Cars and watches have been the most favorite toys of men since the very beginning of 20th century. Both objects adorn the dreams of men from all levels of income and each turns into an object of desire. In fact, men’s passion for mechanics is likely to lie in the basis of this interest. Most of us, as a child, have had interest in mechanical gadgets and wanted to dismantle and tinker with them; sometimes it was a mechanical toy, sometimes a table clock or a bicycle. At this point, I have to say that, although cars and watches are of interest to women also, the super sports or luxury cars we shall talk about here and the watches produced for them in brand collaboration are put on the market with the marketing strategies aiming at men; at least I couldn’t find out, in my researches till now, a “car watch” manufactured for women.
This being the case, can combining two objects together become a wise idea? Why not? Until now, a great many watchmaking companies have manufactured watches for many super sports and luxury car brands. These watches sometimes bore the name and logo of the brand on their dials, sometimes held details from the design philosophy of the automobile brand, and sometimes, as in the case of Richard Mille RM 11-03 McLaren Automatic Flyback Chronograph which was an outcome of Richard Mille and McLaren collaboration, reflected a cooperation at the level of material development and DNA sharing. Among those “car watches”, there were some that showed a roaring success and, so to speak, some that proved to be a complete fiasco. Watch lovers know very well which is which. Here I just want, completely subjectively, to mention a few examples that are relatively up to date.
With your permission, I want to begin with the Richard Mille x McLaren watch, one of those I like most and find most meaningful.
Richard Mille RM 11-03 McLaren Automatic Flyback Chronograph
Launched at the 88th Geneva Motor Show in 2018, RM 11-03 McLaren Flyback Chronograph was produced in a limited edition of 500 pieces. The reference code of the movement fitted with the watch was RMAC3. The skeletonised automatic movement has a white gold, variable-geometry, counter-clockwise rotor and the features of hours, minutes, seconds, flyback chronograph, 60-minutes countdown timer at 9 o’clock, 12-hour display, and oversized day and month indicators.
Taking inspiration from the fabulous sports car McLaren 720S’s headlights as its chronograph pushers and rims as its crown, the model bears the McLaren logo applied to the bezel at 6 and 12 o’clock with a design echoing the air-intake snorkel of McLaren F1.
The case materials employed in the watch are exclusive too; it is crafted by impregnating carbon TPT with orange quartz TPT. And TPT stands for Thin Ply Technology, which is a method of layering carbon fibre and was introduced by Richard Mille in 2013. Whereas the darker colours are of carbon fibre, the magma orange is of silica fibre; it is needless to say here, how iconic is the orange for McLaren.
If we talk about the technical features;
The 68 jewels movement offers a power reserve of 55 hours, running with a frequency of 4 Hz (28.800VPH). It has a Glucydur balance, an Incablock shock protection, a thickness of 9mm, and dimensions of 30.25mm x 28.45mm.
As I mentioned above, the case with carbon material has dimensions of 49.94mm x 44.50mm x 16.23mm. The watch comes with a rubber strap and, for those who are eager, is water resistant up to 50 meters.
RM 11-03 McLaren Flyback Chronograph was made available, initially to McLaren automobiles clients, with a price of $191,500 plus taxes. Today, it is almost impossible to buy both the car and the watch.
Roger Dubuis The Excalibur Huracàn Performante Limited Edition
The collaboration of Swiss watchmaker Roger Dubuis and Italian sports car legend Lamborghini sounds great, doesn’t it? Roger Dubuis has produced watches for Aventador and Huracàn models. The watch I am going to talk about is the Huracàn Performante model, which was launched at SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) in 2019 and made available exclusively at Roger Dubuis boutiques with a limited edition of 88 pieces.
Fitted with RD630 automatic calibre and offering a power reserve of 60 hours, the RDDBEX0792 reference watch was developed in partnership with Lamborghini Squadra Corse. The calibre has a 120 angle balance escapement and a rim-like rotor. The bridge on the upper part of the calibre is made with a design resembling the strut bar of the Lamborghini Huracàn V10 super sports car. The skeletonised dial is equipped with 18K black PVD coated gold hands.
DLC coated titanium case has a diameter of 45mm and a water resistance of 50m. The double-sided strap, one of the most special parts of the watch, has a black rubber base and a grey Alcantara® inlay with a yellow stitching. The Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R pattern is crafted at the inner side of the strap. Having a quick release system also, the strap is made of titanium and has an adjustable buckle.
And the price of the watch is about $50,250 plus taxes.
Grand Seiko Nissan GT-R
Grand Seiko celebrates 20th anniversary of Spring Drive and 50th of Nissan GT-R with Spring Drive Chronograph (SBGC229)
Grand Seiko and Nissan GT-R realized a crazy partnership in 2018 and produced a $200,000 Grand Seiko for the million-dollar Italdesign GT-R 50 concept. The Grand Seiko, available at that time, stood out with its price higher than that of a standard GT-R. Luckily, the watch I am going to mention now is not as expensive as a GT-R and moreover, in my opinion, it is more elegant. First of all, the blue colour of the watch is a reflection of the Skyline GT-R’s iconic Bayside Blue.
