Chopard Mille Miglia 2019 Race Edition

Chopard has been the partner and official timekeeper of the popular Mille Miglia open-road endurance race for over 30 years now. Throughout that time, it has become something of a tradition for the brand to release a new model for the race each year. This year is no exception, and the Chopard Mille Miglia 2019 Race Edition makes its unofficial debut this morning ahead of an official release at Baselworld. We’ve got all the details you need, including availability and pricing, so keep on reading.

The Mille Miglia is a classic car race in Italy, with more than 400 historic cars taking part each year. It’s a four-stage rally driven from Brescia to Rome and back, and it’s a damn classy affair. But it’s also a serious race. Drivers don’t partake in the Mille Miglia simply because they want to cruise through the Tuscan countryside (although that is a nice added bonus). They take part because they want to win, and they want to do it in style.

The Chopard Mille Miglia 2019 Race Edition reflects this unique blend of dogged determination mixed with a dash of panache. The generous 44mm case in steel features a specially engraved screw-in case back with the Mille Miglia logo on a black PVD-treated checkerboard pattern. It is guaranteed water-resistant to 100 metres. The larger case size allows for more dial real estate, meaning the watch easier to read at a glance.

Chopard has further enhanced this legibility by using a very clean, 6-9-12 layout, with the chronograph hours and minutes shown on the sub-dials at 6 and 12 o’clock respectively. The snailed black chronograph sub-dials with white transfers stand out clearly against the snailed grey main dial, and feature contrasting red hands. Likewise, the chronograph seconds numerals pointed to by the central red-tipped sweep-seconds hand, have been integrated into the inner bezel ring – also in contrasting black with a white transfer – to save space on the dial.

The time is shown centrally by facetted rhodium-plated hours and minutes hands filled with Super-LumiNova, while running seconds are displayed on the snailed grey sub-dial at 9 o’clock. The hours are marked around the periphery of the dial by Super-LumiNova-painted appliques and the date appears through an aperture at 3 o’clock, shown for the first time beneath a domed crystal. Again, all in the name of increased legibility. Framing the dial is a polished stainless steel bezel with black aluminium inlay, complete with engraved tachymeter scale.

Inside is a self-winding chronograph movement, certified as a chronometer by the COSC. Operating at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour, it offers a two-day power reserve and short time measurements accurate to an eighth-of-a-second. Completing the look is a perforated, Cognac-coloured calf leather strap with tone-on-tone stitching. In a further subtle nod to its racing heritage, the rubber strap lining features a Dunlop 1960s tyre-tread motif.

Offered as a 1000-piece limited edition, the Chopard Mille Miglia 2019 Race Edition will retail for CHF 7,170 or EUR 6,800. More details at chopard.com.