It’s often said that the famed Mille Miglia race is one for the connoisseur. With classic cars competing in what has been dubbed “the world’s most beautiful race” since 1927, it’s hardly surprising. Since 1988—and the introduction of Chopard as main partner and official timekeeper—it’s fair to say that this connoisseurship has extended to fine watchmaking, too.
This week sees the second edition of the race’s export to the Middle East. The Mille Miglia Experience UAE 2023 began on December 4 and is currently zipping through 1,600km of uncompromising desert. Racing through the seven emirates as well as a new destination—the Sultanate of Oman—it’s a five-day race against the clock that will finish at Abu Dhabi’s Al Maryah Island on December 7.
Of course it goes without saying that such an occasion requires a special edition watch. Cue Chopard and partner Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons presenting the Mille Miglia Experience UAE timepiece. A Mille Miglia GTS Chrono model in stainless steel, it’s a 25-piece limited edition watch equipped with a movement featuring chronometer-certified precision—something directly inspired by Chopard’s deeply ingrained passion for motorsports. Meanwhile, Chopard has also produced two additional timepieces specially engraved for the two co-drivers of the winning crew.
The self-winding Mille Miglia Experience UAE is a reliable and sporty creation. It features a 48-hour power reserve, stop-seconds function, water-resistance to 100 metres, as well as a glare-proof sapphire crystal to increase legibility. It’s also equipped with a movement chronometer-certified by the COSC—a token of precision dear to Chopard’s co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele. Finally, in a real nod to the spirit in which it has been created, the bezel bears a polished black ceramic tachymeter scale with white lacquer markings, representing the perfect tool to help racers calculate the average speed during the 1000 Miglia rally.
But while naturally paying tribute to Mille Miglia, this is also a watch imbued with Scheufele’s own passion for racing and classic cars. It’s a love evident right down to the calfskin leather strap inspired by traditional perforated racing gloves, and lined with rubber bearing a motif inspired by 1960s Dunlop racing tyres. It’s that fire, and attention to detail, that make this a watch worth racing to grab.