The 90th Mille Miglia is underway, and as has been the case since 1988, Chopard is sponsoring the race, which will see 440 teams competing in vintage cars over a distance of 1,000 miles between Brescia to Rome and back. Chopard has eighteen cars in the race, fourteen of which are cars from the Zagato team lead by owner Andrea Zagato, longtime friend of Chopard. One car will be helmed by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard, and racecar driver Romain Dumas.
Chopard typically celebrates the Mille Miglia with at least one sporty Mille Miglia timepiece. But not this year.
Instead, Chopard is making three different Mille Miglia watches. One model, the Mille Miglia Classic XL 90th Anniversary, celebrates the race’s 90th anniversary. The second, the Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph, is a set of matching his-and-her chronographs and the third, the Mille Miglia 2017 Race Edition, is a special racing chronograph. While these were seen initially during Baselworld, today Chopard debuts a rose gold/steel option to the Mille Miglia 2017 Race Edition options.
Below is a closer look at these Chopard Mille Miglia watches.
Mille Miglia Classic XL 90th Anniversary Limited Edition
The 46mm Mille Miglia Classic XL 90th Anniversary Limited Edition is the most vintage-themed of the year’s Mille Miglia debuts, and it features the highest-end movement of the group. Indeed, inside the watch is the L.U.C Calibre 03.07-L, Chopard’s own hand-wound flyback chronograph, borrowed for this tribute piece from Chopard’s haute horlogerie L.U.C collection. For the very first time, Chopard has fitted one of its Mille Miglia watches with a caliber that has been awarded the Poinçon de Genève.
Like all of Chopard’s highly regarded L.U.C movements, the caliber features extremely refined finishing, including circular graining, gilding and rhodium-plating. Vintage racing details include piston-inspired pushers, a large notched dial reminiscent of gas tank caps and a porcelain-like white dial with Arabic numerals and snailed counters¬. The dial mimics many that were seen on racing dashboards of yore. The Mille Miglia Classic XL 90th Anniversary Limited Edition is a limited edition of ninety. Price: $43,880.
Mille Miglia 2017 Race Edition
Also with a dial that echoes historical car dashboards (complete with contrasting bright red accents on the central seconds hand and the chronograph hand) this 44mm Mille Miglia 2017 Race Edition is being made in two limited series of 1,000 in steel and–debuting today– 100 in steel and 18-karat rose gold. The watch is fully two millimeters smaller than last year’s Classic Racing Mille Miglia 2016 XL Race Edition Chronograph, seen here.
This year’s Race edition sports a particularly interesting, engine-turned dial that recalls Swiss watch baseplates even while echoing certain industrial-style racecar dashboards. Such treatment seems exceptionally appropriate for a racing timepiece, offering a perfect complement to the red-tinted chronograph hands, tachymeter bezel (on the steel model) and “100 Miglia” logo.
The sporty automatic chronograph (base ETA 7750) powers pushers, designed to mimic pistons, a large fluted crown resembling a fuel tank cap, and a bezel with an aluminum tachymeter insert. The case-back is secured by eight screws and is engraved with Mille Miglia’s checkered flag and the arrow-shaped Mille Miglia logo as well as a “Mille Miglia 1927-2017” anniversary inscription. And of course, this watch has one of my long-time favorite features of all the Chopard Mille Miglia watches: streamlined lugs with a black rubber strap sporting a 1960s Dunlop racing tire-tread motif (steel version). The new gold and steel edition comes with an also-impressive perforated Barenia calfskin strap. Prices: $6,840 (steel and $10,100 (steel and gold).
Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph
This pairing of his-and-hers chronographs is likely meant for couples to wear in the front seat while driving as a ‘mixed double’ in the Mille Miglia. These two watches differ in case size (one, the ‘ladies model’ is 39mm, and the other 42mm) and only the larger of the two includes a tachymeter scale.
Chopard makes that larger watch’s dial in black or silver with large luminescent numerals, while the 39mm model is made in a silver color or white mother-of-pearl with a diamond bezel. Inside each is an ETA-based chronograph caliber that has been COSC-certified. Like the above model, the white (39mm) or black (42mm) 1960s Dunlop tire-tread rubber strap clearly identifies these watches a Chopard Mille Miglia models; the hands and indexes of each model are coated with SuperLuminova.
Prices: $4,800 (39mm), $5,000 (42mm) and $12,140 (39mm with diamonds).