Mille Miglia

The Mille Miglia collection was born in 1988, the year Chopard became official timekeeper and worldwide sponsor of the Mille Miglia, the historic Italian classic-car race revived since 1977 on the original Brescia-Rome-Brescia route. At the root of the partnership — among the longest-running in motorsport-linked watchmaking — is co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele's personal passion for classic automobiles, in which he recognizes the same values of precision, endurance and style that the brand seeks to convey in its watches.

The first Mille Miglia chronographs were explicitly inspired by the aesthetics of vintage cars: dials recalling the rev counters and speedometers of automobile dashboards, cases with sporty proportions and leather straps evoking the interiors of historic racing cars. Over the course of the 1990s and 2000s the rubber strap with a tire-tread pattern, inspired by the era's Dunlop tires, became one of the collection's most recognizable features, together with the tachymeter on the bezel or dial.

From a single launch collection, the Mille Miglia line has progressively expanded into several families — including the Classic Chronograph and the sportier GTS — with both quartz and COSC-certified mechanical movements. Each edition of the event is traditionally accompanied by a commemorative chronograph, and participating crews are often given a personalized piece with their race number engraved on the caseback, a detail that has made the collection much loved by watch and classic-car collectors alike.