The introduction of Mille Miglia timepieces were born out of Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s love for collector’s cars and automobiles. It is known that Chopard would present a dedicated limited-series watch for each edition of this racing event. I have previously covered the Mille Miglia 2016 XL Race Edition here and found its style to embody elegance, performance and sporting prowess.
For Baselworld 2017, Chopard unveiled the 2017 edition of the Mille Miglia, continuing its tradition of releasing a limited-series watch for the race. The Mille Miglia 2017 Race Edition is uniquely different from its predecessors as it takes its design cues from the elements of a vintage car, the car engines, fuel cap and dashboard.
The Mille Miglia 2017 Race Edition takes its design cues from the elements of a vintage car, the car engines, fuel cap and dashboard.
Case, Dial and Hands
The Mille Miglia 2017 Race Edition comes in a 44 mm stainless steel case which is huge for most of us. Given the size of the watch, we see the lugs being designed to accommodate for a better fit through a streamlined integration with the black rubber strap on the watch.
The silver dial provides an excellent contrast with the tachymeter bezel and bright red accents of the timepiece.
What is most attractive in this edition is the silver dial providing an excellent contrast with the tachymeter bezel which features an aluminum insert. For this edition of the Mille Miglia, Chopard has chose to design the surface of the dial to resemble that of a car dashboard with an overlapping chequered finish. The bright red elements of the watch complements extremely well with the overall design of the watch.
For the Mille Miglia 2017 Race Edition ,we see a change in the dial design whereby the 3 sub-dials have been repositioned; small seconds sub-dial at 9 o’clock position, minute register at 12 o’clock position and the 12-hour chronograph counter at 6 o’clock position. One thing we noticed was the newly positioned date indicator in this release which was a great thing as we found the previous release to be overcrowded with so many elements on the dial.
The Movement
The Mille Miglia 2017 Race Edition is powered by a chronometer-certified, self-winding mechanical movement operating at 28,800 bph and features a power reserve of up to 48 hours. The movement is covered by a steel caseback with engravings of the famous Mille Miglia logo and the number of the watch.
The movement is covered by a steel caseback with engravings of the famous Mille Miglia logo and the number of the watch.
Concluding Thoughts
The Mille Miglia 2017 Race Edition is an excellent sports watch and what we really liked was the new design elements of the watch where it took its design cues from vintage car designs. We can see improvements being made to this release such as the shortened lugs and the repositioning of the date indicator to enhance its aesthetical appeal.
The Mille Miglia 2017 Race Edition is reasonably priced at $6,840 and features a black rubber strap that has a 1960s Dunlop racing tire-tread motif and also features a steel-folding clasp.
