At the recent Geneva Watch Days event, Breitling introduced a trio of chronographs that pay tribute to classic American sports cars from the 1960s. Alongside the launch of the Top Time Classic Cars Capsule Collection came the announcement of the watchmaker’s “Classic Cars Squad,” which includes the Chevrolet Corvette, the Ford Mustang, and the Shelby Cobra.
These three icons of American car culture serve as the inspiration for Breitling’s latest capsule collection for 2021, which also take their aesthetic cues from the original 1960s Breitling Top Time models, which were designed for “young and active professionals,” according to ads of the time.
For the 2021 models, Breitling has striven to imbue the Top Time with an even more youthful and free-spirited theme. “It’s about the journey, not the tempo. And that’s true whether you’re tinkering under the hood or hitting the road for a Sunday ride celebrating these beautiful machines,” says Breitling CEO Georges Kern.
About the collection:
The chronographs offer three bold dial colors, in red, blue, and green. These are further accentuated with orange, yellow, red and blue touches. All of the timepieces launched within this collection feature a racing-inspired theme with a unique motoring twist.
The Top Time Chevrolet Corvette has red and black design elements taken from the Corvette C2 from the mid-1960s, also known as the ‘Sting Ray.” The Top Time Ford Mustang pays homage to the car developed in 1964 and its hallmark color scheme of green and black. Lastly, the Top Time Shelby Cobra, with its tones of blue and brown, echoes the iconic look of the machine created by American racecar driver and manufacturer Carroll Shelby during the 1960s. The watch even hints at one of its distinctive paint jobs: blue with white racing stripes.
The Chevrolet Corvette and the Ford Mustang editions come in a 42-mm stainless steel case that houses the COSC-certified Breitling Caliber 25. This is a self-winding, 1/8th-second chronograph movement with a power reserve of about 42 hours. The Shelby Cobra, which comes in a slighter smaller 40-mm stainless steel case, is powered by the COSC-certified Breitling Caliber 41, a self-winding 1/4th-second chronograph movement with a power reserve of approximately 42 hours.The Shelby’s dial is also equipped with a white tachymeter scale, two white contrasting subdials, and the Cobra logo at 6 o’ clock.
All three watches in the collection features an engraving of their respective car’s logo, in impressive detail, and feature a water-resistance to 100 meters.
A version of this article first appeared on our sister website, WatchTime India.
All of them are super-wearable, but I prefer the blue-dialed Cobra with the two registers. Without a bezel a 42 mm case is okay, but 44 mm would have been ideal. We’re living under an effeminate zeitgeist, as watch cases continue to shrink to women’s sizes. I still prefer a watch with heft.