Chopard Mille Miglia GT XL Chrono Speed Black chronometer watch

At the last month’s SIHH’08 international show, Swiss watchmaker Chopard officially presented three new members of its Mille Miglia racing watches family. While the 2008 GT XL Chrono with its silver dial and the GT XL GMT with its 18K rose gold case look definitely gorgeous, the Chopard Mille Miglia GT XL Chrono Speed Black chronometer watch is absolutely stunning.

The most interesting thing about the watch is that its 44mm stainless-steel case is coated with virtually unscratchable DLC coating. A product of modern nanotechnology, the DLC makes it easy to provide just about any material diamond-like resistance to scratches, dings and some other types of mechanical damage. Of course, you can scratch a DLC-coated watch but that must be another object, which is harder. Say, a real diamond.

We have already seen this on such Japanese watches with Quartz movements as Casio MR-G, Citizen Attesa and the famous Citizen Campanola CTY57-1073. Now, it looks like the Swiss watchmakers are trying to jump on the DLC bandwagon with their mechanic masterpieces.

As you can see on the photos, the Chopard Mille Miglia GT XL Chrono Speed Black chronometer watch comes equipped with split-level chronograph counters, bezel with tachometric scale, a pair of pushers almost hugging the crown and ‘12′ and ‘6′ numericals stenciled on the watch’s sapphire crystal.

The watch features a natural black rubber strap decorated with the 1960s Dunlop Racing tire-tread motif. The strap is fitted with folding steel clasp, which is also DLC-coated.

Inside the watch, which is a certified Chronometer for that matters, is hidden a famous Valjoux 7750 movement. By the way, the caliber is absolutely adored by numerous watchmaking companies. At this time, it powers such watches as the IWC Portugese (my Number One favorite of all times), Breitling Chrono SuperOcean, Tag Heuer Aquaracer Automatic Chronograph, Xemex XE 5000 Ivory chronograph and the less expensive Oris TT1 watch.

No info on pricing yet, but some $6000 would be just nice.

Specification:

Price range: Around $6000
Movement: Self-winding, unidirectional, Valjoux 7750
Case material: DLC-coated steel, scratch-resistant
Complications: Chronograph, Date
Dial color: Black
Strap: Natural black rubber with folding clasp in DLC blackened steel
Water resistance: 100m
Crystal: Sapphire
Case diameter: 44mm
Limited edition of 1000 - Ref: 168459-3008

Tags: Chopard, Chronograph, DLC, GT XL, Mille Miglia, racing, rubber, Speed Black