Baselworld 2018: Chopard Celebrates Anniversaries for Happy Sport and Mille Miglia

It’s been a quarter of a century since Chopard launched its Happy Sport timepiece, a more casual version of the Happy Diamonds collection, which debuted in 1976. Both collections feature two layers of sapphire crystal enclosing loose diamonds or gems, which then appear to float over the dial. The Happy Sport soon became another emblem for the Geneva-based brand; both collections have sparked greater imagination among makers of watches for women ever since.

In celebration of the ever-expanding line and its influential history, this year Chopard has fit one size of its Happy Sport collection with its first in-house automatic movement, made specifically for the line’s 30mm timepieces. Chopard’s new manufacture 09.01C movement with 42 hours of power reserve powers the hours, minutes and central seconds and is visible through the exhibition caseback of each of the four variations of the watch.

But, as is true with Chopard timepieces, the company’s technical prowess is paired with its keen eye for beauty and flair for inventiveness. The watch’s dial is delicately textured mother-of-pearl in blue, pink or white. The blue dial is paired with a gem-set steel case, the pink dial with a steel and rose gold case, and the white with a rose gold case with or without gems; each features Roman numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock.

These soft pastels are embellished with the collection’s quintessential moving diamonds that appear to dance across the dial.

Each watch is fitted on an alligator leather strap in lavender blue, pink or white. Price: $13,000 - $19,900.

Mille Miglia Racing Colors

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the partnership between Chopard and Mille Miglia, and the resultant race-focused watch collection, Chopard is debuting a new collection comprising five Mille Miglia Racing Colors timepieces.

National colors for motor racing came about in the 1910s to identify the nationality of the competing drivers. This new Chopard watch collection takes color one step further, allowing fans to choose their favorite, whether as national pride or to match the bodywork of a car.

The 42mm steel chronographs comprises a 300-piece limited series for each dial color, inspired by the cars that competed in the Mille Miglia between 1927 and 1940: Rosso Corsa (Italy), Speed Silver (Germany), British Racing Green (United Kingdom), Vintage Blue (France) and Speed Yellow (Belgium).

The dials feature luminescent Arabic numerals and hands, fonts and counters inspired by dashboards of that era, counters at 6, 9 and 3 o’clock and a date window between 4 and 5 o’clock. The sweep-seconds hand has a bright red tip for easy monitoring and the arrow-shaped Mille Miglia logo is at 12 o’clock. The self-winding chronograph movement is certified by the COSC, and it offers power reserve of about 42 hours.

And, reprising one of the coolest features of this collection, the perforated calfskin racing straps here also feature a rubber lining inspired by 1960s Dunlop tire tread. Price: Not yet available.