Best of Classics

For the first time ever, the “Best of Show” winner at this year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este was awarded the new winner’s watch by A. Lange & Söhne, a unique 1815 CHRONOGRAPH created especially for this occasion.

After a year-long hiatus, the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este once again attracted the world’s most exciting classic cars to Lake Como with its usual dedication to beauty, passion, and uniqueness. The highlights of the event include the presentation of a winner’s watch, donated by A. Lange & Söhne, to the owner of the “Best of Show” car. This year, for the first time, a special model of the 1815 CHRONOGRAPH was presented in recognition of the most stunning car entered in the long-standing competition. The unique white-gold timepiece with a solid pink-gold dial and a hand-engraved hinged cuvette was presented to the “Best of Show” winner Brian Ross by Lange CEO Wilhelm Schmid on 3 October 2021. His 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France was the favourite of both the expert panel and the public.

“The prize expresses our enthusiasm for the classic car as a work of art and our respect for its owner, who works hard to preserve a cultural asset by restoring and caring for it,” said Wilhelm Schmid when he presented the timepiece, which he considers a fitting counterpart to the award-winning vehicle: “Cars represent freedom and independence – watches symbolise the preciousness of time. That is why they hold equal fascination for us. In choosing the 1815 CHRONOGRAPH as the new winner’s watch, we were also guided by the historic link between motor sport and timekeeping.”