Swiss luxury Maison Chopard is bringing the artistry of high jewellery and fine watchmaking into focus in Kazakhstan with the presentation of its celebrated L’Heure du Diamant collection in Almaty. Translating to “The Diamond Hour,” the collection represents one of the clearest expressions of Chopard’s dual expertise: creating sophisticated mechanical timepieces while treating diamonds, ornamental stones and precious metals with the sensibility of a jeweller. The Kazakhstan presentation gives collectors and luxury enthusiasts an opportunity to explore a collection in which a watch is conceived as much as an artistic jewel as an instrument for measuring time. Chopard itself describes L’Heure du Diamant as a fusion of creativity, innovation, watchmaking and jewellery craftsmanship, distinguished by diamonds, colourful ornamental-stone dials and elaborate finishing.

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From Swiss Watchmaking to the Scheufele Family

Chopard’s story began in Switzerland when Louis-Ulysse Chopard established a workshop dedicated to precision pocket watches and chronometers. The Maison later moved to Geneva, establishing itself within one of the world’s most important centres of fine watchmaking. Another important chapter developed in Pforzheim, Germany, through the Scheufele family. Karl Scheufele I established a company specialising in jewellery watches alongside gold pendants, bracelets, brooches and other creations embellished with diamonds and pearls. He also developed an innovative clip mechanism that enabled a pocket watch to be worn on the wrist or as a necklace, illustrating the family’s early interest in bringing watchmaking and jewellery together. The two traditions eventually converged when Karl Scheufele III acquired Chopard from Paul-André Chopard. Together with his wife Karin, he expanded the Maison while preserving its watchmaking heritage and strengthening its expertise in jewellery. That combination of Swiss horology and the Scheufele family’s jewellery craftsmanship remains fundamental to Chopard today.

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Where Diamonds Become Part of Time

L’Heure du Diamant demonstrates this philosophy particularly vividly. Instead of treating diamonds simply as decoration, Chopard integrates them into the architecture and visual identity of each watch. Among the collection’s signature elements is its crown-setting technique, through which diamonds appear to dominate the bezel while the metal holding them becomes visually discreet. This approach allows more light to reach the stones and enhances their brilliance. Chopard combines these diamond-set surrounds with ornamental stones and richly worked bracelets. The Maison highlights crown-set diamond bezels, colourful stone dials and hand-engraved bark-textured bracelets as defining characteristics of the collection. The result occupies a distinctive territory between haute joaillerie and haute horlogerie: the watch remains technically sophisticated, yet its visual presence is closer to that of an exceptional piece of jewellery.

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The Precious Hours

A Celebration of Gemstones & Diamonds

A particularly remarkable expression of L’Heure du Diamant is The Precious Hours, a presentation comprising twelve interpretations of the collection’s 26 mm jewellery watch. Colour becomes central to their identity. Different creations feature ornamental materials including malachite, carnelian, tiger’s eye, jade, opal, agate, turquoise, onyx and mother-of-pearl, creating dramatic variations in texture and tone. Because natural ornamental stones possess individual patterns and characteristics, they give each watch a distinctive visual personality. Some versions are paired with leather or satin straps, while others showcase Chopard’s elaborate gold bracelet craftsmanship. The celebrated bark-textured bracelet is particularly notable for giving precious metal an organic, almost fabric-like appearance. Together, the twelve watches form a study of colour, gemstones, diamonds and mechanical precision rather than a conventional series of nearly identical timepieces.

Mechanical Craftsmanship Beneath the Jewellery

Despite their jewel-like appearance, The Precious Hours creations remain mechanical watches at heart. They are equipped with the Chopard 10.01-C hand-wound mechanical calibre, a remarkably compact movement developed to fit the proportions of these jewellery watches. The movement measures approximately 15.7 mm in diameter and 2.9 mm thick, while offering around 45 hours of power reserve. Its compact dimensions demonstrate the technical challenge behind creating true mechanical watchmaking within such delicate jewellery forms. The engineering therefore remains largely discreet, allowing diamonds, ornamental stones and gold craftsmanship to command immediate attention.

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L’Heure du Diamant Arrives in Almaty

The arrival of L’Heure du Diamant in Almaty adds Kazakhstan to the collection’s international journey and brings an important expression of Chopard craftsmanship directly to the country’s luxury audience. Presented at Esentai Mall, the showcase places contemporary L’Heure du Diamant creations alongside pieces that illustrate the historical evolution of Chopard’s jewellery-watch aesthetic. Archival creations provide valuable context, revealing how ideas developed generations ago continue to influence the Maison’s modern designs. For Kazakhstan’s growing community of luxury collectors and watch enthusiasts, the exhibition also offers an opportunity to examine details that are difficult to appreciate through photographs alone: the play of light across crown-set diamonds, the natural variations within ornamental-stone dials, the proportions of the cases and the intricate finishing of precious-metal bracelets.

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A Continuing Jewellery-Watch Legacy

The presentation also resonates with another defining chapter of Chopard’s history: Happy Diamonds, the Maison’s famous concept in which diamonds move freely between sapphire crystals. Chopard identifies Happy Diamonds as one of the major innovations in its history and an important milestone in its approach to diamond-set watches. L’Heure du Diamant follows a different aesthetic direction, but it reflects the same willingness to reconsider how diamonds can interact with timepieces. For Kazakhstan, the Almaty showcase is therefore more than the arrival of another luxury watch collection. It presents a story connecting Swiss watchmaking, European jewellery craftsmanship, mechanical innovation and contemporary design. With L’Heure du Diamant, Chopard transforms the passing of time into something deliberately precious—expressed through diamonds, exceptional stones and intricate mechanical craftsmanship, now brought into the spotlight in Kazakhstan.

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