In 1980 the Chopard Company debuted with sports watches on leather straps. The range of Happy Diamonds watches was enlarged by jewelry pieces. The first Chopard boutiques were opened in Hong Kong, Geneva and Vienna in the 1980-s.
In 1988 Chopard established the cooperation with the Mille Miglia, an annual Italian rally where vintage and classic cars take part. To mark the partnership, Chopard has maintained the tradition of developing a new special edition Mille Miglia timepiece every year.
The Chopard Happy Sport collection appeared in 1993.
In 1996, the Chopard Company opened its independent movement factory in Fleurier.
Also in 1996, after years of planning and development, the first Chopard in-house movement of the late 20th century was produced, the calibre 1.96, encased in the "1860" hunter-back case, named for the historical origins of the manufacture. This was to be the flagship watch of Chopard, their re-entree as it were to manufacture status, and Chopard spared no effort with it. Only 300 of the 1860 hunter-back units are known to have been produced. However, the calibre 1.96 was incorporated into later iterations of the 1860 watch without the hunter-back. Many of these 1860 watches, called "16/1860/2" and "16/1860/3" and all without hunter-backs, were produced. The calibre 1.96 achieved a level of design and finish that set it apart and qualified it as haute horlogerie in many ways. It was stamped with the Geneva Seal which is a designation reserved for the highest level of construction and finish, incorporated a 22k micro-rotor into a very thin (3.3 mm) movement and with a unique bi-directional winding mechanism, had twin mainspring barrels allowing for a 65 hour power reserve, a breguet overcoil hairspring and a swan-neck micro regulator. It had 32 jewels and ran at 28,800 beats per hour. It was found to be a highly accurate movement. The calibre 1.96 was in many ways a ground-breaking movement for Chopard. It has been referred to as perhaps the finest Swiss automatic movement now produced.
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