Chopard and Mille Miglia, one of the most important organizations in motor sports, celebrate the 30th anniversary of their brand partnership this year. Chopard introduced the new Mille Miglia Racing Colors Collection to commemorate this special occasion. Here we have the Vintage Blue model from the new collection which was introduced as a part of brand’s Baselworld 2018 novelties.
I want to talk a little bit about the Mille Miglia (1000 miles) race first, where the series is named after. The case starts from Brescia in Northern Italy and to Rome and then back to Brescia again with a total of 1000 miles route. The legendary race, which dates back to 1927, has been held every year since 1977.
Chopard and Mille Miglia’s roads intersected in 1988. Since that day, Chopard has been announcing a new Mille Miglia model every year including 2018. The Mille Miglia Racing Colors collection, which met the watch enthusiasts at Baselworld 2018, features details inspired by the teams participated between 1927 and 1940. Here we have the Vintage Blue model which is inspired by the legendary France Bugattis team.
The new model comes in a stainless steel case with a diameter of 42mm and a height of 12.67mm. In the past, I had the chance to try different models from the Mille Miglia series, but I was always distant to the timepieces because of the large 44mm diameter cases. When I see the models in the Mille Miglia Racing Colors collection, the only question in my find was the color choice as the 42mm case felt extremely comfortable on my wrist. In the meantime, let me add that the case is water resistant to 50 meters only which I believe is a little handicap brought by the chronograph function.
As I mentioned before, Chopard Mille Miglia Racing Colors has 5 different dial options, including vibrant colors such as blue, yellow and red among - more subtle ones like the classic British Racing Green and gray. The dial is designed in classic Tri-Compax chronograph lay-out with a date display located between 4 and 5 o’clock. 1000 MIGLIA’s famous arrow is present at 12 o’clock.
At the heart of the model is the COSC certified automatic caliber, based on the ETA 2804-2A. The 37-jewels self-winding movement operates at a frequency of 4Hz (28.800vph) and offers 42 hours of power reserve when fully wound.
Each model is offered on a black leather strap that is secured by a stainless steel buckle. The stitches on the straps match with the dial colors. The strap features a rubber lining in order to boost durability and comfort. The motif on this rubber lining is inspired by the tread pattern of the Dunlop 1960 model tire.
The MSRP is CHF 5.680. Each model is limited to 300 units.
