Since 2002, the Geneva watchmaker Chopard has served as sponsor and official timekeeper of the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, the biennial race that brings vintage Formula One and Grand Prix cars back onto the streets of the Principality. The partnership is unusual among luxury sponsorships in that it grew out of a genuine hobby rather than a marketing brief.
Chopard's co-president, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, is himself an annual competitor in the race, driving a Porsche 550 Spyder RS, and the Scheufele family's broader passion for classic cars is what the house credits as the partnership's real foundation. That personal connection is part of why the relationship has lasted more than two decades in an industry where sponsorships routinely turn over every few years.
The race itself draws more than 200 drivers from 19 countries, competing in cars built between 1947 and 1978 across seven separate categories defined by the organisers. Chopard marks each edition with two limited edition timepieces, released to coincide with the race and often referencing details from the specific cars or years being honoured that year.
The pairing works because both sides are, at bottom, selling the same idea: mechanical objects built to a standard that ages well rather than dates. A sixty year old Grand Prix car and a mechanical watch movement are both, in their own way, arguments that some kinds of engineering do not need to be replaced every few years to remain worth admiring.