Chopard Unveils 2 New Mille Miglia Watches For The 40th Anniversary Of Iconic Car Rally

The 2022 Mille Miglia has begun and Chopard is once again the sponsor, official timekeeper and participant in this historic antique car rally in Italy. This year the four-day rally will run till June 18. A total of 404 cars by 63 car manufacturers are participating in the 1,000-mile route that begins and ends in the historic city of Brescia in Lombardy.

Chopard Co-President, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, will participate behind the wheel of the Scheufele family’s 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SL, well-known to the 1000 Miglia due to its strawberry-red paintwork. It’s the same car that Scheufele was in for his first Mille Miglia in 1989, accompanied by the motorsport legend and Chopard ambassador, Jacky Ickx.

This year, Ickx will be on the start ramp in Brescia to wave Scheufele away as he sets off beside his daughter Caroline-Marie, who will be undertaking her second Mille Miglia.

Chopard has been the sponsor of the Mille Miglia for 35 of the 40 years since the historic car race was re-established in 1977 as a time and reliability trial for cars built between 1927 and 1957. Each year the Swiss luxury brand produces two timepieces to mark the occasion. The first is an all-steel iteration in a run of 1,000 timepieces; while the second features ethical 18k rose gold adorning the crown, pushers and bezel that will be produced in a 250-piece limited edition.

Both timepieces have COSC certified automatic movements, meaning they have passed intense precision tests by the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres, earning the title of chronometer, an extremely accurate and superior timepiece.

Both timepieces offer a central hours and minutes display and a small seconds counter at 9 o’clock. For the chronograph functions, there’s a 30-minute counter at 12 o’clock, a 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock and a blued, red-tipped central seconds chronograph hand. They also have a date aperture at 3 o’clock, a tachymeter scale and a stop-seconds function.

Both have a silver-toned dial with a circular satin-brushed finish. The iconic red and white 1000 Miglia logo is next to the date window at 3 o’clock. All subdials have a snailed design and the baton-styled CVD-treated hands and applied hour markers are painted with Super-LumiNova.

The dial and movement for both timepieces are housed in a 44mm stainless steel case. The caseback bears the 1000 Miglia motif. The watches and completed with a brown perforated calfskin strap.