Style & Beauty Object
Style & Beauty Object Lesson Modern Legacy The Happy Sport is one of Chopard’s most indelible watches and one that – in all its forms – has a special place for designer and company co-president Caroline Scheufele. By Elisa Vallata Every designer aspires to something iconic, a piece that will outlive their career. It’s a magic formula that eludes almost everyone who tries, but for Caroline Scheufele – co-president and artistic director of Chopard – the stroke of genius came only a few years after she began as a jewellery designer in her family’s company in the 1990s, a decade of profound cultural transformation for working women and a turning point for Scheufele herself. Very much the embodiment of an emancipated woman of the era – breaking through the glass ceiling and struggling to balance career and home life – Scheufele was driven by the conviction that ladies’ watchmaking needed a breath of fresh air. She envisioned a new type of watch for these modern-day heroines, one that would match their newly frenetic lifestyle. “I wanted a timepiece that was easy to wear, both sporty and chic at the same time,” she explains “A watch that I, and all women, could wear from morning to night: from the gym to work and then on to a fancy dinner.” Happy Sport the First, in Lucent Steel A223 As it happened, Scheufele didn’t have far to look for inspiration. A sense of whimsy and lightheartedness was built into Chopard’s DNA, most enchantingly in Happy Diamonds, the watch that debuted in 1976 – 13 years after Scheufele’s parents took over the maison – and was the first timepiece to feature free-floating diamonds dancing all around its face, set in motion by a simple tilt of the wrist. Starting from this avant-garde (and technically ingenious) concept, Scheufele reconceived the wristwatch for the contemporary woman, choosing a case and bracelet of steel – a metal that, up to that point, had never been combined with diamonds – to give the watch a versatility and practical elegance. Its lugs and crown were decorated with cabochon-cut blue sapphires to stunning effect. The launch of the aptly named Happy Sport took the horological industry by storm. In 1993, when the timepiece debuted, “watches with precious stones were necessarily in gold; a steel watch wouldn’t bear any precious stones as it was considered as a sporty watch, so it wouldn’t have needed to be sophisticated”, explains the designer. “At that time, this timepiece was so disruptive and innovative in its approach to feminine watchmaking that it was hard to imagine how successful it would become.” 1993 The first Happy Sport 1996 Happy Sport PHOTOS © CHOPARD 46 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
Another aspect – less commented on in the moment but impossible to miss in retrospect – is that it was, as Scheufele says, “the first time that a timepiece was created and designed by a woman for women right from the start”. With its chic, casual look and the enchanting choreography of its free-swinging sparklers, the Happy Sport was the embodiment of the new working woman – and the new working women took to it, making it one of the brand’s bestselling watches very quickly. Over the past 28 years, the Happy Sport has been regularly reinvented, generating a striking array of different interpretations and becoming one of collectors’ favourite ladies’ timepieces. Some of the most memorable renditions include the romantic Happy Sport Love (2003), featuring the gem-set LOVE letters swinging across the dial; the lavish Happy Sport Zebra (2008), a must-have for animal lovers; the playful Happy Mickey (2011), with the smiling face of Mickey Mouse on the dial; and the dazzling, fullset Happy Sport Diamantissimo, which was launched in 2013 in celebration of the collection’s 20th anniversary. For this year’s new launch, the maison has reached back to revisit the original model. “I felt that, after the tough times we all went through,” says Scheufele, “it was the right moment to relaunch this piece that perfectly represents a carefree joie de vivre, something to make women smile whilst checking the time.” Released in April, Happy Sport the First pays faithful homage to the distinctive aesthetic features of its predecessor: the signature pebble-link bracelet, the Roman numerals in shimmering blue echoing the Caroline Scheufele, Chopard’s co-president and artistic director sapphire cabochons set on the lugs and the crown and, of course, the dancing diamonds. Its case has been redesigned from 36mm to a 33mm diameter to achieve a new and better sense of proportion, inspired by the golden ratio. “Since antiquity, this mathematical formula of ideal balance, reproducing the harmony occurring in nature, has been observed in science as well as art and architecture,” says Scheufele. “The artists of the Renaissance even called it the ‘divine proportion’. What better way to pay homage to the enduring elegance and bold spirit of Happy Sport than to interpret it with new perfect dimensions?” Also new is its material: Lucent Steel A223 is a steel alloy with a large portion (70 per cent) of recycled metals and produced in a state-of-the-art workshop in Austria to limit the carbon footprint related to shipping materials to Chopard’s Swiss workshops. Available in two 1,993- and 788-piece limited-edition versions – one of which features a diamond-set bezel – Happy Sport the First exudes the same charm and modernity as the original model, which makes Scheufele especially proud. “I am always thrilled when I see young women come into our boutiques to treat themselves to their first Happy Sport – a memento of the one worn and cherished by their mother and grandmother before them.” chopard.com • 2008 Happy Sport Zebra Striped 2018 Happy Palm 2003 Happy Sport Love 2011 La Vie en Rose 2011 Happy Mickey CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 47
