Encapsulating the 1960s café-racer culture, both the items have an icy blue colour scheme
February 23, 2022: Breitling has always had a penchant towards sporty style that captured the mood of its time. In the mid-1960s, auto racing was having a heyday, and a whole subculture had sprung up around “café racers,” stylish motorcycles, used to literally transport their riders from hip café to hip café.
At the time, Willy Breitling captured the speed-driven style of the day with a new take on timekeeping through the Breitling Top Time, an unconventional chronograph designed for “young and active professionals.”
Today, Breitling is honoring that freewheeling 1960s café-racer spirit with a new Top Time collaboration with British motorcycle brand Triumph. “Triumph’s heritage and modern-retro aesthetic are just two of the many things we have in common,” said Georges Kern, CEO of Breitling. “Their blending of tradition with technology is completely in sync with what we do.”
For their debut collaboration, Breitling is producing a Top Time Triumph watch with a distinctive brushed finish in the bow-tie motif nicknamed “the Zorro dial” by Top Time collectors. Triumph, meanwhile, is launching 270 co-branded motorcycles—the Speed Twin Breitling Limited Edition—whose buyers will have the opportunity to purchase a special owner’s version of the Top Time Triumph, this one with a sunray dial and engraved caseback featuring the individual number of the bike.
The stars of both watches are their ice-blue dials. This unique color has two major references: a blue Triumph Thunderbird 6T from 1951, and a rare, blue-dialed Breitling Top Time Ref. 815 from the 1970s.
Features include a subdued racing-themed calfskin leather strap that lets the hero dial shine; Breitling and Triumph logos that sit subtly at 12 and 6 o’clock; oversized mushroom pushers that allow for easy control of the chronograph’s stop-start and reset functions; and a high-contrast tachymeter scale that provides clear legibility of speed readings. The casebacks are etched with a detailed design sketch of Triumph’s parallel twin engine.
The Triumph Speed Twin Breitling Limited Edition motorcycle also enjoys a polychromatic blue scheme. Complementing the dials of the Top Time chronographs, the color scheme was inspired by the Triumph immortalized in the legendary 1953 biker movie The Wild One.
Fully adjustable Öhlins piggyback twin rear suspension units combine with all of the latest-generation Speed Twin performance, capability, and technology for the greatest Speed Twin ride ever. The billet-machined aluminum clutch and alternator embellishers with a dark anodized finish showcase an exquisitely machined Breitling logo.
The perforated black leather with contrasting gray stitching complements the Top Time Triumph watch strap and features an elegantly embroidered Breitling “B.” Co-designed by Breitling, the motorcycle’s speed and RPM gauges take their styling cues from the Top Time Triumph dial design.
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