Bentley and Breitling have an alliance that has been bringing luxury cars and luxury watches together for years. A range of handmade Swiss watches from the only watchmaker ever trusted to build instruments for inclusion in a Bentley dashboard.
In 2002, Bentley launched the Continental GT, then the most powerful Bentley ever built. Breitling lent the revolutionary new luxury car an extra personal touch, by participating in the design of the technical instruments and, importantly, creating the onboard clock. It was the first time that Bentley had entrusted this task to anyone other than its own craftsmen.
Although this was a first, the art of handmade British car making and the tradition of great Swiss watchmaking have much in common. Indeed, it could be said that Breitling’s timepieces embody the same sense of beauty in motion as Bentley’s cars. From the Bentley factory in Crewe to the Breitling Chronométrie in La Chaux-de-Fonds, there stretches an invisible connection; a common appreciation of mechanical perfection.
A pioneer in the field of chronographs and technical watches, Breitling belongs to an exclusive circle of watchmakers with their own mechanical movement, developed and manufactured exclusively under its own roof. Breitling engineers have created several unique in-house mechanisms, including ultra-practical second timezone and world-time systems entirely adjustable via the crown, and a ‘30-second chronograph’ mechanism stemming from a 1926 Breitling patent.
Chronometer-certified by the COSC (Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute), all Breitling for Bentley watches stem from a carefully balanced association of hand and machine, of tradition and innovation. Every curve, every straight line, every edge and every surface – all are meticulously fashioned with a concern for two great traditions: that of handcrafting luxury Swiss watches and that of handcrafting luxury British cars.
