fresh from the showcase here at SwissWatchExpo. I've got a trio of
watches that are just a dream collection for a gearhead like myself. you know that speed
machines and watches go hand in hand. we're going to explore that. coming up.
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so in the history of racing chronographs and I mean watches like the Omega Speedmaster, the
Daytona from Rolex. these are watches that were really hand-in-hand tied to the racing culture of
the 1950s and '60s and the Breitling top time was no exception one of my favorite all-time watches
the top time came out at the time Breitling said it was for young active professionals so if you
think of yourself as a young active professional or maybe you're just young at heart like me these
watches are going to really get your blood glowing these are based on three of the most
iconic American sports cars from the 1960s and each one pays a sort of subtle tribute to that
car. the first one we'll look at this one is based on the second-generation Corvette that
was made from '63 to '67. this is the stingray edition of the Corvette. it's the one that Todd
and Buzz drove around on Route 66 with no visible means of income or support so if that's kind of
your fantasy this might be your watch and red is just one of those iconic colors for the Corvette
so it fits perfectly well that they took this vintage modern and spot modern-inspired vintage
chronograph that dates back to the top time from the 1960s has a lot of those design Eeements but
a lot of modern updates and they put right under the logo of Breitling it has the crossed flags
for the Corvette so it doesn't just come out and say Corvette on the dial which I like that it's
a little more subtle than that but it's such a cool-looking watch it has these large pump pushers
that they used on the Breitling type top time in the '60s so it has this sort of vintage look
with no crown guards and straight lugs the case back also features the Corvettes crossed flags
logo and it doesn't actually say the word Corvette anywhere so again it's sort of subtle the strap is
a racing inspired calfskin it's drilled with these perforated holes and the dial itself it just looks
so cool because you've got the tachymeter scale around the edge that allows you to read your units
per hour like miles per hour if your car goes past a marker and you click the start button
on the chronograph and then you hit it again to stop at the next mile marker it'll show you your
average speed over the course of that mile but the colors in the tachymeter also are very reminiscent
of the tacyometers on the sports cars in the '60s. this is a 42-millimeter watch and it's a caliber
25 automatic chronograph from Breitling it's an all-in-house movement it is water resistant to
100 meters so you don't have to really baby it. it'll be perfectly fine if you get caught in a
rainstorm or accidentally put your hand in the water the crystal is sapphire but it is is a
domed sapphire so it has that sort of vintage look to it the watch is pretty thick it's about 14 and
a half millimeters thick and at 42-millimeter it's a substantial watch I mean it's not a a
46-millimeter like you see in some of the other Breitling watches like the Breitling from Bentley
but it has a much more imposing look than what the original watch would have been in the '60s a much
more modern scale the finish of the red dial from what I've heard red is a very difficult color for
the watch companies to make and it's a little bit metallic when you move it in the light you
can really see the glint of that metallic finish of the red and in keeping with sort of the modern
influx of colors into the dials of watches I love that they've done these different colors for the
different cars so that's the red one the Corvette that one might not be your choice. next we have
the same 42-millimeter case for the Ford Mustang and again this is the first generation Mustang
that was sold from '64 to '69 so it's not the Eleanor car that you saw and gone in 60 seconds
but it is that same color green and again it's the metallic green all the same features of the
Corvette watch except on the caseback it doesn't have the Mustang Pony that is the the Mustang logo
and the the pony on the dial again it doesn't say Mustang anywhere it just says Breitling and has
the pony logo so of course the Mustang incredibly popular car it really launched the idea of the
pony car in the mind of America so this was a car that was not a big muscle car it was a small light
sports car that had plenty of power even though they also had sort of family-oriented versions of
it it was a car that changed the landscape and is still you know absolutely beloved to this day this
one is the sort of an outlier of the three this is based on the Shelby AC Cobra. The Cobra came out
in 1962 and Carol Shelby you might have seen him in the in the movie Ford versus Ferrari which was
really cool you got to see a lot of interesting insight into the sort of Texas personality of
Carol Shelby but what he Incorporated was as a small light European chassis with the reliability
and brute force of a big American V8 and so when that car came out I mean it just changed the world
but the sort of signature color of that car was this blue and white so that's what they went with
this is a 40-millimeter case so it's a slightly different movement this is the caliber 41 from
Breitling where the other two are the caliber 25 and the 40-millimeter case it sits a little better
on the wrist for a smaller guy but what a great look I mean you still have the same functions
and features you still have the Cobra logo on the back and on the front of the watch here they've
moved it down to 6 because there just wasn't enough real estate under the logo but a little
bit better dial layout in a lot of ways and the white just really sets off the blue nicely. now
give us a call it's amazing that we have all three of these at once we'll be happy to help you if
you put in the search bar on SwissWatchExpo.com just type in top time and you'll see everything
that we've got. there are other additions as well. they made one for Triumph Motorcycles
and one for Deus Ex so we've had all of those at different times but the fact that we had all
three of these at once we really wanted to do a quick video to show you what they all look like.