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Many enthusiasts who love premium vintage automobiles are also passionate about high-end watches. That synergy has inspired watchmakers to sponsor major classic car shows. It’s almost not a concours if there’s no watch brand involved.
New alliances are being forged every year. Here’s a rundown of upcoming events with a timepiece connection.
Rolex at Pebble Beach
Rolex Datejust II
Rolex has been the official timepiece of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance since 1997. The concours features 200 of the world’s rarest automobiles and motorcycles on the 18th hole of the Pebble Beach fairway. They are judged for historical accuracy, style, and technical merit.
The 2023 event commemorates a century of BMW and the 50th anniversary of the Ford vs. Ferrari contest at Le Mans, with the GT40s emerging triumphant. This year’s concours takes place on August 20.
Entries in the concours are assessed for authenticity, beauty, and quality of restoration or preservation. The owner of the car awarded Best of Show gets the Pebble Beach Concours Trophy and also receives an exceptional Rolex timepiece.
While the Cosmograph Daytona is the Rolex most closely associated with motorsports, the winner of the 2022 Concours took home an elegant bi-color Rolex Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet.
The Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance, presented by Rolex since 2007, an 80-mile non-competitive drive, traces part of the 17-Mile Road Race that ran from 1950 to 1956. Other motor-related events sponsored by Rolex include Formula One (since 2013), Rolex 24 at Daytona, 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Chopard at Amelia Island
The luxury brand Chopard was purchased by Karl Scheufele III, a German goldsmith and watchmaker, in 1963. His son Karl-Friedrich, now co-director of the brand, shares his father’s love for car collecting.
Chopard sponsors the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, now under Hagerty ownership and known simply as The Amelia. Chopard is the concours’ official timekeeper. Chopard provided two Mille Miglia Classic Chronographs to The Amelia this year, and one was auctioned for $9,000, with the proceeds supporting the concours’ legacy nonprofit partners.
Chopard Mille Miglia
Chopard Mille Miglia watches, available on eBay, celebrate that historically significant race. The Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph is a new addition to the collection. It features bezels, crowns, pushers made from lucent steel, and a 40.5-millimeter case. The highly legible dial, with a “glass box” crystal, is available in colors inspired by the paint on classic cars.
The next Amelia event is from February 29 to March 3, 2024. Like Pebble, it’s held on a golf fairway, in this case, the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island resort. A famous race driver is honored yearly. In 2023, it was NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon.
A. Lange & Söhne and the Audrain Concours d’Elegance
The Swiss watchmaker has sponsored concours events worldwide, including the venerable and highly respected Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este near Italy’s Lake Como, where the winner this year took home a one-of-a-kind 1815 Chronograph in white gold.
A.Lange & Sohne 1815 Chronograph
A. Lange & Söhne’s first American event will be this year’s Audrain Newport Concours & Motor Week, held at The Breakers estate in Newport from September 27 to October 1.
The Breakers waterfront estate dates to 1895. The summer “cottage” was built in the Italian palazzo style for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, then one of the wealthiest men in America. Racing events were held very early in Newport’s history, and the first Vanderbilt Cup trophy was presented at a race on September 6, 1900.
Wilhelm Schmid, chief executive at A. Lange & Söhne, is a dedicated collector of vintage cars and owns, among others, an MGB roadster, a Frazer Nash Le Mans coupe, an AC Ace-Bristol, and a Porsche 911 2.0S. Schmid points out that watch aficionados and car collectors come from the same crowd. Concours events are about appreciating “craftsmanship and timelessness.”
A. Lange & Sohne watches have a history that goes back to 1845. Founder Adolph Lange not only became a distinguished watchmaker but served two decades as mayor of Glashutte, Germany. The company had a long hiatus when the Soviets appropriated its resources after World War II. It was relaunched with a collection in 1994 under the leadership of Lange’s great-grandson, Walter. Since then, the company has won 150 horological prizes.
Richard Mille at Chantilly Arts and Elegance
(Photo: Lange Uhren GmbH)
The French invented the concours d’elegance in the 1920s. Events were held in Paris’ Bois de Boulogne, in some northern resort cities, and down south in the Riviera—until they were interrupted by the start of World War II.
Richard Mille Le Mans Classic
The French are back at it with the Chantilly Arts & Elegance, launched in 2014 in partnership with watchmaker Richard Mille, whose relationship with automakers and drivers is longstanding. Held in September at the 16th century Chateau Chantilly, the concours features one castle, three automotive contests, up to 800 cars, and 20,000 annual visitors.
Per Richard Mille, the event aims to bring back to life the era when car designers first amazed the public with their technical prowess and the sheer elegance of their designs. In those earlier events, high-speed vehicles from makers like Aston Martin, BMW, Bugatti, Citroën, Maserati, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, and Rolls-Royce were paired with fashion from designers such as Jean-Paul Gaultier, Yang Li, Thierry Mugler, and Paco Rabanne. Following their lead, the modern Chantilly concours also features fashion, art, horse riding exhibitions, children’s entertainment, and cuisine.
Patrick Peter, Chantilly’s host, said,
Our wish when launching Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille was to relaunch the original form of the competition but adapt it to the current times.
The Richard Mille brand was launched in 2001 with the RM 001 Tourbillon, part of a series of 17 watches. It was followed by the Tourbillon RM 002, an evolutionary model with a titanium movement baseplate and a function indicator with winding, neutral, and hand-setting positions.
Keeping up the automotive connection, Richard Mille launched the RM-72-01 Le Mans Classic, with just 150 to be made. It celebrates the historic 24-hour race’s 100th anniversary. According to the company, the watch “echoes the performance of the cars that compete during a double lap of the dial on the 13.626 kilometers of the Le Mans circuit.”
