Chopard Mille Miglia creations race to podium
This spring Chopard reprises its role as main sponsor and official timekeeper of Italy’s Mille Miglia classic car rally, a position it has held continuously since 1988, with new additions to its Mille Miglia GTS collection
The particular ‘Azzurro’ (Italian for ‘blue’) that adorns the dials of the new collection was chosen for its aesthetic appeal and its similarity to the shades often used on some of the world’s great classic cars. It reflects the mechanical nature of the Mille Miglia timepieces and offers a versatile alternative to more conventional black or silver dials.
Mille Miglia GTS Azzurro Chrono: Limited edition of 750
The Mille Miglia GTS Azzurro Chrono in stainless steel (750-piece limited edition) features a sub-dial layout inspired by a classic car instrument cluster. Ideal for timing laps at a race circuit or monitoring special sections during a reliability trial, the timepiece combines a central chronograph hand with a trio of dashboard-like sub dials designed to separately record periods of 60 seconds, 30 minutes and 12 hours, all to chronometer-grade accuracy.
Robust ‘pump’ pushpieces ensure the mechanism is quick and easy to stop, start and re-set even when wearing driving gloves, and the varnished blue and grey bezel insert is marked with a tachymeter scale to enable speed and distance calculations. Fitted with a perforated leather and tyre-tread rubber strap, the Chrono has a solid case back featuring a chequered flag pattern topped by a Mille Miglia arrow, while the ‘Brescia > Roma > Brescia’ legend and the individual edition number out of 750 is marked around the edge.
Mille Miglia GTS Azzurro Power Control: Limited edition of 500
The Mille Miglia GTS Azzurro Power Control offers a distinctive, ‘bi-colour’ look thanks to its combination of a steel case and 18-carat rose gold detailing to the winding crown, bezel, hands and hour markers. Available in just 500 examples, the 43mm timepiece has a satin-brushed blue dial with a varnished blue aluminium bezel insert marked in 12 increments of five to facilitate elapsed time recording. The watch features an exhibition case back that shows the meticulously decorated Chopard 01.08-C mechanical self-winding movement. Made entirely in-house, the 251-part mechanism offers 60 hours of power reserve (with an indicator at 9 o’clock on the dial) and is chronometer-certified by the COSC, the official Swiss chronometer testing institute. The steel ring surrounding the sapphire crystal case back is marked with the ‘Brescia > Roma > Brescia’ route of the Mille Miglia and each of the watches is engraved with its individual edition number.
