Swiss manufacture pays tribute to the Italian race.
One can only envy the vintage car collection owned by Co-President of Chopard Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, whose garage has a good dozen cars with a history behind them. His first big investment was a Porsche 356 Speedster, and his oldest car is a Bentley manufactured all the way back in 1929.
Scheufele has a favorite car for every occasion: the Bentley T2 for the watch trade shows in Basel, the Renault 4 that came with a vineyard he bought in the French Périgueux commune, and of course his "metallic raspberry" Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, which he'll compete in for the 1000 Miglia race.
Scheufele has a personal interest in the Italian motorsport endurance race for classic cars that runs from Brescia to Rome and back. It all boils down to a partnership between cars and watches.
Chopard has released limited Mille Miglia editions every year — there are already 35 of them — and the company is partnering with the 1000 Miglia for the 36th time now, with Scheufele gearing up to get behind the wheel himself with motorsport legend Jacky Ickx navigating.
There are no less than five novelties this year: four Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph watches and the special Mille Miglia GTS Chrono Limited Edition Italy 2023.
The latter has a charitable cause: part of the proceeds from the sale of the 100 limited pieces with grained beige dials and tachymeter scales on olive-green bezels will go towards helping victims of the floods Italy suffered in May.
This model with a red and green exterior representing the Italian flag is presented in a 44-mm case made of Lucent Steel. It's equipped with a COSC-certified movement and worn on a brown perforated strap.
One of the four main Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph watches sporting a dial in a shade of Nero Corsa (racing black) has a black rubber strap which mirrors the thread pattern of the Dunlop race-car tires used in the 1960s.
The other members have been given colored dials: light green (Verde Chiaro), cherry red (Rosso Amarena) and gray blue (Grigio Blue). The case for the commercial edition is modest in size: 40.5 mm in diameter.
Lucent Steel has also been used as the main material, renowned for its sheen. The blue dial edition is complemented by elements made of "ethical" gold.