By James Phang
In conjunction with Chopard becoming the “Official Timing Partner” for Porsche Motorsport returning to endurance competition in 2014, Chopard launched a Superfast chronograph inspired by the Porsche 919 Hybrid, which competed in the World Endurance Championship LMP1 category.
The Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Jacky Ickx Edition was crafted in true honor of Jacky Ickx, a legendary champion and six-time winner of the 24-hours of Le-Mans, as well as a very close friend of Chopard Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele. Its dial sports the famous colors of the racing helmet worn by Jacky Ickx, featuring an inner bezel rings and counters in dark blue dotted with white touches. Theses contrasting shades stand out beautifully against a silver-toned dial while the dial stripes draw reference to the rear diffuser of the Porsche 919 Hybrid.
To shed some background on Jacky Ickx, he is no doubt one of the greatest 20th century motorsport drivers whose multiple victories in the 24 hours of Le Mans earned him the coveted nickname “Monsieur Le Mans”. Perhaps the most illustrious peak of his career was in the year of 1969, where he protested against the dangerous start of racers rushing to their cars lined at an angle on one side of the track (often without having time to buckle their seat belts) by strolling to his motor car while everyone else sprinted ahead to their cockpits, and yet he still managed to emerge victorious; albeit by a very small margin. He proved his point to the world that it is unnecessary to risk highly-dangerous starts in a 24-hour context, and the rules for the Le Mans were tweaked for the following year.
As the latest ambassador of the Superfast collection, the Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Jacky Ickx Edition is encased in 45mm diameter steel case housing a high-precision mechanism featuring decorations inspired by car engines. The grooved sides of the case bear the resemblance to the cooling fins on air-cooled racing engines, while the crown is adorned with a black rubber moulded steering wheel motif.
Bringing the Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 to life is Chopard’s in-house Calibre 03.05-M (COSC certified), with 60 hours power reserve. The timepiece is water-resistant to 100metres and sports a bezel with a tachymeter scale secured by eight blackened screws, while its caseback is engraved with the inscriptions “Official Timing Partner Porsche Motorsport” and “Jacky Ickx Limited Edition”.
As a finishing touch, the Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Jacky Ickx also comes paired with a black “racing tyre tread” rubber strap, encapsulating the essence of motor sports racing within this remarkable timepiece. It is restricted to a limited edition run of 100 pieces. For more info, please visit chopard.com
Case:
• Steel
• Total diameter 45.00 mm
• Thickness 15.08 mm
• Water resistance 100 metres
• Screw-lock crown with black rubber-moulded steel steering wheel motif
• Steel bezel with tachymetric scale, secured by eight blackened PVD-coated steel screws
• Glareproofed sapphire crystal
• Exhibition back engraved with the inscriptions “Official Timing Partner Porsche Motorsport” and “Jacky Ickx Limited Edition”
Movement:
• Self-winding chronograph movement Chopard 03.05-M
• Total diameter 28.8 mm
• Thickness 7.60 mm
• Number of jewels 45
• Power reserve 60 hours
• Frequency 28,800 vph (4Hz)
• Chronometer-certified (COSC)
Dial and hands:
• Opaline silver-toned dial with matt blue inner bezel ring, white and silver-toned transfers
• Metallic black hours/minutes hands and hour-markers
• Arrow-tipped red central seconds hand
• Red hours/minutes counter hands
• Metallic black small seconds hand
Functions and displays:
• Central display of the hours, minutes and seconds
• Small seconds at 6 o’clock
• Date aperture between 4 and 5 o’clock
• Chronograph sweep-seconds hand with flyback function
• 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock, 12-hour counter at 9 o’clock
• Tachymeter
Strap and clasp:
• Black rubber strap (slick-tyre tread)
• Polished steel folding clasp
Ref. 168535-3003 – Limited edition of 100
JAMES PHANG – CONTRIBUTING WRITER
James Phang is a young watch enthusiast from Singapore and is a self-professed fanatic of independent brands for their unique avant-garde designs. Some of his favorite brands include MB&F, Urwerk, Romain Jerome, Sarpaneva, Peter Speake-Marin and Azimuth. His love for art extends out to all things handmade, and he has made it his personal mission to find the best handmade straps and buckles worldwide for his humble collection. Read his articles here.
