I think that many people will agree with me, that men are perfect leaders because of their nature features. And of course it is not surprising to hear that a man stands in the head of a big mature company, watchmaking for example. But as soon as one hears that the immediate supervisor of world-wide known watch and jewelry company is a lady, he becomes rather surprised and even intrigued by this fact.
But it is known man is usually behind practically each and every business-lady. Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele, the head of the Chopard (heads) Company jewelry department, is not the exception. It is her brother Karl-Friedrich with whom she following the steps of their father Karl Scheufele, shares the management of the company taking part also in the development of the watch division managed by her brother.
Despite of that woman herself is a rare bird in the horology community. And this fact only does credit to Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele, who with the help of her female intuition and entrepreneurial talent promotes ladies’ watch collections so that they enjoy high demand. And this is not surprising, because for the majority of the men-managers it is rather hard to understand the exact demands that women usually make on ladies’ timepieces, so that this product family slips their attention.
Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele helped her brother with the creation of men’s timepieces. She put her hand to the appearance of three watch models for men, by offering the watches’ design. Firstly she designed Chopard Mille Miglia Tycoon men’s model, which was presented in 2005. It was created in distinctively masculine style as a big-sized square-shaped watch. The other models proposed by Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele are Prince Charles and Elton John.
Family business is the way to trust your partner, so Caroline’s brother can fully trusts his sister’s taste and professional skills. And as he is very busy with the watch division managing he has no need to interfere into Caroline’s department activities.
As the need arises Caroline takes her brother’s responsibilities for a certain period of time, and Karl-Friedrich on his part may deputize his sister. But from Caroline’s point of view it is somehow hard to manage all the company on their own. Nevertheless all the members of the family want to remain Chopard a family business, because they are firmly convinced it is the best way to guarantee continuous success in business.
Despite of fact that Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele and Karl Scheufele are relatives they are two different persons. As Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele has inherited her father’s exceptional designer’s taste she is excellent in creating new models and trends, being irritated by marketing analysis. Karl on the contrary is known to be a talented business leader without any special marketing analysis.
At present Chopard fits out its ladies’ timepieces with quartz movements or other mechanisms, which are usually acquired from other producers. But Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele appraises this situation as a temporary and the company has already made steps in the direction of elaborating Chopard own ladies’ caliber.
Through the recent time Carl-Friedrich has been working out men’s calibers, their upgrade and complicated features. But now he is ready to devote himself to the ladies’ caliber development. Strange as it may seem but a large amount of modern ladies prefers to wear men’s timepieces, so that ladies’ and men’s become to bear a great resemblance to each other. For Caroline personally it has already become ordinary to wear a Mille Miglia watch, or a Chopard Tourbillon on her wrist.
Being first of all a woman Caroline has her own opinion of what ladies want from modern timepieces. Basing on her own experience, Caroline proves that women often choose their watches depending on the kind of the activities they are taking part and also in regard to the time of the day. If speaking about a business lady who is always busy working at the office, Chopard can offer a variety of timepieces from Happy Sport collection. During the daytime a lady often prefers a cozy style, that may be slightly decorated with diamonds. But the evening time is a time of glamour and so ladies need accessories that can help to feel themselves impressive and create their own perfect style for the festive night.
As for the timepiece inner life, Caroline insists that the majority of ladies still conceder a watch to be on the top of all the accessory. Sometime one can meet a woman who knows much about watch mechanisms and complications but it is still remains a rare case. And only the latest fashion trend can make a fancy woman wear a massive chronograph in masculine style, but not a bent towards complicated mechanisms.
The future of the Chopard Company is seen in the festive anniversary colors as in 2010 the company is going to celebrate its 150th anniversary. This fact will become a perfect base for the next-coming surprises which are to take place in the commemoration of that bright occasion. Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele and her brother want the company to take the niche on the new markets that were inaccessible before for Chopard. Thus they are going to set the brand’s boutiques in Berlin, Peking and Delhi.