Hands-On: The Chopard Mille Miglia Bamford Desert Racer
Our good friend George Bamford has carved out a very specific corner of the watch world in which he has made the notion of modifying timepieces mainstream. He brought from the outhouse – for lack of a better phrasing – in-house. In 2017, TAG Heuer made him the brand’s official customizer, and Zenith did too. Such a thing didn’t exist before. In the ensuing years, he has gone from solely customizing to making watches under his own name. We have collaborated with George on such watches…The Peanuts were there too.
But he’s never lost the passion for making his own creation from the existing models of big-name brands. And that ideal continues with a watch I got to spend some time with recently: The Chopard Mille Miglia Bamford Desert Racer. This watch is based on the known Mille Miglia GTS Power Control model but features Bamford’s touches. And like with all of his customizations, this one has a personal angle as he worked directly with Chopard’s Co-President, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele.
The result is a watch with a certain stealthy attitude evocative of the desert from which it takes its inspiration via the black and orange color palette. What makes this one particularly interesting is that it isn’t just an idea but a watch that Bamford put to the test once it was complete. He brought it aboard a Meyers Manx buggy at the last edition of the National Off Road Racing Association, and the watch lived to tell the tale.
I didn’t experience that exact watch, and I hope George keeps that one for himself. No, I had one of the very limited 50 total examples that will be made globally. It came in an on-brand pelican-style case, also in black and orange. Lifting the watch from the box, the lightness became apparent, given that it’s made from bead-blasted grade-2 titanium.
When it comes to the Mille Miglia watches, I am used to seeing a vintage aesthetic and a chronograph, both of which are not here. Instead, this time-and-date model with its automotive-inspired bezel in the rugged Bamford styling gives off a wholly modern look that grew on me during my time with it.
This watch is all about textures and stealth legibility. We touched on the bead-blasted case, but there’s also a matte-textured dial with massive 12 and six applied numerals, which take the lion’s share of visual attention. And that’s a good thing because it makes it so the power reserve indication and date display blend into the background. Now, that doesn’t mean the date is hard to see. It’s just there when you need it.
Orange accents are aplenty on this one, from the bezel text to the power reserve to the small hash marks on the seconds hand. The case diameter is a scary-on-paper 43mm, but once I (with about a 6.5 in. wrist) got the textile strap sized correctly, I found the flat case to wear very well. It is possible (in fact, likely) that the all-black titanium case coloring lends itself to the watch appearing smaller than it really is.
Inside, this one beats the chronometer-certified Chopard 01.08-C caliber with a 4Hz beat rate and 60 hours of power reserve. It is visible through an exhibition caseback. This is one of the most underrated points when it comes to Chopard, an independent, family-owned brand that puts one hell of a movement into its watches.
And you may not love the look of this one – which is ok because there are only 50 of them – but I think it is really cool to see Chopard collaborating with Bamford. It takes the family ideal to another level. While I would not personally go for this one, I can appreciate it as an expression of George’s tastes and an extension of his personality. The sheer notion of him in a dune buggy with his own Chopard on his wrist is just plain fun. And that’s what this should always be about.
Chopard Mille Miglia GTS Power Control Bamford Desert Racer, 43mm ultra-light bead-blasted grade-2 titanium case. Black, matte-textured dial with orange accents. 100m of water resistance. Chopard 01.08-C automatic caliber with 4Hz beat rate and 60 hours of power reserve at 28.8mm in thickness. Textile strap and deployant buckle. Limited to 50 pieces. Price: $10,400.
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For more on the Chopard Mille Miglia GTS Power Control Bamford Desert Racer, visit the brand online. Hodinkee is an authorized retailer of Chopard watches.
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