Chopard Mille Miglia: Complete Buyer's Guide, References, Specs & Prices | Ultimate Watch

The Mille Miglia is the watch that turned Chopard from a jewelry house into a name car people take seriously. It started in 1988, when Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-president of Chopard and a genuine classic-car obsessive, signed the family firm on as official timekeeper and main sponsor of the Mille Miglia, the 1,000-mile open-road regularity race that runs from Brescia to Rome and back. Every year since, Chopard has built a chronograph tied to that race, and the line has become the most recognizable motoring watch that is not a Rolex Daytona or an Omega Speedmaster. We buy and sell these every week at our counter on 47th Street, and the ones that move fastest are the ones that look most like the era they celebrate: a legible chronograph on a rubber strap embossed with a 1960s Dunlop tire tread, a 1000 Miglia arrow on the dial, and a red-and-white racing color story. This is a race watch first and a dress watch second, and collectors buy it for exactly that reason. Case sizes across the modern line run 40.5mm on the Classic Chronograph to 44mm on the GTS Chrono and GT XL, so there is a Mille Miglia for a 6.5-inch wrist and one for an 8-inch wrist. If you own one and want to know what it is worth, or you want to buy one done right, this is the family to understand before you write a check.