Louis Ulysse Chopard founded Chopard in 1860 in Sonvilier in the Swiss Jura. It was originally focused on ultra-thin pocket watches as well as high precision timekeeping devices supplied to the Swiss Railway. After the death of his father, Paul-Louis Chopard continued the company, opening a subsidiary in La Chaux-de-Fonds which would become the company’s headquarters in 1923. In 1927 the company moved to Geneva under the direction of Paul-André Chopard, the third-generation director of the firm.