For anyone who is into cars, today marks the start of one of the most exciting periods of the year in the automotive space: Monterey Car Week! It’s well established that a passion for high-end cars and fine timepieces often overlap, and the luxury watch industry habitually draws inspiration from the auto industry. So in honor of Monterey Car Week, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite auto-inspired watches from some of the world’s top timepiece brands.
For anyone who is into cars, today marks the start of one of the most exciting periods of the year in the automotive space: Monterey Car Week! It’s well established that a passion for high-end cars and fine timepieces often overlap, and the luxury watch industry habitually draws inspiration from the auto industry. So in honor of Monterey Car Week, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite auto-inspired watches from some of the world’s top timepiece brands.
Richard Mille RM 11-03 McLaren
Unleashed at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, the Richard Mille RM 11-03 McLaren automatic flyback chronograph was born out of a collaboration between McLaren’s design director Rob Melville and Richard Mille’s engineer Fabrice Namura. Sporting the quintessential McLaren orange hue, the lightweight RM 11-03 case is fashioned from carbon TPT interlaced with orange quartz TPT. Taking the McLaren inspiration even further, the chronograph pushers are shaped to resemble the distinctive headlights of the 720S, which flank a winding crown fashioned to look like a wheel. Moreover, the titanium inserts on the top and bottom of the watch bezel echo the McLaren F1’s air-intake snorkel while the rubber strap bears a pattern of the McLaren “Speedmark” logo.
Hublot Classic Fusion Ferrari GT
The Hublot and Ferrari relationship has been one of the more successful car and watch partnerships in recent history and this year the duo took their alliance a step further by sharing design responsibilities. The new Hublot Classic Fusion Ferrari GT collection was designed by the Centro Stile Ferrari design team and the results were striking. The watch sports a concentric 45mm case—available in titanium, 3D carbon, or King Gold—where the dial suspends above the case base for an ultra-modern style that clearly draws inspiration from the elegant but speedy Gran Turismo world. The hooded lugs create a streamlined bridge to the black rubber and Schedoni leather straps while the engine that powers the watch is the HUB1280 in-house UNICO automatic flyback chronograph movement.
Jacob Co. Twin Turbo Furious Bugatti
Jacob Co. and Bugatti announced their new partnership earlier this year and to celebrate, a pair of co-branded watches was unveiled. One of them was the limited-edition Jacob Co. Twin Turbo Furious Bugatti watch, which takes the 2018 Twin Turbo Furious grand complication design and infuses it with Bugatti touches. For instance, the dial features a blue ring in honor of the blue Chiron supercar while Bugatti’s logo is placed prominently at the center of the dial. What’s more, look a little closer at the power reserve indicator at 6 o’clock nestled in between the two triple-axis tourbillons and you’ll see that it’s been labeled as “fuel” as a hat tip to the automaker. Housing the dial and movement is a black DLC titanium and forged carbon case measuring a whopping 57 x 52mm, limited to just 18 pieces.
Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph 42 Bentley British Racing Green
Breitling and Bentley renewed their long-standing partnership this year and rather than releasing a Breitling for Bentley watch model, the watchmaker introduced the Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph 42 Bentley British Racing Green as part of its core collection. Within the 42 mm stainless steel case is a British racing green dial, punctuated with two black subdials, and a date window. A plate with the Bentley name is affixed to the left-hand case side, while the transparent caseback, which offers a view of the in-house Manufacture Breitling Caliber 01, is also emblazoned with the Bentley logo. Wearers can choose between a British racing green leather strap or a steel bracelet.
