Chopard Jacky Ickx Edition V - "For Monsieur Le Mans"
Chopard add to their collection of chronographs with one which is capable of timing a 24 hour event, the Chopard Jacky Ickx Edition V - named and designed in honour of the legendary endurance racer, who won the Le Mans 24-Hour event six times.
There are many ways to de-stress and switch off from a high powered day job. Many take to the fairway finding solace in their swing, others find there is nothing like a jog in the park ..... Chopard's Karl-Friedrich Scheufele likes to blow away the corporate cobwebs competing in classic car rally events in a vintage Merc 300 SL Gull-Wing with his good mate Jacky Ickx by his side in the role of co-driver. What an agreeable and convenient arrangement it must be to have such a talented family friend as a brand ambassador. Each time a new Jacky Ickx watch is undergoing the design process how tempting it must be to turn the watch chit-chat to engines, how many "business meetings" end up with a sneaky drive in whatever happens to be in the garage tuned up and ready to go.
Chopard make well designed chronograph timers - clean dials, quality case construction, precision calibres. The Jacky Ickx Edition V upholds these standards. The stainless steel case measures 42.4mm across with "piston head" pushers on the case side. On the black dial are silver-toned hour and minute counters with a red arrow-tipped central sweep seconds hand. At 3 o'clock is a black small seconds counter, with 60 minute counter at 9 o'clock and the 24-hour counter at 6 o'clock.
Even a busy sports timer's dial deserves a date window and Chopard always to manage to feature a highly usable and readable indication, even if this means squeezing it between two hour markers, or magnifying a diminutive display with a "bubble" - not so for this one, enough dial space beneath the logo ensures a nicely proportioned aperture. The bezel is more discreet than some Chopard Chronographs available, resulting in a more refined timepiece, and the tachometric scale completes the displays on the front. The solid caseback is enscribed with Jacky Ickx's signature and references to his 6 24-Hour Le Mans victories.
Inside the COSC certified movement has 40 hours of power reserve and water resistance is to 50m. Of note is the Fly-back (Retour en vol) - a function which makes immediate reuse of the chronograph hand possible after resetting the hands to zero by pressing once on the push piece rather than the three separate movements of stopping, resetting to zero and restarting the hand, perfect for quick succession timing.
The Chopard Jacky Ickx Edition V is available in two versions, the stainless steel model shown, of which 2000 pieces will be made and a 500 piece 18-carat rose gold case edition. Both are presented on a black alligator leather strap, or the very racy Dunlop tyre tread rubber strap.
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More information at Chopard.com