At Rétromobile Paris, the presence of a Zagato-bodied 1930s Alfa Romeo 6C and the new Capricorn 01 Zagato on Chopard’s lavish stand was a strong clue that something new was coming: and so it proved, with the launch of its third collaboration with Italian coachbuilding house Zagato.
As automotive-themed watches go, this is quite the marriage. Chopard co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele is known for his classic car passion and his company has been associated with the Mille Miglia since 1988. Indeed, anyone who’s finished the event will have been presented with one of its iconic Mille Miglia edition watches.
Its partnerships with Zagato began when Scheufele met Andrea Zagato, president of the company that was formed in 1919 by his great-grandfather Ugo Zagato. Where did they meet? On the Mille Miglia of course! This led to their first collaboration, the 2013 Mille Miglia Zagato Chronograph timepiece, which was followed in 2019 by the Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph Zagato 100th Anniversary Edition, commemorating the coachbuilder’s founding date.
The new 19-piece third limited edition Zagato Lab One Concept timepiece references the coachbuilder’s founding date of April 19, 1919. It was unveiled by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and Zagato’s Marcel Yoshida at Rétromobile, and is the most radical and arguably the most appropriate to Zagato so far. Its design was led by Zagato chief designer Norihiko Harada, who we talked to at the show.
“There’s a Zagato DNA in it, in the lightness of it,” he explained. “If we go back to the 1950s or ’60s, sport racing cars would have a tubular chassis and a thin aluminium body. And imagine, if you open the bonnet of a 1950s race car, you’ll see the engine and transmission surrounded by the tubular frame – so that was the basic inspiration for this watch – and the movement [of the watch] is inspired by the engine.”
As Harada says, the Zagato Lab One Concept is ultra-light, at just 43.20 grams including the strap (36.5 grams without). This makes it the lightest watch ever created by Chopard in titanium. You can see the tubular construction around the movement that he describes, and there are other unusual features such as the Instead of the tubular open loops rather than traditional lugs holding the strap, ensuring that the watch sits perfectly on the wrist.
The crown on the side of the case is derived from automotive differential gears and personalised with an engraved steering wheel that has become emblematic of Chopard’s Classic Racing timepieces. The dial is adorned with Zagato’s famous ‘Z’ motif, featuring chamfers enhanced by a rhodium-plated finish, and the rhodium-plated Chopard and Zagato logos are displayed in positive relief. The watch face is topped by a ‘glass box’ sapphire crystal fitted flush with the caseband.
The watch is powered by the proven L.U.C 04.04-L movement and features chronometer precision and unique finishes, all executed in titanium. The 42 mm diameter case along with the movement bridges and mainplate are made from ceramicised titanium, which has shock and scratch resistance comparable to that of ceramic.
We’ll leave the last word to Karl-Friedrich Scheufele: “The third opus of our collaboration with Zagato represents the shared values of our family businesses: bold design in the service of technical performance, a perpetual quest for precision and a passion for motor racing.”
For more on the Zagato Lab One Concept, visit the Chopard website here.
