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Fleurier Quality Foundation Interview with Mr Karl Friedrich Scheufele

PuristSPro interviewed Chopard Co-President, Karl Friedrich Scheufele, at the 10th Anniversary celebrations of the Fondation Qualité Fleurier on 11 December 2014.

The party was held a few months after the official anniversary date when all three brands and the foundation officials could coordinate their schedules.

Fleurier Quality Foundation 10th Anniversary

HEADLINES
* 10th Anniversary 2004 – 2014
* Opening of the FQF-Lab to all Swiss brands
* Fleurier Quality Foundation certification most demanding in the world.
* Qualité Fleurier high status because of three key reasons:

• Neutrality
• Complementary nature of the tests
• Industrial reproducibility

The Interview

MTF: How do you feel about reaching the 10th Anniversary of the FQF that you contributed to starting?

KFS: I am delighted that Chopard was able to take part in the creation of the Fleurier Quality Foundation certification 10 years ago. We are particularly proud of the progress accomplished to date. Achieving Fleurier Quality Foundation certification today is one of the toughest and most comprehensive challenges in the watch industry. It undeniably embodies the very essence of Swiss horological craftsmanship.

MTF: What does the FQF certificate mean to Chopard now that it is achievable?

KFS: The Fleurier Quality Foundation label is a major asset for Chopard and conveys to our clients the level of quality of the Haute Horlogerie watches emerging from our workshops, firmly rooted in Fleurier. Over the years more than five models from the L.U.C collection, even including a Tourbillon model with four barrels, have been duly certified. The efforts undertaken in this field have significantly contributed to our watchmaking expertise and we are thereby thrilled to be pursuing our contribution to the Fleurier Quality Foundation.

MTF: It was announced that the QF-Lab is offering just the Fleuritest services to all Swiss brands; how does this help promote the FQF?

KFS: The FQF certification is currently mainly known among collectors and professionals in the realm of Haute Horlogerie, which means that there is still a lot to be done in terms of communication with a view to earning the wider recognition it so richly deserves.  If other Swiss brands test their products in the Fleuritest privately, they learn more about their performance and industrial processes that may encourage them to be confident that they can achieve the full FQF certification in future.

MTF: Apart from the cachet of owning one of the very few QF watches, what does the FQF process mean to the Chopard customer?

KFS: It is not possible to submit our entire production to FQF currently and that is not just a Chopard issue. The FQF has a workload capacity below the full production of even one of the current certified brands but that can be increased in future. The most exciting aspect of the FQF certification at Chopard is that we had to build the manufacturing and audit processes to a standard that satisfies the FQF. That means that those same processes and standards are applied to the entire production, even if only a few watches are submitted for official FQF certification. For example, all L.U.C. watches with a seconds hand must pass the C.O.S.C. as a chronometer.

MTF: Why does the FQF stress that it is neither a geographical certificate nor exclusive of other Swiss standards?

KFS: Indeed, the QF is a complimentary battery of tests that incorporates results from three independent laboratories – COSC, Chronofiable and Fleuritest – that are mutually respected. The FQF does not supercede the other certifications. Finally, the QF is open to all Swiss brands irrespective of geographical location. In order to get the Geneva Seal for our triple certified tourbillon, we assemble our QF standards’ watches in Geneva to respect that geographical criterion.

MTF: Thank you.

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I thought this an opportune moment to show the extremely rare pieces of QF 10th Anniversary watches from Chopard at the Manufacture where polish finishing of the components are done.

The bottom component has not been polished with Geneva Stripes and at the mercy of macro lens.

Look at the top component after Geneva Stripes applied but not removing the 22K gold inlay font.

Polishing and Finishing a L.U.Chopard tourbillon bridge can take 8 hours.

Polishing and Finishing accounts for up to 35 - 50% of the cost of manufacture at high-end brands like Chopard.

Here is the end result...I would say the effort was worth it.

Extremely rare and fine limited edition LUC QF Tourbillon

LUC QF Chronometer with specially fine tips of hands to show the precise time

© Dr Melvyn Teillol-Foo (MTF), PuristSPro

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