A watchmaker and a racing driver get into a Gullwing

The worlds of motorsport and timekeeping have been inseparable bedfellows for more than a century. While today’s races are timed to within thousandths of a second using complex computers, it was a very different story in the late 1920s. Back then, the notorious Mille Miglia – meaning 1,000 miles – reigned in the world of open-road racing, as drivers raced from Brescia to Rome and back again against the stopwatch. “It’s all about precision,” stresses former Formula One driver Jacky Ickx, sitting on the sill of Chopard co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele’s Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing.

The watchmaker and racing driver might seem an unlikely pair on paper but both are fixated by timekeeping: one has spent his life trying to beat the very clock the other has created. As you watch both Scheufele and Ickx glide around in their elegant Mercedes-Benz ahead of this year’s Mille Miglia event, it’s clear they’re compatible. This is their 15th time competing in 36 years of working together as part of Chopard’s sponsorship as the official timekeeper of the event.

For the duo, it’s the intoxicating mix of mesmerising scenery, classic cars and competition that has them returning to take on the Mille Miglia again and again. “As an event that celebrates motor racing and what it used to be like, there is nothing else out there,” says Ickx. “It will never exist again as a race, but it’s important to recognise that it’s about automotive culture. We should continue to celebrate this, as the Scheufele family do.”

Racing flat out was banned after the Mille Miglia in 1957, when Ferrari’s Alfonso de Portago and his co-driver crashed into spectators, killing nine and injuring many more. After a 20-year hiatus, the event was revived in 1977 as a regularity rally, open only to pre-1957 vehicles belonging to a car model that took part in at least one edition of the Mille Miglia beween 1927 and 1957. Drivers aim to get as close as possible to meeting the average time and speed requirements, over sections of the route.

“It was a race like no other,” says Ickx. “Stirling Moss and his co-driver Denis Jenkinson set the record in 1955 behind the wheel of the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR. It was unbelievable – they did it in 10 hours, seven minutes and 48 seconds with an average speed of nearly 100mph.” 

Jacky sat in the passenger seat and announced he was going to sit and look at the scenery

Ickx was only a boy when the Mille Miglia disaster happened, but the Belgian driver is familiar with the bravery required to race and has spent most of his career living through “the danger years”. “I wanted to be a gardener or a game keeper. That’s the mystery of destiny,” he laughs. Despite that, the Belgian won 24 Hours of Le Mans a record-breaking six times between 1969 and 1982, took eight wins and 25 podiums in F1, and has completed the Paris-Dakar Rally 13 times.

Scheufele was born the year after racing flat out in the Mille Miglia was banned and was only a boy when Ickx was starting his motorsport career. The pair met, somewhat predictably, at a car event at the notorious Nürburgring in Germany in 1988 – a racetrack Ickx still refers to as the “green hell” despite clocking up a number of victories there. “I wanted to get a discount on a watch…” jokes Ickx of their encounter, interrupting his friend as the duo lean on their Mercedes-Benz ahead of the event. Both are wearing Chopard’s Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph, made to celebrate the 2024 running. 

“No, it was actually an aftersales matter,” corrects Scheufele, rolling his eyes at Ickx’s attempt to derail the conversation. They were discussing an item of Chopard jewellery that Ickx had previously purchased, when Scheufele – then a young, aspiring driver – took the opportunity to ask Ickx for tips on how to improve his racing skills. 

“He drives very, very well, but I try to discourage people I like from racing,” admits Ickx, remembering the many friends he’s lost through his career. Nevertheless, the pair quickly found common ground. “There are similarities between the world of racing and making fine watches or jewellery,” explains Ickx. “They are both about precision and permanently going against the time.”

One year later, the pair took part in their first Mille Miglia, spending the five days driving together through Italy. “I remember Jacky arrived and immediately sat down in the passenger seat,” says Scheufele, still looking a little perplexed by the decision. “He announced he was going to sit and look at the scenery.” 

“It’s because he’s better than me,” says Ickx with a smile. “It’s usually no fun for me to be a passenger,” he explains, recounting a recent event where he was asked to be a passenger on a hot lap around the Nürburgring. “I said, ‘Here we have a problem.’ There is no reason for me to be driven by someone I don’t know – especially on the Nürburgring. I know it was some time ago but my results were fairly good there,” says the 79-year-old, with a glint in his eye. 

Ickx is more than happy to be a passenger in the company of Scheufele. After 36 years, the pair have an enviable friendship. “I trust him. In normal life and on the road. I am comfortable with him, so much so, I even fall asleep in the passenger seat,” says Ickx. “He’s driven prewar Bentleys and everything in-between. He has a real passion for what he does and when it becomes passion, it’s not work any more.”

There are occasional disagreements. Having been cooped up in a temperamental classic car regularly for three and a half decades, the pair are familiar with their differences. “Occasionally, he tries to take me away from my duty of keeping in line with the Mille Miglia,” reports Scheufele. “He says, ‘Come on, enjoy yourself – speed up and go ahead’, but we’re already 20 car numbers ahead of our position and we’ve passed everybody,” he says. Ickx just shrugs. “It’s not about speed on the Mille Miglia – it’s about precision,” justifies the watchmaker. 

The duo also find time to visit each other outside of classic motorsport events. “We used to always spend a week together in St Tropez, at Jacky’s place, but now they’re coming to our vineyard in the south-west of France,” says Scheufele.

“Yes, it’s payback time,” calls out Ickx, excitedly. Getting up, early in the morning, the pair frequently head out cycling together. “Jacky always used to wake me up at five in the morning in St Tropez to go cycling – we’d be gone two hours or more,” he says. 

With another Mille Miglia waiting, the pair hop into their Mercedes-Benz and make for the start line in downtown Brescia, Ickx calling on his driver to stop and idle every few metres so the Belgian can sign autographs for fans. “We’ve only been doing this for 36 years, so there’s a long way to go yet,” he says, still beaming with excitement and anticipation. For Ickx and Scheufele, both lost in the moment, time appears to stand still.