Breitling Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition

This new Breitling Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition represents the new episode of Breitling’s Bentley watches —they are not called Breitling for Bentley anymore— and is based on the successful Premier chronograph, introduced a couple of years ago, only now acidified with touches of color and “vintage-racer” looks that evoke the classic timekeepers of the mid-20th century.

The link between Breitling and Bentley began in 2002, when the Crewe people entrusted Breitling with the creation of a clock for the dashboard of the Continental GT, which would make its debut in 2003. Since then, the relationship has borne fruit in dozens of references that eloquently confirm the success of the relationship between the firms, the longest between a car company and a watchmaker in history.

The Breitling Premier Mulliner Limited Edition debuted on March 2, as part of what was to be the Geneva Motor Show — called off due to the epidemiological risks associated with the COVID-19 virus outbreak— along with the debut of the new Bentley Continental GT Mulliner Convertible, the new top-of-the-range English convertible. The Mulliner Limited Edition follows in the footsteps of the Bentley Premier Centenary Limited Edition, a watch that celebrated the company’s 100th anniversary.

Being a Bentley timepiece, we cannot help but remember how different it is from the models that pre-ceded it. The Breitling for Bentley collection, created by the maison of Grenchen at the turn of the century to honor the history of Bentley and, in the process, become one of the most consistent and rec-ognized watch-car associations ever, was characterized by the visual boldness of the watches. “Look at me” diameters of 46mm and above were the norm, and we just cannot forget the thick knurled bezels, which emulated the finishings inside the contemporary Bentleys. That’s now behind us since Breitling decided, starting in 2018, to create Bentley-inspired special editions within its regular series. For now, the responsibility has fallen to the Premier collection, which includes the aforementioned Centenary, the cool B01 Chronograph 42 Bentley British Racing Green and now the new Mulliner Limited Edi-tion.

Premier is, above all, a sports chronograph of essential proportions—with a very wearable diameter of 42 mm— and classic stylistic features, accentuated by the arrangement of two sub-dials at 3 and 9 o’clock, and the gentle use of the blue hue on the registers and the tachymeter scale and red for the central seconds hand of the outer tachymeter and inner seconds scales. The overall style of the wrist-watch emulates the Continental GT Mulliner’s dashboard clock, while the red details also happen to match the stitching of the rich and supple Connolly leather seats.

Through the color contrasts on this Premier’s dial, our smart readers will have already deduced a new use of the B01 caliber inside its case, only an iteration that dispenses with the third time totalizer and the date. On the left edge of the case, a plaque confirms to its owner the specialness of the watch and its limited issuing: “MULLINER EDITION-BREITLING-ONE OF 1000”, a signature worthy of a piece that prides itself on its worthy connection to the carmaker of Crewe, just as the legendary Bentleys of the middle of the last century did, especially those which proudly wore the opulent bodyworks and furnishing of the coach builder Mulliner.