This three-hand chronometer by Chopard is one of the three redesigned Mille Miglia GTS models introduced this year. Its style is all about motor-racing, and more specifically that very genteel and classic style of motor-racing that is the Mille Miglia which now sees vintage car owners (including Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-President of Chopard) and their personality guests take to the wheels on the roads of Italy. The original Mille Miglia race was run from 1927 to 1957, over a course from Brescia to Rome and back, covering approximately a thousand miles and eligible only to unmodified production cars. Today, it has become the Mille Miglia Storica, a regularity contest for pre-1957 cars, run this year from 12 to 17 May.
The Mille Miglia GTS Collection Automatic by Chopard (official partner to the Mille Miglia Storica) has a 1950s look provided by the short lugs, the WW2-style Italian numeral design, and the overall dial layout. References to motor-racing include the Dunlop tyre-tread on the rubber strap, and the 1000 Miglia red-arrow logo which was the sign used to show drivers which to go at road junctions in the original Mille Miglia race.
In-house movement
The dial proudly bears the indication “Caliber 01.01-C” as well as “Chopard, chronometer, automatic,” because this piece, like the Power Control model in the same collection, has an in-house movement, designed and built at Chopard’s Fleurier Ebauches manufacture. The automatic winding system transfers the user’s movements into kinetic energy in the oscillating weight that can be seen through the transparent caseback, which in turn winds the mainspring in the barrel. When fully wound, the watch has a power reserve of 60 hours, which means that it will still be running if you take it off on Friday evening and put it back on Monday morning. The movement is certified as a chronometer by the Swiss chronometer testing institute COSC, a quality certification that requires precision to -4/+6 seconds a day. The movement runs at 28,800 vph (4 Hertz).
Steel or gold case
The case is 43 mm in diameter, 11.43 mm thick, with a bezel with a black aluminium insert. It is water-resistant to 100 metres, with a screw-down crown. The watch is available in steel or rose gold versions, accompanied by the tyre-tread-style rubber strap ; the steel version is available with a steel bracelet, or. The caseback has a sapphire display window, with the lettering “Mille Miglia – Brescia > Roma > Brescia” establishing a direct connection with the race.
Good visibility by day and night
The velvety-black dial has red and white accents and recalls vintage car dashboard instruments. The large 12 and 6 numerals and the other hour indices are painted in SuperLuminova for luminescence in low light.
References
Reference 168565-3001, steel, rubber strap, price 5,400 Swiss francs / £3,930 / €5,070
Reference 161295-5001, rose gold, rubber strap, price 19,400 Swiss francs/ £14,090 / €18,200
Reference 158565-3001, steel, steel bracelet, price 6,830 Swiss francs/ £4,960 / €6,410
Cufflinks
Chopard also make a pair of cufflinks that coordinates well with the watch.
