The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Can someone explain the whole Bentley crossover idea? How did they say... “Hey, Bentley and Breitling both start with ‘B’, lets cross-market the brands.” Was it in response to other watch companies teaming up with car companies?

Also, does anyone know how long the cross-marketing deal will last for?

It just seems like an odd pairing with Breitling being an aviation related company and all.

Don’t get me wrong, the newer watches are beautiful... but do they really need the Bentley name to sell? To me, the Bentley name is actually a turnoff.

The Bentley/Breitling relationship started in 2002 and is one of the longest (if not THE longest?) lasting partnership in the watch world. I'm not sure who approached who, but Breitling assisted in the design and build of some of the 2002 Continental GT's instrumentation and interior clock (obviously!)

As far as I know the deal hasn't got an end-date, and will probably go on for as long as both parties see a benefit.

I guess both parties just saw it as a way of cross-selling..... although I personally think Breitling would've gotten far more from the deal than Bentley. After all, I can imagine considerably more Bentley owners thinking, "Oh, my car has a Breitling clock - maybe I'll buy a matching watch", as opposed to Breitling owners thinking, "OK, so I've saved up and bought a £6k watch and I've just realised I've got a spare £180k burning a hole in my pocket, so I think I'll buy a car to match my watch"!

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Driver8

Site Moderator

LOL!!!

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Cheers,
Jim

Great info! Thanks

Just seems like an odd pairing. I still don’t get the relationship... Maybe they should have gone with another “B” company like Beechcraft, Bell, or Boeing

Boeing like Boeing Stearman ?



Or maybe Boeing 777 Aerospace ?



Or maybe C like Cirrus aircraft ?



OK, I know, it's not the same


But, you got me opening the Google and finding this link. My conclusion - it's all about highlighting a luxury aspect of Breitling watches:

https://www.bentleymotors.com/en/world- ... ntley.html

Haha


Funny you should put it that way, but I actually fall in the very unprobable and probably-mentally-challenged second camp! I have had my eye on the Premier for a while and that has reminded me of my love of the Bentley Coupe and RR Wraith.....

Anyway, I think this is a great partnership, and I actually Breitling did a better job for Bentley than they did for themselves. The instrumentation and exaction in Bentleys is top notch, and the quality obsessed brits probably guided Breitling's hand there. It is unfortunate Breitling did such a poor job historically with those B4B monstrosities (cant believe I was so keen on them!!!) but the new Premier for Bentley is a triumph and all's well that ends well!

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Certified watch nut.

Well, I think you're probably slightly unique on here in that regard, Mr Altair! (Although to be fair the Bentley Coupe and RR Wraith ARE superb....... they're just probably beyond the means of 99% of us! )

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Driver8

Site Moderator

you'll have some lovely watches to match your Bentley Coupe over the next years. Yes, I know you'd like to know all that NOW, but sadly can't

the funny thing is, Bentley owners would not want to wear a Breitling Bently watch to match their expensive driver, they would probably go for Lange, AP, etc, or at least a Rolex

me personally not really a fan of this line, it was the navitimer that got me interested into watches after all

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⌚ Breitling 1461 A19022 ⌚

I agree 100%! I love my two Navitimers and look forward to getting a SOH II... A Bentley watch will never be in my collection.

As far as I am aware, the partnership began in the early 2000s when Bentley was competing in the Le Mans 24 Hour race. Breitling were essentially a sponsor of the team which I thought was really quite cool. Bentley won the race in 2003 and Breitling of course made the most of this by having watches to celebrate this (they might have had watches out before they won the race, I am not sure).
It was a three year project for Bentley, and I thought that once Bentley stopped racing, the connection with Breitling would end.

The thing is for me, Bentley have a certain market in the UK. They seem to be bought by footballers rather than real connoisseurs of luxury motoring so when you think of the link to Breitling it is a bit of a funny one. I am probably like a lot of the people on here where we appreciate the history of Breitling and think of watches like the Navitimer and Chronomat etc as the proper Breitling watches, rather than some of the more newer models; with Bentley, their heritage lies with cars that raced over 50 years ago so in a way are similar to Breitling; ie that the traditional Bentley fan probably looks at their current car range as a bit cringeworthy, thinking of the Bentley Boys!