Like so many, the watch industry’s launch cycle has been abruptly altered in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Most brands have shuttered factories, Rolex included, while others, Patek Philippe among them, have said novelties will stay under wraps until later this year. Such developments have created a vacuum, into which swoops Breitling with its new AAA US replica Breitling Top Time watches.
As high quality Breitling fake watches enthusiasts will recognise, Top Time is a name with history. Not only has it popped up in the brand’s collection more than once since its 1964 debut, it’s also a Bond watch.
Sean Connery’s James Bond was kitted out with a Top Time by Q-branch – making it the first modified Bond watch – in 1965’s Thunderball. In 2013, the one-off piece fetched £103,875 at Christie’s auction in 2013, the owner having snaffled it at a car-boot sale for just £25.
The Top Time was perfect Breitling replica watches’ answer to the Swiss watch arms race of the day, namely to secure the custom of young, professional, style-conscious men, for whom a smartly designed wristwatch was fast becoming a personal signature.
Omega’s Speedmaster and Rolex’s Cosmograph Daytona were already on the market, and in the same year Heuer introduced its brand-defining Carrera. Somehow, despite its clean lines and 1960s modernist looks, the Top Time has largely slipped between the cracks of horological history. Vintage pieces make terrific investments, probably now more than ever as Swiss movements Breitling copy watches casts the spotlight on the name once again.
The latest 1:1 wholesale super clone Breitling Top Time iteration watches is 41mm in diameter, cased in steel, comes on a brown nubuck leather strap and is powered by Breitling’s chronometer-certified take on the Valjoux 7753 automatic chronograph calibre.
That last detail is significant, because Breitling’s collection is split in two these days: in-house movement Breitling replica watches for men carry a higher tariff, while those governed by third-party movements are less expensive. The choice of an outsourced power unit for the Top Time, therefore, continues the theme of targeting younger watch buyers.
The smooth simplicity of its case and proud vintage pushers make a good palette for the playful black and white sectoring of the dial, a style known affectionately as a Zorro. The look appeared on a 1969 Top Time, but it’s more often associated with an even rarer luxury fake Breitling watches archive piece called Sprint. The idea was that it made the dial easier to read, although in reality, the symmetrical divisions offer little more than a striking – and rather charming – aesthetic.
Revival watch designs are typically limited, and this one’s no exception – production of the Top Time will be limited to 2,000 pieces, each one numbered. And although it’s a sub-plot, this will also be the first top replica Breitling watches sold with a blockchain-based digital passport, which Breitling says means owners will be able to “confirm the authenticity and ownership of the watch with a single click… and transfer ownership with a simple blockchain transaction”. Created with digital certification experts Arianee, this is no doubt a sign of things to come.