Home » Fashion & Accessories » A Car (Porsche), a Timing Partner (Chopard), and a Victory (Nürburgring 2015)

A Car (Porsche), a Timing Partner (Chopard), and a Victory (Nürburgring 2015)

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A stupendous victory in the motor racing circuits is all about timing, precision and performance, such as the one involving Porsche and its timing partner Chopard. At the recently held 6 Hours of Nürburgring 2015 motor race in Germany on August, 30th 2015 Porsche Motorsport LMP1 teams pulled off a sensational victory when the two Porsche 919 Hybrid reached the first two positions at checkered flag. This victory is even more stupendous as it comes soon after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015 in France two months ago in June.

With the relatively short and twisty 5.137 kilometre long circuit at the 6 Hours of Nürburgring 2015 motor race,and the numerous classes going at different speeds, the race was action packed with thrilling lapping and overtaking manoeuvres. Mark Webber, an ambassador of Chopard, and his team mates won the six-hour race in temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius. Right behind them the sister Porsche 919 Hybrid of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb came second.

After the Porsche 919 Hybrid’s maiden victory at last year’s finale in Brazil and the recent one-two result at Le Mans in 2015, this is the third major success for Porsche and the prototype’s ground-breaking hybrid technology. Chopard is honored to be accompanying Porsche in their supremacy over 2015 motorsport manufacturer WEC championship.

For the second year, Chopard is the Official Timing Partner of Porsche Motorsport. Perfectly in line with the spirit of its Superfast watch collection, this prestigious partnership is an extension of Chopard’s longstanding commitment to automotive sports. In 2014, Chopard became “Official Timing Partner” of Porsche Motorsport for the German racing team’s grand comeback to endurance competition. That same year, to celebrate this exclusive partnership, Chopard launched a Superfast chronograph inspired by the Porsche 919 Hybrid competing in the World Endurance Championship LMP1 category.

This year at Le Mans, Chopard unveiled a new watch, the Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Jacky Ickx Edition, a 100-piece limited series dedicated to Jacky Ickx, a driver with an impressive track record and a longstanding ambassador of Chopard and Porsche. This model proudly bears the colours of the legendary champion and six-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Jacky Ickx Edition

While the Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Jacky Ickx Edition features the design codes of the German speed machine racing in the World Endurance Championship, its dial also displays the famous colours of the racing helmet worn by Jacky Ickx, multiple champion and close friend of Chopard Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele. This outstanding figure in the field of motor racing has a wide-ranging track record. His victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans earned him the famous nickname “Monsieur Le Mans”. In tribute to this exceptional driver, the dial of the Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Jacky Ickx Edition features an inner bezel ring and counters in dark blue dotted with white touches, the colours of the helmet worn by Jacky Ickx during his illustrious career. These contrasting shades stand out elegantly against a silver-toned dial echoing the metallic grey of the German manufacturer, while the dial stripes are reminiscent of the rear diffuser of the Porsche 919 Hybrid.

Jacky Ickx: a legendary driver

Jacky Ickx is one of the greatest 20th century drivers. After starting his career on two wheels, he went on to make a major mark on the history of motor racing. As a Formula 1 driver from 1967 to 1979, he took part in 114 Grand Prix and won his first victory at the French Grand Prix in 1968, at the age of 23. But Jacky Ickx is above all famous for his performances in the field of endurance races, notably at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a competition he won six times, including four times with Porsche. He held this record for many years. His most memorable victory is doubtless that of 1969. That year, the cars were lined up at an angle on one side of the track and all the drivers were preparing to rush to their speed machines and drive off. All, except one: Jacky Ickx. To protested against this type of start that he considered as dangerous and pointless within the context of a 24-hour race (with drivers hurtling off at dizzying speeds without bucklingtheir safety belts), the Belgian driver decided to walk to his GT40. He remembered only too well the accident suffered by Willy Mairesse the previous year when he was caught in a hydroplaning tyre spin on Les Hunaudières straight. Without the restraint of a safety belt, Willy had been thrown from his car and severely injured. At 2 pm on June 14th 1969, Ickx therefore strolled across the track of the 24 Hours race, as other drivers sprinted ahead in order to jump into their cockpits. The Belgian won the race by the smallest margin in its history: just 120 metres. This victory vividly demonstrated that this type of start was pointless in ensuring an exciting race. A page in the history of Le Mans was thus turned and the rules were modified the following year. Jacky Ickx, a driver with a strong character, thus risked losing an important race in order to help change the starting rules. This decidedly multi-faceted champion also finished first in the 1983 Paris-Dakar rally.

A sophisticated spirit and an exceptional ‘engine’

As the latest ambassador of the Superfast collection, the Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Jacky Ickx Edition carries a number of references to the world of competitive motor racing. Water-resistant to 100 metres and topped with a bezel bearing a tachymetric scale and secured by eight blackened screws, the 45 mm-diameter case houses a high-precision mechanism featuring decorations inspired by car engines. Fitted with a crown adorned with a black rubber-moulded steering-wheel motif, the grooved sides of the case evoke the cooling fins found on air-cooled racing engines – an exclusive finish echoed by the lines on the dial and the openwork movement bridges. Like an authentic high-powered racing car, the exceptional bodywork of the Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Jacky Ickx Edition houses an engine entirely developed, produced and assembled in Chopard’s Fleurier Ebauches workshops: Chopard Calibre 03.05-M. This mechanical self-winding chronograph with a flyback function can also lay claim to chronometer-worthy precision certified by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC). The back is engraved with the inscriptions “Official Timing Partner Porsche Motorsport” and “Jacky Ickx Limited Edition”. A black rubber strap with the smooth tread of slick racing tyres sets the perfect finishing touch to this watch symbolising Chopard’s wholehearted commitment to the world of racing.

Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Jacky Ickx Edition
Technical Details

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
• 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

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