The Breitling Top Time watch sees the revival of a classic 1960s chronograph, featuring a distinctive “Zorro” motif dial. Breitling has been knocking it out the park with its heritage replica Breitling watches for sale over the last couple of years – and this is no exception.
You’ve got to hand it to Breitling, over the last few years it has methodically reimagined itself as much more than a distinguished pilot’s perfect clone Breitling watches brand – and it has done so with great aplomb.
Don’t get me wrong, the iconic Navitimer is still the frontman in the manufacturer’s band, but these days it’s been joined by a chorus of equally accomplished timepieces keen to hum their own tune.
Breitling has dusted off the old blueprints to many of its most popular and collectible references from days gone by, carefully revived them without too much fussing, and released them to universal approval from the watch sphere.
The Premier collection was the first of the core collection to get its modern makeover, while crowd-pleasing limited edition pieces like the Navitimer Ref.806 1959 Re-Edition (winner of the Heritage Watch category of the Square Mile Watch Awards 2019) gave fans another chance to get their hands on a hallowed piece of Breitling history.
It’s been an exciting period of renewal and reissue that sees the brand come into 2020 on a roll – and that’s before we get to its latest relaunch, the Breitling Top Time Limited Edition.
I’d happily stick my neck out and say this is my favourite of the new Breitling era.
Let’s take a peek…
Before we get into the nitty gritty, there’s one particularly modern aspect to this vintage reprisal: this is the first Breitling offered with a blockchain-based digital passport, which confirms the authenticity and ownership of the best fake Breitling watches with click.
This might sound like a bunch of technical flimflam, but blockchain is growing into an important tool for watch brands due to its ability to 1) give owners access to the watch’s certificate of authentication at any time and transfer ownership with a simple blockchain transaction, and 2) digitally house anything that relates to the watch (archives, pictures, drawings, the service documents) in one secure place.
In layman’s terms, your “box and papers” are being securely stored digitally, which can only be a good thing as an owner or for the person who buys your replica watches in the future.
Vacheron Constantin chief marketing officer Laurent Perves put it best in our chat last year when he said: “Blockchain is the ultimate technology to protect authentication.” It’s as simple as that.
Sam Kessler in his excellent Square Mile rundown of James Bond’s best high quality replica Breitling watches begged Breitling to bring back the Top Time, with one of the brand’s current crop of manufacture movements.
He got half his wish: the watch is back in all its glory, but Breitling opted for the Caliber 23 automatic movement instead of one of its in-house calibers.
Is this the end of the world? Well, the movement is a chronometer-certified version of either the workhorse ETA 7753 or its Sellita counterpart, with a 48-hour power reserve to boot. But I agree with Sam that something manual wind and in-house would have given these cheap replica watches another string to its bow. When I see ‘Limited Edition’, I like to think I’m getting something extra special for my money, but that’s just me.