Mille Miglia is a bargain.

[gregers]

I've just had the A21j version of the Chopard MM via Josh's lightning inter-continental service. It is just about the cheapest, serious rep available and for the money it really is a great buy.

I've never seen the gen or the more expensive version (and quite probably never will) so I can't compare it directly to either of those, but on its own it stands as a pretty decent looking watch. The stainless steel case looks reassuringly solid, is well finished and generally gives it a look of quality. The markings are very bold and are possibly the most legible of just about any watch that I've seen. They contribute to what overall is a fairly simple, yet striking appearance.

I believe that the strap is somewhat slimmer than the gen but it is nevertheless pretty substantial at over 6mm thick. Its 'tyre' markings make it look distinctive and different and for me it wore very comfortably. There is a pretty complicated deployant buckle but in practice it worked well. I can even report that its timekeeping is better than any mechanical watch I have owned-it is, so far, dead accurate straight out the box. The one problem has been the quite astonishingly noisy rotor, but this has been completely silenced by the application of a dob of grease. In all, this is a great value watch.

[pobiga]

I've just had the A21j version of the Chopard MM via Josh's lightning inter-continental service. It is just about the cheapest, serious rep available and for the money it really is a great buy.

I've never seen the gen or the more expensive version (and quite probably never will) so I can't compare it directly to either of those, but on its own it stands as a pretty decent looking watch. The stainless steel case looks reassuringly solid, is well finished and generally gives it a look of quality. The markings are very bold and are possibly the most legible of just about any watch that I've seen. They contribute to what overall is a fairly simple, yet striking appearance.

I believe that the strap is somewhat slimmer than the gen but it is nevertheless pretty substantial at over 6mm thick. Its 'tyre' markings make it look distinctive and different and for me it wore very comfortably. There is a pretty complicated deployant buckle but in practice it worked well. I can even report that its timekeeping is better than any mechanical watch I have owned-it is, so far, dead accurate straight out the box. The one problem has been the quite astonishingly noisy rotor, but this has been completely silenced by the application of a dob of grease. In all, this is a great value watch.

Hi Gregers,

I also like this watch but I need one info from you.

Could you please check and tell me what is the word engraved on the crown?

It is "1000 MIGLIA" or "1000 AILGIM"??

Many thanks for your help and enjoy your new toy.

[FasTTaP]

U opened the watch case to grease the rotor???

[pobiga]

U opened the watch case to grease the rotor???

I'm VERY SORRY!!!

I mean the word engraved on the CROWN and not on the bezel!!

[gran]

U opened the watch case to grease the rotor???

Yes! It looks like he used a "dob of grease"

[Pix]

This crown issue is probably what prevents me to buy the thing. I'm thinking about it every day I see these cheap prices thrown at my face (I mean these 78 dollars !!) The more expensive version is better from this point of view, but is this worth a price difference of more than 200 bucks ??

Maybe the right solution consists in polishing the crown, to have the wrong markings disappear. But is the crown made of 100% SS ?

[gregers]

Hi Gregers,

I also like this watch but I need one info from you.

Could you please check and tell me what is the word engraved on the crown?

It is "1000 MIGLIA" or "1000 AILGIM"??

Many thanks for your help and enjoy your new toy.

It's 1000 AILGIM. I presume that this is a bad thing to the cognoscenti, but I hadn't actually noticed that there were any markings on the crown. I needed a magnifying glass to detect what it said so for me this defect wouldn't be a deal breaker.

[gregers]

Yes! It looks like he used a "dob of grease"

Metaphorically speaking.

I only used a grease gun because I didn't have any left over lard to hand. Actually, there was an informative thread quite recently on how to do this simple fix properly.

[TWP]

U opened the watch case to grease the rotor???

These watches come with an unusually load rotor. There are two ways you can correct this noise, yes it is load you can hear it making revolutions and moving on your wrist, put a gasket into the case and grease the rotor. An effective an cheap means to silence this watch.

[gregers]

You are right about it being loud, mine was loud enough to hear me coming. It made a metallic rattling sound a bit like a charm bracelet and was effectively unuseable in that condition. Even if the 'fix' had gummed up the works (and I suppose it still might) I wouldn't have been much worse off, and would have just replaced it with an inexpensive Miyota movement.