom and bust of economies in China, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, and the World since 2008 that proved the family strategy sound. Even the Swiss National Bank decoupling CHF from EUR did not cause more than a few weeks of anxiety.
Finally, if you are masochistic enough to SHOW your wife the Chopard XPS Esprit de Fleurier, then you need a matching Chopard watch.....
Regards,
MTF