Chopard

Chopard started as a Swiss watchmaker, founded by Louis-Ulysse Chopard in 1860, and its jewelry identity rests on one charming idea. In 1976 designer Ronald Kurowski, struck by sunlight on a Black Forest waterfall, proposed letting diamonds move freely between two sapphire crystals. The result, Happy Diamonds, won the Golden Rose of Baden-Baden and became the house signature: loose stones that dance in a little window on a watch, pendant or ring. It is the most playful entry here and an easy one to recognize. The jewelry side is led by co-president Caroline Scheufele, whose family owns the house; the caterpillar brooch pictured is from her Animal World collection of 2010, made for the 150th anniversary, and shows its showier side.