Breitling Replica Releases the Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition
After kicking off 2020 with a new gold version of its flyback-chrono-equipped Navitimer, and following it up with another vintage re-edition from its rich aviation-watch history, Breitling Replica continues this year’s rollouts with the new Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition. Based on Breitling’s Premier B01 Chronograph 42, the model was released as part of Breitling’s Bentley series and inspired by the new Bentley Continental GT Mulliner Convertible, released in early March 2020. Bentley and Breitling have been partners for an impressive 17 years, when the watchmaker first produced onboard clocks for the first Continental GT during its initial production in 2002 and 2003; according to Breitling, this is the longest running partnership between a watchmaker and an automobile manufacturer to date.
The new watch’s design inspiration, the new Continental GT, is actually named after Bentley’s Mulliner workshop, the British brand’s bespoke arm, which has produced unique, tailor-made car models for its customers since 1959. Almost a year ago, Breitling released its most recent timepiece designed in partnership with Bentley, the Premier Centenary Limited Edition, which commemorated 100 years since the automaker’s founding in 1919. This model came one year after the initial release of Breitling’s Premier collection in 2018, and displayed Breitling’s willingness to use the popular new chronograph series as a canvas for projects outside of its typical aviation-inspired themes, including these Bentley-branded collaborations.
The new Premier model uses a very similar design scheme to previous Premier B01 Chronograph 42 watches, though notably distinguishing itself with its distinctive dial accents. The replica watch features a 42-mm polished steel case with a push/pull crown and rectangular chronograph pushers. Moving onto the silver dial of the watch, we find an outer blue ring on the perimeter, here featuring a white tachymetric scale, with the “tachymeter” script accented in a contrasting red. Encircled by this this outer feature are applied, enlarged, vintage-style Arabic numerals at each of the hour positions, with the exceptions of 3 and 9 o’clock, which use small tick marks with small blue lines outlining each.
At the 3 and 9 o’clock markers, we also find dark blue subdials for a 30-minute counter on the right side of the dial, and the watch’s running seconds counter on the left. Overlapping the subdials is an inner red minute ring produced in a chronograph style, which matches the color of the chronograph seconds hand standing alert in the middle of the dial. Two slim speedometer-style hands pass over the dial to indicate running hours and minutes. At the center of the dial you can find an applied Breitling logo toward the top, and “Chronometer” and “Premier” printed at the bottom.
Inside the new model is the Breitling Manufacture Caliber B01, an in-house movement produced by the brand and used in the non-limited-edition variation of this model. The automatic mechanism features an approximately 70-hour power reserve and is visible via a sapphire exhibition caseback. The watch will be released on a dark blue alligator leather strap matching the dark blue features on the dial, available with either a folding deployment clasp or pin buckle, The new Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition will be limited to 1,000 editions, and will be available at Breitling boutiques later this year.