While the watch’s bezel and its enormous case, measuring 46.4mm wide and 16.2mm thick, are made of this fine blue ceramic, the inner case, the crown, and the pushers are produced of lightweight titanium. The caseback is crafted, like its top, from sapphire crystal. The oscillating weight over the rotor is in the shape of the GT-R logo and of 18K yellow gold.
As it is suggested by its name, fitted with the spring drive calibre 9R96 which offers a power reserve of 72 hours and reportedly works with a deviation of -/+10 seconds per month, the watch features 10 bar water resistance, date, chronograph, power reserve, dual time and stopwatch functions.
Produced in a limited edition of 200 pieces and available from June 2019, the watch has a price tag of €21,600 plus taxes.
Bvlgari Octo Maserati Gransport & GranLusso
Although it is regarded just as a jewellery brand by some purists, I have always felt something for BVLGARI watches. Just like the Maserati Ghibli Coupe, which I saw during the university years, and tried to naively challenge with my BMW 3.20i M Tech I owned at the time, and saw plenty of its exhausts (because it was always ahead of me). It was engraved on my mind with its angular design, the writing font of the Maserati brand on the rear trunk lid, its sound and incredible performance.
As everyone knows at the time, the Octo collection is a design by the legendary watch designer Gerald Genta, who also designed the horological icons such as Omega Constellation (1959), Audemars Piguet Royal Oak (1970), IWC Ingenieur (1976), Patek Philippe Nautilus (1976) and Cartier’s Pasha de Cartier (1985).
After all these complimentary words about Maserati and Bvlgari Octo, let me come to the point:
Bvlgari Octo Maserati Gransport & GranLusso
The two Italian brands have also collaborated previously, and two chronograph models were put on the market. The watches I am going to mention here are Octo Gransport and Granlusso, which were introduced and exhibited together with Maserati automobiles at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show.
Whereas both watches have Octo cases of 41.5mm, the Gransport is crafted from black DLC coated steel and the Granlusso from 18K pink gold.
The watches are powered by an in-house BVL 262 automatic movement which is decorated with Côtes de Genève and the plate and bridges of which are manufactured with a high level craftsmanship. Operating at a frequency of 28.800VPH, the engine offers a power reserve of 42 hours. The main features of the watch are the jumping hours display at 3 o’clock side and the retrograde minutes display covering almost the remaining part of the dial.
While the Octo Gransport has a black rubberized dial, the Granlusso, with its 18K pink gold case, has an anthracite grey dial with a sunburst effect. Both dials bear the Maserati’s Trident logo. Since the retrograde minutes design is a reference to Maserati’s rev counter, the font used is the same with that of Maserati’s rev counter. The biggest difference between the two dials is, apart from the colour, that while the Gransport has blue lines like the red lines used in rev counters, the Granlusso lacks such a detail.
The watches are water resistant to 100m. The Gransport is priced at $12,800 (tax excl.) and the Granlusso has a price tag of $30,700 (tax excl.). On the website of Bvlgari, it is stated that the two watches are in a limited edition, it does not mention the pieces they are limited to.
Breitling Premier B-01 Chronograph Bentley Centenary Limited Edition
As the British luxury automobile manufacturer Bentley, which produced its first car in 1919, celebrates its centennial year, Breitling, its partner since 2003, participates in the celebrations with a limited edition watch.
When we look at the watch in the face, the first things catching our eyes are the elm burl dial referring to the dashboard of the 1929 model Bentley and the brown leather strap with its pattern and stitches reminiscent of Bentley’s luxury seat upholstery. Yet, when you look at it in the face, there is no detail such as an inscription or a logo implying that the watch is manufactured for Bentley. However, when we rotate the watch sideways, things are changing and on the left-hand side, we see a plate with ‘Bentley’ inscription is screwed to the case.
Having two versions, one with a limited edition of 1000 pieces and a stainless steel case, and the other with a limited edition of 200 pieces and an 18K pink gold case, the watch is fitted with a manufacture B-01 calibre automatic chronograph. The engine, beating at a frequency of 28.800VPH, has a power reserve of about 70 hours.
And it is incorporated into a case of 42m diameter and 1,63mm thickness. It has a sapphire crystal in the face, double sides of which is coated with a non-reflective material, and the caseback is also produced of sapphire crystal. Having neither a screw-lock crown nor screw-lock chronograph pushers, the watches are announced to have a water resistance of 100m.
Last but not least, the prices are set as $10,200 (taxes excl.) for the 1000 pieces limited steel version with leather strap and $28.000 (taxes excl.) for the 200 pieces limited pink gold version.
PS: I can’t help saying that Premier B-01 Chronograph has another nice-looking version named Bentley British Racing Green, which is unlimited and available at $8.500 (taxes excl.).
Of course, in the world of horology, there have been so many watch-car pairings, and shall be in the future too. I think the correct word in the collaboration of car and watch brands must be ‘synergy’. I talked about the models we have chosen from among the collaborations with, somewhat, high synergy. At the end, all of them are Toyz For Boyz!
