In 1988, Chopard supported the famous Mille Miglia race for the first time and launched the Chopard Mille Miglia collection the same year. Since then the Scheufele family has participated every year in the 1000-mile race from Brescia to Rome and return.
This year, 436 competing cars took off from the famous ramp on Viale Venezia in Brescia. All the cars were constructed between 1927 and 1957 belonging to 61 different motoring brands, a collection of almost unimaginable value and challenging each other along an ancient and picturesque route, which is precisely one thousand miles long. Chopard is proud – as World Sponsor and Official Timekeeper – to be a long standing and loyal partner of this legendary race, “la corsa pìu bella del mondo” – the world’s most beautiful race.
The Mille Miglia 2015
The 33rd edition of Mille Miglia, known world over as “the most beautiful race in the world” started under a gorgeous sunny sky. The 436 crews took off from Viale Venezia in Brescia on Thursday at 2.30 pm. The next three days, they passed through more than 30 cities and towns among Verona, Rimini, San Marino, Roma, Siena, Pisa and Parma before heading back to the starting point, the historical ramp on Viale Venezia, in the heart of Brescia. Enthusiastic locals and guests bid the drivers a fond farewell during the first kilometres of the race, thousands of them lined the streets of the route, shouting out encouragement to the drivers. The Mille Miglia is a perfect meeting place for car enthusiasts from all over the world, with new nationalities coming each year. For the 2015 edition of the Mille Miglia drivers from over 40 different nationalities campaigned for victory.
This year again, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele chose to honour Chopard’s partnership with Porsche Motorsport by co-driving with his wife Christine the Porsche 550A Spyder RS at Mille Miglia, a motoring icon kindly loaned from the Porsche Museum. The car was created in 1956 and as detiny wo9uld have it. went on to make its mark in the history of motorsport.
Albert Carreras the son of the world-famous tenor José Carreras and friend of Chopard drove the race with his co-pilot Jordi Pascual in a Mercedes Benz 300 SL, owned by the Scheufele family.
The Mille Miglia organization was proud to welcome some other famous drivers including top models David Gandy and Jodie Kidd, Andrea Zagato with his wife Marella Rivolta as well as the legendary pilots Jochen Mass and Hans Herrmann.
Chopard and the passion for Mille Miglia
On May 13th, Chopard hosted a welcome dinner for 120 guests and friends in the Palazzo della Loggia in the heart of Brescia, a sumptuous Italian palace dating from the XVIth century. After enjoying cocktails, guests were welcomed by an amazing Mille Miglia inspired setting for a memorable dinner.
The next day the guests and drivers met at the “Chopard Racing Club” located in famous hotel Vittoria to enjoy the vintage car atmosphere surrounded by the roaring engines.
At 2.30pm sharp, the first car, an O.M from 1930 departed from the famous ramp on Viale Venezia (see right). In total 436 cars left Brescia for the incredible 1000 mile race through some of the most beautiful landscapes in Italy.
On Sunday, May 18th, the first cars returned safely across the finish line on Viale Venezia at 1 o’clock.
This year, the winning team was composed of Juan Tonconogy and Guillermo Berisso from Argentina who drove a Bugatti T 40 from 1927. Second place went to Andrea Vesco and Andrea Guerini in a FIAT 514 MM from 1930. And the third team to reach the podium was Ezio Martino Salviato and Caterina Moglia in a Bugatti T 40 from 1928.
Mille Miglia 2015 Race Edition: reinventing the classic racing spirit
Issued in limited series of 1,000 in steel and 100 in rose gold respectively, the Mille Miglia 2015 Race Edition picks up the design codes of the classic cars that took part in the Italian race between 1940 and 1957. On the dial, a powerful shade of red reigns supreme. This “Rosso Corsa” is one of the famous “racing colours”, the colour codes for cars that served to identify competitors’ nationality from the early 20th century through to the late 1960s. This emblematic red was chosen as the competition colour of an entire nation: Italy.
This captivating watch face with its black and white touches recalls the new Mille Miglia GTS watches presented by Chopard at Baselworld 2015. The power-reserve indicator is reminiscent of typical 1950s petrol gauges, while the oversized 6 and 12 o’clock Arabic numerals echo the dashboards of vintage cars. In a nod to the participant numbers placed on the doors and bonnet of the competing vehicles, the date window appears clearly on a white background in the Mille Miglia red arrow-shaped logo. The facetted hands and the hour-markers are painted with a luminescent coating and enhance the readability as well as the sporting character of this timepiece. The Mille Miglia 2015 Race Edition comes in a sturdy 43 mm-diameter case in 18-carat rose gold or steel, topped by a bezel with a black aluminium graduated insert.
Its short, streamlined lugs have been designed to perfectly mould the curve of the wrist, ensuring optimal comfort and style further enhanced by the black Barenia leather calfskin strap secured by an 18-carat rose gold or steel folding clasp. The screw-down back guaranteeing water resistance to 100 metres is engraved with the inscriptions “Mille Miglia” and “Brescia > Rome > Brescia” and fitted with a transparent sapphire crystal pane revealing the Chopard movement and its openworked oscillating weight.
A high-precision Chopard movement
This exceptional aesthetic is matched by an extremely precise horological ‘engine’. The Mille Miglia 2015 Race Edition is equipped with Chopard Calibre 01.08-C, entirely developed, designed and assembled in the Chopard’s Fleurier Ebauches workshops. Chronometer-certified by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC), this mechanical self-winding movement ensures extreme precision in driving the hours, minutes and seconds indications, as well as a date appearing at 3 o’clock and a power-reserve display at 9 o’clock. Endowed with a generous 60-hour power reserve, the Mille Miglia 2015 Race Edition embodies the exclusive spirit of the race with its blend of Italian elegance and sporting prowess.
See more of Chopard and the Mille Miglia below
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