Chopard and The Amelia 2022

As a long-standing supporter of the world of classic cars and motorsports, Swiss Watch and Jewelry Maison Chopard proudly announces that it will serve as the Official Timekeeper of The Amelia 2022. Formerly known as the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, this year marks Chopard’s 4th year partnering with the annual charitable car event which will take place from March 3rd to 6th at The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island and The Golf Club of Amelia in Florida. In addition to showcasing timepieces from signature collections such as the racing inspired Mille Miglia collection, Chopard will take the occasion to host the pre-launch of Aaron Sigmond’s new hardcover lifestyle book, DRIVE TIME DELUXE EDITION: Watches Inspired by Automobiles, Motorcycles, and Racing of which Chopard serves as patron.

Recently renamed The Amelia, the iconic multi-day automotive experience, first founded in 1996 by Bill Warner, was acquired in 2021 by automotive enthusiast brand Hagerty, adding to their expansive portfolio of premiere automotive events. Chopard will be on hand to celebrate the 27th edition of this four-day affair that will be attended by thousands of car enthusiasts from all over the world. Under Hagerty, The Amelia has been reimagined for a new generation. In addition to the traditional Saturday evening Gala and Sunday’s concours featuring historically significant vehicles, an all-new Cars & Community suite of events will be presented by Griot’s Garage on Saturday – which includes the well-established and renamed Cars & Caffeine, a 1980s and ’90s-focused RADwood display, the fun and low-brow Concours d’Lemons, and The Amelia’s first-ever Kids Zone. A portion of every Cars & Community ticket sold will support local and national charitable partners.

Chopard’s close ties to the world of cars and automotive racing stem from a now-inseparable shared history. The initial connection was born from a personal passion for classic cars nurtured by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Chopard Co-President. Under his leadership, Chopard became the world partner and official timekeeper of the Italian 1000 Miglia race in 1988, and one of the first Maisons to associate its name with the automobile world.

DRIVE TIME DELUXE EDITION: Watches Inspired by Automobiles,
Motorcycles, and Racing by Aaron Sigmond

In March 2022, friend of Chopard, award-winning publisher, editor and author, Aaron Sigmond will release his new watch lifestyle book DRIVE TIME Deluxe Edition: Watches Inspired by Automobiles, Motorcycles, and Racing, the fifth and final volume of the ground-breaking horological series, RIZZOLI TIMEPIECE TRILOGY. Chopard will again serve a patron of this third edition of DRIVE TIME, published by Rizzoli, that follows two previous editions that were released in 2016 and 2018 – which have become one of the most enduring and acclaimed watch books for collectors. Having co-hosted launches of the previous editions of DRIVE TIME including an evening at the Marconi Automotive Museum with TV host and comedian Jay Leno in 2016, Chopard will host a pre-launch of this new astounding work with Mr. Sigmond at The Amelia.

Recognizing Sigmond’s devoted passion for mechanical watches and motorsports, Chopard has supported this ambitious project since 2014, which has resulted in a series of comprehensive masterworks. Along with a dedicated chapter that tells the story of the Maison’s close ties to the world of car racing and the watches inspired by it, Chopard Mille Miglia timepieces have graced the dust jacket cover of every edition of DRIVE TIME – with this final edition featuring a stainless steel black dialed Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph.

After the release of the expanded edition in 2018, DRIVE TIME was followed by two sequels: SEA TIME: Watches Inspired by Sailing, Yachting, and Diving (2019), and AIR TIME: Watches Inspired by Aviation, Aeronautics, and Pilots (2021)—collectively known as the RIZZOLI TIMEPIECE TRILOGY— have come to personify a new era of watch-related books released during the mechanical-watch renaissance of recent years.

The limited-production DRIVE TIME Deluxe Edition (DT DLX) is simultaneously an anthology of the two previous DRIVE TIME editions and a comprehensively updated monograph. The magnificent DT DLX is 304 pages and comes housed in a handsome foil-stamped linen slipcase featuring a silhouette of a Chopard Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph as well.

This third and final edition features a foreword by Jay Leno, essays by Mark Bernardo, Elvis Mitchell and Jack Forster, original and principal photographer by Michael Alan Ross, a new afterword by actor and auto racer Patrick Dempsey, as well as an expanded, in-depth introductory chapter destined to be the definitive narrative on the subject of motorcars, motorsports, motorcycles, and chronographs — a chapter that includes a previously unpublished array of the collages that have come to define the unique art direction of the Rizzoli Timepiece Trilogy.