What Makes It Special
- Chopard’s Racing collection is a four-piece eyewear line — three sunglasses and one optical frame — that translates the design language of the Mille Miglia Classic Racing chronographs into wearable accessories for the first time, fitted throughout with Zeiss performance lenses and titanium temple inserts.
- Flagship model SCHM39, developed with eyewear partner De Rigo, expresses what the Maison calls “dynamic elegance” rooted in Chopard‘s Classic Racing style language.
- Three colourways — Charcoal, Dusty Rose, and Cognac Brown — address distinct occasions, from the cockpit to the summer terrace.
- The collection is available now at chopard.com and Chopard boutiques worldwide.
Design & Construction
The frames draw their proportions and rigour directly from nearly four decades of Mille Miglia Classic Racing chronographs — the watches Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s teams have worn at the wheel since 1988. Clean, uncluttered lines govern the silhouette. An essential bridge design and ergonomic nose pads distribute the frame’s already modest mass evenly, producing sunglasses comfortable enough for a full day’s driving and light enough for an evening’s wearing.
Titanium temple inserts anchor the collection’s technical credentials. The material appears here for the same reasons it appears in engine components and race-car chassis: exceptional strength, minimal weight, and resistance to corrosion. This is not decorative engineering. It is a direct material reference to the mechanical culture the collection celebrates.
Three Colourways, Three Registers
Each of the three colourways operates as a distinct proposition. Charcoal is the most formally restrained: dark, authoritative, and equally at home against a grey suit or the cockpit of a vintage sports car on an overcast Lombardy morning. It is the choice of the driver who prefers to let the car do the talking.
Dusty Rose is the collection’s most unexpected shade. A warm, muted pink softens the racing geometry without sacrificing precision, and reads most naturally at a Riviera lunch or on a Mediterranean terrace with the afternoon light warming the piazza. Cognac Brown occupies the amber-toned middle ground: it recalls the tan leather interiors of the 1950s sports cars that first raced the Mille Miglia route, while sitting comfortably within a modern summer wardrobe.
Heritage & Lineage
The Mille Miglia was first run in 1927 as an open-road endurance race covering approximately 1,600 kilometres from Brescia to Rome and back. It ran annually until 1957, when a series of fatal accidents ended the competitive era. Revived in 1977 as a classic car rally, the event now draws approximately 400 pre-1957 vintage sports cars — Alfa Romeo 6C 1750s to Ferrari 250 GTs — through the streets of Brescia, Parma, Bologna, Florence, Siena, and Rome. Today it is widely regarded as the world’s most beautiful car race.
Chopard’s involvement began when Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele drove the route personally in 1988 and committed the Swiss Maison to serving as official timekeeper. His personal passion for classic cars is the founding impulse behind both the Mille Miglia Classic Racing chronographs and, now, the Racing sunglasses. As Scheufele has stated, the Mille Miglia is not a sponsorship for Chopard — it is a personal commitment, expressed through decades of driving, designing, and celebrating the spirit of the open road.
The Collection in Context
Chopard is not the first luxury Maison to extend its identity into eyewear, but few do so with this degree of source coherence. The Racing collection does not borrow racing aesthetics loosely. Every functional choice — Zeiss optics, titanium inserts, minimal weight — maps directly onto the same priorities that governed the watch collection. The Zagato Lab One Concept demonstrated Chopard’s appetite for design crossovers that respect engineering logic. The Racing sunglasses confirm that appetite is consistent.
For GCC clients who have followed the Mille Miglia chronograph series across its annual editions, the eyewear represents a natural complement to a collection already established on the wrist. Three colourways ensure broad wearability across the region’s social calendar — from the formality of a business occasion to the openness of a summer escape. Available at chopard.com and at Chopard boutiques worldwide.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What lenses do the Chopard Racing sunglasses use?
Every model in the Chopard Racing collection is fitted with Zeiss performance lenses. Zeiss is the German optical manufacturer whose lens technology has set the global benchmark for clarity, UV protection, and visual precision for over a century.
How many models are in the Chopard Racing eyewear collection?
The collection comprises three sunglasses and one optical frame. The flagship model is the SCHM39, described by Chopard's eyewear partner De Rigo as expressing dynamic elegance and a contemporary reinterpretation of Chopard's Classic Racing style.
What colourways are available in the Chopard Racing sunglasses?
The collection is offered in three colourways: Charcoal, Dusty Rose, and Cognac Brown. Each is calibrated for a different context, from formal driving occasions to summer-leisure settings.
Where can I buy Chopard Racing sunglasses?
The Chopard Racing sunglasses are available at chopard.com and at Chopard boutiques worldwide.
What is the connection between Chopard and the Mille Miglia?
Chopard has served as the official timekeeper of the Mille Miglia since 1988, when Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele first drove the route himself. The partnership has produced an annual Mille Miglia Classic Racing chronograph each year since, and the new Racing sunglasses extend that design vocabulary into eyewear for the first time.
