- Exclusive new watch marks the unique 17-year partnership between Bentley and Breitling
- Limited to just 1,000 pieces, the Breitling Premier Bentley Mulliner timepiece shares its design values and sumptuous detailing with Bentley’s Continental GT Mulliner Convertible
- Close links between watch maker and car manufacturer are expressed in the ultimate collaboration of luxury and design excellence, showcasing Bentley and Breitling’s impeccable level of detail
(Crewe, 4th March 2020) To celebrate its extraordinary partnership with Bentley Motors, Breitling today reveals a special limited edition watch, the Breitling Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition. This exquisite new timepiece shares the inspiring values of Bentley’s design DNA as showcased in the pinnacle of luxury grand touring, the Bentley Continental GT Mulliner Convertible.
The new Breitling watch commemorates 17 years of collaboration – the longest-ever partnership between a watch brand and an automobile manufacturer – and focuses attention on Bentley’s Mulliner bespoke department which, since 1959, has crafted the world’s leading luxury car maker’s most unique tailor-made models.
Bentley’s partnership with Breitling can be traced back to 2002, when the iconic automotive brand was designing its legendary Continental GT. Bentley commissioned Breitling to create an onboard clock that would reflect the unparalleled luxury, peerless quality, and extraordinary performance of the new grand tourer, which was debuted in 2003. The values that have always defined the partnership between the two world-leading brands are once more on display with the Breitling Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition. As its name suggests, the new Breitling watch has close links to Bentley’s Continental GT Mulliner Convertible.
Adrian Hallmark, Bentley Chairman and CEO, commented “The long-standing relationship between Bentley and Breitling is a reflection of the values we both share and our dedication to world-leading performance, luxury, innovation and refinement. The links between the new Breitling Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition watch and Bentley’s Continental GT Mulliner Convertible can be seen in the exquisite engraving detail of the watch and the design features that reference the Breitling clock in the GT’s dashboard – a perfect display of Bentley Mulliner product craftsmanship.”
Georges Kern, Breitling’s CEO, says that the new chronograph underscores one of his brand’s most important partnerships: “The Premier Bentley Centenary Edition that we launched a year ago was warmly received, both by Bentley and Breitling fans. The Breitling Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition, with its clear links between Bentley’s and our DNA, is a logical next step in our shared story and it is also a testimony to Bentley Mulliner, whose name is synonymous with heritage, craftsmanship and outstanding performance.”
The Breitling Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition
A Breitling watch worthy of the Bentley and Mulliner names is a very special fusion between two brands attuned to the distinctive needs of their customers. The new chronograph has close links to the interior of the Bentley Continental GT Mulliner Convertible, the most luxurious GT ever designed, and particularly to the Breitling clock in the luxury automobile’s dashboard.
The Breitling Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition is limited to 1,000 pieces. It features a 42-mm stainless steel case presented on a blue alligator leather strap echoing the Imperial Blue leather interior of the car. Its elegant silver dial recalls the Bentley Continental GT Mulliner Convertible’s dashboard clock. The watch boasts blue subdials – a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock and a small seconds subdial at 9 o’clock – an indication of the Breitling Manufacturer Caliber 01, with an impressive power reserve of approximately 70 hours.
The dial features a white tachymeter scale on a blue inner bezel around the dial, with a red tachymeter inscription. The red second hand and centered 60-minute scale mirror the red stitching found throughout the interior cabin of the Bentley Continental GT Mulliner Convertible. The links between the watch and the Continental GT Mulliner Convertible clock are further strengthened by their complementary sets of Arabic numerals: the dashboard clock features the numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9, while the watch has them at 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11. Sharing these numerals across these two pieces is a nod to the design DNA they share.
On the left side of the case is a plate with an engraved “Bentley” inscription, whose design is based on the engine spin dashboard found in historic Bentleys. Around the watch’s transparent sapphire caseback is an inscription saying “MULLINER EDITION – BREITLING – ONE OF 1000”. The Breitling Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition is a COSC-certified chronometer.
The Bentley Continental GT Mulliner Convertible
Representing the pinnacle of luxury grand touring, the Continental GT Mulliner Convertible builds on the success of two other Bentley special models in the Centenary year of 2019, GT Number 9 and the GT Convertible Number 1 Limited Editions. A perfect display of Bentley Mulliner product craftsmanship, the Continental GT Mulliner Convertible is the only Continental GT to have a Breitling Edition Clock in the car. Its silver face mirrors that of the Breitling Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition watch. Blue, red and white accents highlight the importance of British design.
The Bentley Mulliner Workshop
Bentley’s Mulliner department is an extension of Mulliner, a family company that can be traced back to carriers and saddlers in 1559. But real prominence can be traced back to 1760 when Francis Mulliner was commissioned to build and maintain carriages for the Royal Mail. In 1870 Francis’s son, Robert Bouverie Mulliner, who shared his father’s restless pursuit of perfection, started his own coachbuilding company called Mulliner London Limited. For nearly 150 years, Mulliner has been renowned for its bespoke handcrafted coaches, created to the highest standards to meet the exacting requirements of its clients. Mulliner first began coachbuilding for Bentley in 1923, before entering into a partnership with the automotive brand in 1959, and for more than 60 years has given life to Bentley’s creativity and to its customers’ dreams. Each Bentley Mulliner model is a product created with an impeccable level of detail.
Breitling and Bentley
While Breitling’s partnership with Bentley Motors can be traced back to 2002, there are historic links between the companies that go back even further. Willy Breitling, the visionary watchmaker and grandson of founder Léon Breitling, was a committed Bentley owner who, from the late 1940s, was a familiar sight on Swiss roads at the wheel of one of his beloved Bentleys. Willy, a man with flawless design instincts and a stylish personal flair, could not have imagined driving another automobile.
Bentley at Le Mans
While Bentley is known for its luxurious road cars, the brand also has an impressive history on the track. Between 1924 and 1930, the famous “Bentley Boys” won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race five times. That success, however, did not only remain a part of the brand’s past. In 2003, Bentley returned to Le Mans, taking the first two places. In that year of the world’s most famous endurance race, Breitling was Team Bentley’s proud main sponsor and created a limited-edition chronograph, the Bentley Le Mans, to celebrate the feat.
The Breitling Premier: for men and women of style, purpose and action
When it was launched in 2018, the Breitling Premier collection reintroduced a name that had a special significance for the prestige watch brand. In the 1940s, Breitling introduced its first collection of truly elegant watches, defined by their stylishness. The new Breitling Premier collection combines purpose with quality, performance, and timeless design that are worthy of the watch brand’s proud legacy.
The original Breitling Premier watches made powerful fashion statements and were perfect accompaniments to the remarkable changes taking place all over the world in the 1940s. The new Premiers extend that legacy, reflecting Breitling’s heritage and the historic design codes, but they also express an urban flair and a passion for excellence. They express a proud history, yet will never go out of style. Further, their elegance, performance, and quality are everything you would expect from Breitling, which now, more than ever, is an authentic brand for individuals of style, purpose and action.
The Breitling Premier watches that are inspired by the partnership with Bentley hold a privileged place in the collection. No luxury car brand in the world better reflects the essence of the Premier family, with its elegance, flair, performance and timeless design.
