Chopard’s longstanding partnership with motorsport has inspired watches such as the luxury Mille Miglia and more recently the Monaco Historic Grand Prix – continuing at this year’s Baselworld with the release of three new timepieces from its classic racing collection , called Superfast.
The new timepiece – which Chopard calls its “bold lines” and “vibrant design” appeals to “thrill-seeking sports car drivers” – is the first in the brand’s racing collection to feature a movement developed in-house by Chopard Workshop in the Swiss town of Fleurier. The collection includes the Superfast Automatic, a three-hand watch with a date function; the Superfast Chrono, a chronograph with flyback and tachymeter; and the Superfast Power Control, with a small seconds subdial and an unconventional power reserve display .
The design of the collection includes several references to the world of competitive racing, such as the brushed silver vertical lines against the black background of the dial, similar to the cooling fins on an air-cooled racing engine. Additionally, the inner ring displays minute numerals, similar to the type found on sports car tachometers and speedometers.
The natural rubber strap has a smooth tread pattern reminiscent of the slick tires used in high-speed track racing. These watches feature other hallmarks of the Chopard Classic Motorsport collection, such as the “steering wheel” logo on the rubber-moulded gold crown, fin-like grooves engraved on either side of the lugs, rubber-coated pushers for better grip, and The screws on the Allen bezel are similar to those on the rim of a wheel.
The vent pattern even extends to the movement, whose skeletonized bridges are decorated with the same pattern of thin parallel lines. All movements in the Superfast collection are COSC-certified chronometers, all displayed under a sapphire window on the back of the steel case.
The Superfast Automatic features a traditional central display of hours, minutes and seconds and a date window at 6 o’clock. The case is 41 mm in diameter, water-resistant to 100 meters, and powered by the Chopard 01.01-M self-winding movement with a power reserve of 60 hours.
The Superfast Power Control model uses an improved version of the automatic movement base movement, called the Chopard Calibre 01.02-M, to power a range of functions including central hours and minutes, small seconds on the subdial at 6 o’clock, 3 o’clock A window at the clock position shows the date, and an unusual power-reserve indicator appears to have been copied from a car’s dashboard, with pointer hands on the semicircular sub-dial reminiscent of the look of a fuel gauge. The Power Control has a larger steel housing with a diameter of 45mm.
The Superfast Chrono also comes with a 45mm diameter case and contains the automatic Chopard Calibre 03.05-M. The watch also shows the seconds on the subdial at 6 o’clock, but moves the date window to 4:30. Chronograph with central sweep seconds and flyback; 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock and 12-hour counter at 9 o’clock. A tachymeter scale is also engraved on the bezel, once again paying homage to the racing car.
Karl-Friedrich Schuefele, co-president of Chopard, sees the new Racing Collection watches with in-house movements as another important step in the brand’s continued vertical integration and determination to produce more movements in-house.
