Monday, October 10, 2011

Chopard Monaco Historique Time Attack MF Watch Review

I love this watch, but not everyone will. Some people might not get it - but the beauty is crystal clear to me. This watch was announced last year and was a curious release for Chopard. Part of the larger Mille Miglia collection, this watch combines Chopard sexiness with Superquartz geekiness - something that is really hard to find. This Chopard Monaco Historique Time Attack MF watch is one of two timepieces made for the car race in Monaco that is officially named the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique. The other one is an automatic model with a 7750 called the Monaco Historique Chronograph (of which there is a picture here). Each share the slick black, orange, and polished steel color scheme, but the Time Attack MF is a much more unique model (even though the mechanical chronograph is a nice model as well). These watches aren't limited edition models per se, but aren't the types to be produced for very long. What really drew me to the watch was the fact that it had a super reliable and accurate high-end thermocompensated (also known as "thermoline") ETA quartz movement, but didn't look like a tool watch. These are the same movements that Breitling (and a few other brands) use in their COSC Chronometer certified quartz watches. Getting a Chronometer certification for a quartz movement isn't at all the same as for a mechanical movement. While your standard drug store quartz watch will be accurate to within about 15 seconds a month, a Superquartz will be accurate to within about 10 seconds a year. They are also a lot more expensive and better made that standard quartz movements. The "MF" part of the watch name stands for multi-function. The movement does more than tell the time, but has your standard bevy of multi-function quartz features such as a chronograph, 2 alarms, calendar, UTC (GMT) time, and second timezone... among a few other features including being back-lit. This is all done via a small negative LCD display on the dial. If you like, you can "blank" out the LCD screen to make it look as though it is not there.

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