Plenty of watch brands will sell you a limited edition. Breitling's latest asks for a slightly bigger buy-in first, namely one of the 999 Aston Martin Valhallas being built, a hybrid hypercar priced at roughly US$1.05 million before options, taxes or the small matter of getting it to Australia.
The Swiss brand has launched a bespoke Super Chronomat programme open only to Valhalla owners, who can commission one of two watches and colour-match it to their car. Breitling's dedicated Valhalla microsite describes each finished piece as one of one.
The headline act is the Super Chronomat B19 44 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph. It runs a 44mm titanium case on Breitling's Rouleaux bracelet, with a carbon fibre dial, a display caseback and 96 hours of power reserve.
Inside is the in-house Calibre B19, an automatic perpetual calendar chronograph that won't need correcting until 2100. It's one of the rarer combinations in watchmaking, and the B19 first appeared in Breitling's 140th anniversary chronographs back in 2024, which makes this a fairly quick trip from anniversary showpiece to supercar accessory.
Customisation on the B19 covers the rehaut, the seconds hand and the counter hands, with six colours lifted straight from Aston Martin's paint catalogue. Owners can pick from Racing Green, Trophy Silver, Lime Green, Valkyrie Gold, Vivid Orange and Rosso Corsa, then finish things off with a personal engraving on the rotor.
The second option is the Super Chronomat Automatic 38, a smaller time-and-date model with a 38mm case, Rouleaux bracelet, textured carbon fibre dial and a diamond-set bezel. Four colourways are offered for the rehaut and hands.
It's the sensible pick of the two, if anything attached to a Valhalla purchase can be called sensible.
Pricing hasn't been announced for either watch, and nobody expects it to be gentle. Buyers also get a five-year membership to the Breitling Social Club, a private members' club that Robb Report says is due to open in Williamsburg, Brooklyn next year.
For the uninitiated, the Valhalla is Aston Martin's first series-production mid-engined car. A 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 works alongside three electric motors for a combined 699kW and 1000Nm, enough to hit 100km/h in 2.5 seconds and run on to 350km/h.
Aston Martin's Marek Reichman pitched the programme as a chance for customers to commission a watch inspired by their own car, describing each one as a personal expression of its owner and an extension of the Valhalla itself.
The tie-up itself is barely ten months old. Breitling became Official Watch Partner to Aston Martin and its Formula 1 team at the start of the year, marking the occasion with a titanium Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43, the first Navitimer ever clad in the material.
Add in Breitling's sprawling NFL partnership and the slimmed-down Chronomat it released in May, and it's clear Georges Kern has no interest in taking his foot off the throttle.
Car and watch collaborations usually end with a logo printed on a dial and a few hundred numbered pieces nobody can tell apart. This one is cleverer, turning the watch into an extension of the car's own spec sheet rather than a bit of expensive merch.
So if you're one of the very few Australians with a Valhalla on order, congratulations. You now have a second, much smaller colour decision to agonise over.
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