Inspired by the Mille Miglia, the Italian road race that ran from 1927 to 1957, the Miglia is the fullest aviator we make. What it is built from, how it is finished, and the race behind the name. Reading time: 3'
The Miglia is our fullest aviator. Thicker acetate, a taller lens, more presence on the face than anything else we make.
The frame
Dark tortoiseshell cellulose acetate, cut from cured sheet. The brow runs straight and heavy across the top, 9mm at the border, with two rivets set into each side. A shallow base curve keeps the front flat across the face.
The lenses are G15, the green-grey tint that lets around fifteen percent of the light through and leaves colour almost untouched. CR-39, category 3, full UV400. Five-barrel stainless steel hinges. Tumbled and polished by hand.
31 grams. 57-17-142.
The name
The Mille Miglia ran from 1927 to 1957. Brescia to Rome and back, a thousand miles, with the roads closed for the day and the cars going through the middle of towns. People watched from doorways and balconies.
Moss and Jenkinson, Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. Mille Miglia, 1955.
In 1955 Stirling Moss won it in a Mercedes 300 SLR, with Denis Jenkinson in the passenger seat reading him the route from a roll of paper they had put together over months of practice runs. Ten hours and seven minutes for the thousand miles. 157 km/h average.
Anyone who has driven long distances in Italy knows what those hours involve. Sun low in front of you leaving Brescia. Glare off the Adriatic by mid morning. The Futa pass in and out of shadow. The light changes all day and your eyes do the work.
The tortoiseshell runs through the whole sheet, so the pattern on the temple has the same depth as the front. No two frames carry exactly the same one.
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STRADA: Miglia Dark tortoiseshell. G15. 31 grams. |
The same G15 lens sits on the Oliver, in the Endurance collection. If you want to know why we chose it, or how the acetate is made, both are in The Archive.
