Lombardy to Rome and back, the race was reborn in 1977 as a classic car rally, and only permits cars produced no later than 1957, which had attended or were registered in the original race, to take part. Chopard’s links with the race go back to 1988 when the first Mille Miglia watches were introduced. Chopard are celebrating 90 years of the Mille Miglia by introducing the Mille Miglia Classic XL 90th Anniversary Limited Edition, which takes its inspiration directly from the cars themselves. With a curved design based on a Ferrari 250 GTO and the taut lines inspired by an Alfa Romeo 6C, Chopard have aimed to emulate the construction quality of a Porsche 550 RS with its 46mm-diameter, 13mm-thick rose gold case and soft, polished bezel. The chronograph pushers are piston-inspired, with nice details, such as the large notched dial reminiscent of petrol tank caps, ensuring easy handling even if you are, in Mille Miglia-style, wearing leather driver’s gloves. The dial evokes a vintage dashboard, its porcelain-like white punctuated by Arabic numerals and snailed counters, which are then surrounded by a tachymetric scale that can be used at any time to measure real speed as well as average speed – key information for regularity trials that are a great part of the Mille Miglia tradition. The mechanism also draws on the finest racing cars for inspiration – the hand-wound flyback chronograph mechanism is from Chopard’s haute horlogerie L.U.C collection, featuring finishing made of nickel silver with the lowermost parts of the movement circulargrained and gilded, and the uppermost parts in steel or rhodium-plated, a reference to the finest racing cars and their mechanical triumphs. Tissot too honour motorsports but this time those of motorbikes, with their T-Race MotoGP Automatic Limited Edition 2017. After
“The Chopard Mille Miglia Classic XL references the finest racing cars and their mechanical triumphs.”
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Clockwise from above right: Mille Miglia Classic XL 90th Anniversary Limited Edition, €34,420, Chopard; Men’s 42mm Alpine World Ski Championships Conquest Classic, €3,030, Longines; T-Race MotoGP Automatic Limited Edition 2017 case, and the T-Race watch, €1,275, Tissot; ladies’ 34mm Alpine World Ski Championships Conquest Classic, €1,790, Longines becoming the official timekeeper for MotoGP in 2001, producing the first official MotoGP watch in 2003, and then producing the Tissot T-Race in 2004, Tissot build on the pedigree with the Tissot T-Race MotoGP Automatic Limited Edition 2017, which draws from the world’s oldest motorsports championships with iconic bike features such as dashboard counters on the carbon-like dial and its tyre tread bracelet. The automatic movement, visible through the transparent rim-like case-back, visualises a brake-disc, also portrayed on the oscillating mass, with lines illustrating further tyre treads. Just 2017 pieces have been made, and it comes
presented in a special helmet-shaped box. Tissot are also commemorating another historical legacy, with their Heritage 1948 collection, inspired by a Tissot watch that dates back to 1948 and which is part of the brand’s museum collection. During that time Tissot were producing a number of different chronograph models that particularly appealed to engineers, doctors and sportsmen who were looking for precision timekeeping as well as a stylish timepiece. The new collection stays faithful to the original qualities, with a beautiful automatic movement, visible through the see-through case-back and through its original details, such as the three counters on the dial, two pushers, the minutetrack, stud details and the special shaped lugs and leaf hands. Updates come in the form of a lighter coloured case with satin and polished finishes, a Roman index at 12 o’clock and the date display between the indices four and five with black or brown leather strap options or a Milanese bracelet. Longines too have delved into their archive for inspiration to draw on some long-standing and successful collaborations. To celebrate the Alpine World Ski Championships 2017 in St. Moritz Longines have launched two limitededition watches, one for women, one for men, drawn from their Conquest Classic collection. Measuring a chunky 42mm in diameter, the men’s model has a blue dial set with nine applied indices with a moon phase display and features the 12-hour counter at six o’clock, the 24-hour indicator and the sub-dial for the seconds at nine o’clock, as well as the 30-minute counter and the day-and-month display at 12 o’clock. The ladies’ version meanwhile is a neater 34mm in size, with hours, minutes and seconds set against a blue dial. The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships logo is applied onto the transparent case-back of both pieces, and there is a classic steel bracelet available for each. It is a fitting tribute to a tradition that began when Longines provided the first timekeeping equipment for military ski races held in SaintImier in 1924, the small hamlet in the south west of Switzerland which the brand calls home to this day.
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