What do you get when you marry an established jeweler and haute horologie manufacture with a historic automotive race? You get a fine time piece suited for a gentleman's wrist. Out of all my watches, this is my favourite piece. Though I am a Zenith (my favourite horological manufacture) man, I get excited whenever I have this on my wrist.
Chopard is an understated watch manufacture. Most people outside the watch world think of it more jewelry than watch but this watch manufature creates their time pieces to very high standards that make them part of the exclusive circle of Qualite-Fleurier, a group that directly competes with Geneva manufacturing standards and accuracy above that of COSC, the organisation that certifies chronometres.
The Mille Miglia was a serious race which took place in Italy. It has a rich legacy marked by the participation of illustrious automotive marques such as Ferrari, Porsche, Maserati and BMW to name a few. It was held in the open road and was a race of endurance. Today, the Mille Miglia is a parade of cars manufactured before 1957 to which Chopard is a major sponsor. To mark the annual parade of historic automobiles, Chopard annually releases a small collection of watches marked with the Mille Miglia logo.
The Chopard Mille Miglia 8316 is a beautiful watch with a highly polished case. It is an ivory dialed chronograph with three sub-dials. Each of these sub-dials have a silver edge and red rings to which the small indices are applied. The sub-dials have concentric rings and mark seconds, minutes and hours. It also has a small date window at 4 o'clock.
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| my Chopard Mille Miglia 8316 - now officially a teenager! (13) |
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| the Mille Miglia logo and the concentric rings surrounded by red markings and a silver ring. |
The movement inside is a robust and highly accurate ETA 2894-2. It can be handwound to which the power reserve is 42 hours. Pressing the pushers makes an nice audible click and feels solid. The crown is signed with the Mille Miglia logo on it.
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| the crown is signed with the Mille Miglia logo. the pushers' edges are rounded. |
The lugs are nicely shaped which makes this watch very comfortable to wear. The case itself is also nicely rounded giving it a sleek and sexy shape.
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| the caseback is sealed with little screws. |
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| here you can see the lugs are squarish but with rounded edges. |
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| the case is highly-polished sleek and sexy. |
Unfortunately, the luminosity of the indices and the hands is not as strong as it was before. After all, this watch is 13 years old.
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| the indices closer to the bottom barely glow now. i have no intention though of having my watch re-lumed. |
The Chopard 8316, by far my favourite timepiece.
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