Fred Samuel was born on 3 August 1908 in Buenos Aires, the son of Alsatians who had left for Argentina after the German annexation that followed the war of 1870. He came to France at sixteen and trained with the Worms company, traders in precious stones and pearls; when Mikimoto Kōkichi asked the Worms brothers to market his cultured pearls in France, Samuel was put in charge of their customs work in 1925.
After his national service he opened his own shop in 1936 at 6 rue Royale in Paris, with a card describing him as "Le Moderne, Joaillier, Créateur". He was among the first to import cultured pearls into France, upsetting a trade built on natural pearls, and a light pinkish-cream shade became known as "Fred colour". Clients included Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Barbara Hutton and Marlene Dietrich.
As an Argentine citizen he could not join the French army in 1939, so he enlisted with the Foreign Legion's 22nd Marching Regiment of Foreign Volunteers and fought on the Somme, where he was captured at Marchélepot in June 1940. He escaped from the citadel of Cambrai and reopened his shop, but in December 1941 the Commissariat-General for Jewish Affairs placed a yellow star on the shopfront and forced the removal of the name Samuel. He went south in 1942, was interned, escaped and joined the Resistance in the Vercors, commanding a company of the French Forces of the Interior. Back in Paris in September 1944, he kept only "Fred" on the sign, "perhaps as a challenge, perhaps so as not to forget those monstrous hours".
From the 1960s his sons Henri and Jean expanded the house into Monaco, Beverly Hills and New York, collaborations with Jean Cocteau and Bernard Buffet followed, and in 1966 he created the first Force 10 bracelet, inspired by sailing cables. His best-known pieces include the Arc-en-Ciel parure of 42 coloured diamonds and the ruby and diamond necklace worn by Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman (1990). He was a Commander of the Legion of Honour and held the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945. He published Mémoires d'un joaillier in 1992 and died on 3 October 2006 in Boulogne-Billancourt, aged 98.