You know when you have two really good friends from different parts of your life and you introduce them and they really hit it off? That’s kind of what happened here when Australia’s custom bike shop/lifestyle brand Deus Ex Machina teamed up with Swiss watchmaker Breitling. Motorcycle style and precision Swiss movement together in one beauty of a timepiece. Aka The Breitling Top Time Deus Limited Edition Watch.
The DNA here is Breitling’s original 1960s chronograph and its “ultra-modern” style. Sixty years later, that modernism is now deliciously retro and just right for the sort of nomad-adventurer meets high-end style that this collaboration inspired. It’s the watch you’d wear ripping around Bali on the back of a scrambler, only to end up sipping Negronis in a swank Ubud resort.
The strap is perforated calfskin leather and the 41 millimeter stainless case has a Deus motorcycle rider etched on the back. The inset chronograph counters are an eye-catching squircle shape, the chronograph hand is a lightning bolt, and the tachymeter scale echoes the tachometer on a bike. In probably the boldest bike-related tribute, the Deus motto, a latin translation of “In Petrol We Trust” sits just above the one o’clock marker. Inside, the watch is powered by Breitling’s Caliber 23 self-winding mechanical chronometer.
Only 1,500 of the collab watches are available and for the next few weeks, you can get an example of the Top Time Deus online before it moves to Breitling’s retail stores.
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