The Sweetest Race

As it does every year, Chopard embarks on the 1000 Miglia in a celebration of retro motoring and the Italian summer.

For the last 34 years, Chopard has been the main partner and official timekeeper for the iconic 1000 Miglia. Once known as Mille Miglia, it was in its mid-century heyday an endurance race that was one of the most prestigious events in the motorsports calendar. Its incarnation today is less about competition and more about camaraderie and vintage car appreciation. Today, participating cars need to have been registered no later than in 1957, which was the last year of its original incarnation.

Chopard fielded five cars this year, led by Scheufele’s much-loved strawberry-red 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing (visible on the left). Other team members include a 1954 Ermini Sport 1100 (right) driven by fashion entrepreneur and Fortela creative director Alessandro Squarzi and a 1957 Porsche 356 (centre) guided by Romain Dumas, a long-time endurance race veteran, Chopard ambassador and Porsche factory driver. Chopard Team’s two remaining cars were a 1956 Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sport and a Fiat 1100 with rare Zagato bodywork - complete with the coachbuilder’s signature ‘double bubble’ roof.

Chopard fielded five cars this year, led by Scheufele’s much-loved strawberry-red 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing.

This year saw 375 entrants embarking on the four-day journey, which took place in June. The 1,618km route winds through some of northern Italy’s most scenic areas. It begins in Brescia, then passes through the coastal city of Viareggio before heading to Rome. It then heads back northwards towards Brescia via Bologna. The summer weather remained fine throughout, which was ideal for drivers, but the heat may have been a bit of a strain for decades-old engines. Still, 341 cars finished the race with victory going to Andrea Vesco and his co-driver Fabio Salvinelli in a 1929

Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Super Sport.

Chopard marked the occasion with a limited-edition Mille Miglia 2021 Race Edition, a chronograph available in steel (1,000 pieces, €7,570) or steel and rose gold (250 pieces, €10,900). Like every watch in the maison’s sporty Mille Miglia collection, it is a tough and reliable timepiece with a 48-hour power reserve, 100m of water resistance and is chronometer-certified. The 1000 Miglia’s signature red arrow logo points at the magnified date window at three o’clock. At 44mm in diameter, the watch embraces a modern sports look, completed by the rubber-lined black leather strap with driving glove-style perforations.

Hailing from Belgium, 76-year-old Jacky Ickx is a racing legend in his own right. He drove in Formula One during the 1960s and 1970s, picking up eight victories and 25 podium finishes in that time. He is also a six-time winner of 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ickx is a long-time friend of Scheufele and has co-piloted for the Chopard co-president at the 1000 Miglia more than 15 times.

Karl-Friedrich Scheufele is the copresident of Chopard and the driving force behind the maison’s watchmaking. At events like these, however, he is first and foremost a classic car enthusiast. Scheufele first participated in 1000 Miglia in 1989, in the same 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing that he drove in this year.

Romeo and Juliet. Stopping at Verona, the famous town of Italy’s northeast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the setting of Shakespeare’s

Alessandro Squarzi stopping by Bolsena lake, Europe’s largest volcanic lake.

Romain Dumas at the wheel of the Porsche 356.

Clockwise from left: the numbered 250-piece twotone execution in stainless steel and 18-carat rose ethical gold; the caseback commemorating la corsa piu bella del mondo (the most beautiful car race in the world); the Mille Miglia 2021 edition.