Jul 9, 2013
Reading time 4 min.
Breitling for Bentley Celebrates 10 Years With 3 New In-House Chronographs
Ten years ago, Breitling launched its Breitling for Bentley watch collection on the heels of Bentley winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. To pay tribute to the first decade of collaboration between the Swiss watch brand and the British luxury carmaker, Breitling has launched the first three Breitling for Bentley watches equipped with Breitling manufacture movements.
The new Breitling for Bentley timepieces are the Bentley B06, Bentley B04 GMT, and Bentley B05 Unitime. Each has a self-winding chronograph movement (based on the groundbreaking Breitling B01, the brand's first-ever in-house movement) with a column wheel, vertical coupling clutch and a power reserve of more than 70 hours. (For more on Caliber B01's development, see our in-depth historical profile of Breitling.) Like every other movement found in Breitling watches, these calibers are all certified as chronometers by the Swiss testing agency COSC. The watches also share several aesthetic features inspired by Bentley automobiles, including the knurled motif on the bezels (a nod to Bentley's distinctive radiator grilles); an openworked dial, also evoking a radiator grille, through which the movement is partially visible; and, visible through the sapphire caseback, a round, sculpted rotor that echoes the shape of a wheel rim. (Click on the photos for larger images.)
(l-r:) The new Bentley B04 GMT, B05 Unitime, and B06 chronograph
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The rotors are inspired by Bentley wheel rims.
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The Breitling for Bentley B06 Chronograph (each model is named for its movement's alphanumeric moniker) features Breitling's "30-second" chronograph system, inspired by a device the company patented in 1926, which has a central chronograph hand that sweeps around the dial every half minute, ensuring an extremely accurate reading of elapsed times to the 1/8 second. Another exclusive feature is the watch's "variable" tachymeter function, with a rotating pinion bezel that can calculate average speeds no matter how much time has elapsed, how much distance has been covered, and how high a speed has been achieved. This is in contrast to standard tachymeter bezels on wristwatches, which can only measure times of less than 60 seconds. The Bentley B06's dial has chronograph subdials counting 30 seconds, 15 minutes, and six hours. The watch is available in stainless steel or rose gold, with Royal Ebony or Silver Storm dial, on a Barenia leather, crocodile leather or rubber strap or speed bracelet.
Bentley B06 in steel (above) and rose gold (below)
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Breitling For Bentley B06 Chrono - rose gold
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World travelers will appreciate the Breitling for Bentley B04 GMT, which combines a chronograph with an easy-to-use dual-time-zone indicator. To adjust the main hour hand to the local time, the user simply pulls out the crown and and turns it in either direction in one-hour increments, without causing any loss of precision in the minutes hand; the date also moves backward and forward automatically as the local time zone changes. In the meantime, the red-tipped GMT hand indicates the time in the wearer's home time zone on a 24-hour scale, thus making it simple to determine whether it is day or night. The Bentley B04 GMT is available in the same varieties as the B06: rose gold gold or steel case, ebony or silver dial, and with strap or bracelet.
Bentley B04 GMT in steel
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Like its predecessor in Breitling's Transocean collection, the new Breitling for Bentley B05 Unitime complements its chronograph with a user-friendly world-time function. The B05 movement has a patented double-disk system, which allows the user to change the local timezone by turning the crown backward or forward in one-hour increments, which also automatically adjusts the date. The 24-city bezel, which allows the user to see the time in all 24 major world time zones simultaneously, also includes indications for "summer" or Daylight Savings Time (DST). The Bentley B05 Unitime features a Royal Ebony (black) or Arctica (white) dial with an elegantly rendered globe motif, and is available in either rose gold or steel and on leather or rubber straps or a steel bracelet.
Bentley B05 Unitime in steel and rose gold
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