The Chopard brand first started out as the shop of Louis-Ulysse Chopard in 1860. Chopard originally got its fame because the company could make beautiful and delicate ladies watches and pocket watches at a time when most timekeeping devices were rather bulky. Though Chopard does not exclusively make women’s watches and jewelry in modern times, they continue to be known for refined and beautifully decorated watches.
The Chopard logo has a beautiful design that matches the brand’s aesthetic. Its elegant curves and angled edges make an otherwise simple logo into a very stylish graphic that represents the company well.
Chopard Logo Design Elements
Chopard uses a monochromatic color scheme for the two lines of text that make up their logo. It is typically just shown as a black text on a white background. The Chopard logo has a custom calligraphic font that slopes heavily towards the right. Unusual features of this font include a small look along the top of the R and an open bottom edge along the P. The C is the only capital letter in the brand name, and its elaborate curls make it stand out even more.
Below the brand name is the name Geneve, which references the Chopard headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. This word is completely capitalized, and its font is a crisp, san serif font. Sharply angled edges along the tips of the G and the E’s turns even this simple font into an elegant logo.
Changes and Evolution
1. Shape
Chopard’s logo shape has remained remarkably consistent over the years, so there are only three major logo shapes. Back when the company was still a very small company, their logo just said “L.U.C.” because theses were the initials of the founder. This then changed to the name “Chopard” once the founder’s son and grandson took over the company after his death. Ever since the company relocated their headquarters in Geneva in 1937, the logo has simply been the brand name written on one line, and “Geneve” written on the second line in a different font.
2. Color
Chopard’s colors have always been quite versatile. Though the logo is technically black on white, they change the color to coordinate with watch designs or advertisements regularly. The most common colors for the logo are black, white, silver, and gold, but red and blue are occasionally used as well.
3. Font
Chopard has preferred to use a script font for their brand name and a typographical font for their location for many years. The most noticeable change is that they switched from a romanticized font with serifs to a san-serif font in the 1980s. Around this time, the script font was slightly modified to become more slanted and elongated.
Influences/Inspiration
Chopard’s logo is slightly unusual because it uses a delicate script font with lowercase lettering instead of using the all-capitalized san-serif fonts favored by so many other watch companies. This script font was initially created because Chopard mostly sold small, elegant wristwatches for women at the time. The dainty curls of their logo still references the jewelry-like nature of the Chopard timekeeping creations.
Chopard’s decision to use the name of Geneva, Switzerland in their logo goes back to the early 1900s when Geneva was renowned for its watchmaking. The company was certified with the Geneva Seal, a highly prestigious mark, and they wanted to celebrate this by including Geneve in their logo.
Trivia
- Chopard’s founder was just a farm boy before he got his start in the watchmaking industry, but he was so highly skilled at watchmaking that his watches were sought after by the time he was 24.
- The logo says “Geneve” instead of “Geneva” because the municipality is technically named “Villa de Geneve.”
- Chopard is one of the few watchmaking companies that is still family owned and family run. However, it is now run by the Scheufele family, because the Chopard family descendents were no longer interested in watchmaking.
Conclusion
The elegant loops and stylish angles in the Chopard logo add subtle notes of visual interest to a simple logo design. Over several decades, this logo has served the company so well that they have barely changed it. Whenever you see a Chopard watch, you can easily identify it thanks to the signature Chopard logo.
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