Chopard’s launch of a new Mille Miglia chronograph is a fixture in the annual calendar of watchmaking events. Since 1988, the Swiss manufacturer has been deeply involved in the Mille Miglia as a partner of the vintage car event which runs from Brescia to Rome and fans affectionately call “la corsa più bella del mondo” (“the most beautiful race in the world”).

A classy and stylish companion to this legendary event, the Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph is forged from Chopard’s own eco-friendly surgical steel alloy, Lucent Steel, which is harder than conventional steel and has a distinctive sheen. Other distinctive features of the 40.5mm case include the mushroom-shaped and knurled chronograph pushers, which enhance the vintage look and feel, and the thin bezel, which allows for great visibility of the dial.
Speaking of the dial, this year’s edition features a particularly special one. Taking strong cues from the automotive world and inspired by racing cars, Chopard’s Karl-Friedrich Scheufele designed a two-tone dial with a circular satin-finish silver-colored base punctuated by snail-shaped black counters. Named “La Gara” (the Italian word for “the race” or “the competition”), this dial echoes the colors of the checkered flag waved at the end of a motor race to salute the first car to cross the finish line. The three black counters, the shape of the hands and the Arabic numeral...