March has been a busy month for Breitling: Last week it confirmed the long-rumoured acquisition of dormant brand Gallet, a storied watchmaker that it intends to revive and reposition as an entry-level luxury sibling. Now, the brand has announced the arrival of actor Austin Butler as its latest brand ambassador. Although for watch fans, that’s not the most exciting part.
The star of Elvis, Dune 2 and Masters Of The Air was photographed two weeks ago at Paris Fashion week — where dedicated watch geeks were able to look past his smouldering gaze and loose Saint Laurent tailoring to spot a Breitling on his wrist that didn’t seem to exist anywhere else in the world.
The stealth red carpet tease has become a bit of a staple trope in recent years, perfected by Omega and Daniel Craig, who in his post-Bond era has affected a ‘who, me?’ air of innocence while carefully showing just enough of an unreleased watch to set the internet alight. Now Breitling is in on the act, and we can reveal that Butler’s watch is in fact the first of a brand new collection, the Top Time B31.
Breitling introduced the Top Time chronograph in 1964 as an alternative to its established lines of pilot’s watches and marketed it at the nascent muscle car generation. It remained in the range until the company ceased operations in 1979; when it was revived in 1982 the Top Time was deemed surplus to requirements. In 2020, the name was revived, once again on a line of chronographs aimed at petrolheads.
This new model marks the addition of a simple time-only design to the Top Time line. Available in three dial colours — green, blue and white, each available on a stainless steel bracelet or leather strap — they will cost £4,550 for leather and £4,850 for the bracelet. Measuring 38mm across and water-resistant to 100m, the range also marks the introduction of a brand new automatic movement, Calibre B31.
Perhaps surprisingly, this is the first simple, non-chronograph movement Breitling has designed and built in-house in its 140-year history. Recently, it has relied on movements sourced from rival brand Tudor under a deal struck in 2017, whereby in return for Tudor’s time-only calibres, it would sell Tudor its B01 in-house chronograph for use in its Black Bay models. Now, with an automatic movement all of its own and a growth strategy that will soon involve multiple brands, that deal may be about to run its course.
US President Harry S. Truman poses with his Gallet Flying Officer in Miami in 1949 — a gift from two members of his Senate staff
Breitling, under the leadership of CEO Georges Kern and with the energetic backing of private equity investors Partners Group, is on an ambitious path that will eventually see it sit at the heart of a watch brand conglomerate to rival Richemont or Swatch Group. In 2023 it announced that it had bought up Universal Genève, another highly respected Swiss watch brand that had drifted into irrelevance. Last year, it showed the first hints of a product line-up that will see Universal revive references popular with vintage collectors, and confirmed that it will sit above Breitling’s core price point as a more exclusive and refined brand.
Gallet, which like Universal is best known for its chronograph watches of the 1950s and 60s, will be positioned slightly beneath Breitling in price, offering a more entry-level option. Kern has confirmed that it will be stocked alongside Breitling in its boutiques, while Universal Genève will have its own separate retail operation. Expect revivals of models like the Flying Officer and Multichron Clamshell chronograph, tool watches that Gallet introduced during the Second World War.
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