A noticeable trend in recent years has been watchmakers collaborating with manufacturers of other luxury products. We've had makers of yachts and private jets produce watches - but to be honest the idea sounded lame at conception and they haven't done so well - whereas cars and watches has been a zooming success.
We're not talking about any old cars either, unsurprisingly there's no market for a luxury Chevrolet watch. No, it's mainly European luxury sports cars, invariably British marques, that have led the way and this week we look at three of the most interesting collaborations.
First up we have the long established and successful pairing of Crewe-based Bentley and Swiss watchmaker Breitling from the equally glamorous village of Grenchen. Breitling for Bentley has become the watchmaker's ultra-luxury line and I'm sure you've seen the adverts with a thoroughly English David Beckham stepping out of a thoroughly English Bentley sporting a sort-of-but-not-really-at-all-but-lets-kind-of-convey-the-idea-of-a-half English watch.
At Baselworld this year, Breitling introduced a couple of new Breitling for Bentley watches, chief among them the GMT Light Body B04 (above left). The clues are all in the name: as well as featuring a second time zone, this watch also boasts a Breitling in-house B04 movement and, most intriguingly of all, the extremely lightweight titanium case and rubber strap, meaning you'll hardly notice this meaty monster on your wrist.
Of course, visually the watch takes up a lot of real estate with its 49mm-diameter case. There is a lovely machined bezel (inspired by the Bentley grill, don't you know) and all that dial space means Breitling can fill it with their trademark busy indications including the three sub-dials - quarter of a second chronograph, 30-minute and 12-hour totalisers. Other features include a date window, a Controle Officiel Suisse des Chronometres-certified chronometer, 100 metres of water resistance and an impressive 70 hours of power reserve. The Breitling for Bentley GMT Light Body B04 is priced at HK$111,740.