Breitling Top Time B21 Shelby Cobra

Breitling has enhanced its precision chronographs since the 1940s, notably with high complications. Recently, they introduced a tourbillon to the Top Time Classic Cars Collection, which pays homage to iconic vehicles like the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Corvette, and Shelby Cobra. The new Top Time B21 Classic Cars Chronograph Tourbillon represents both speed and Breitling’s pioneering status in luxury sport chronographs.

The watch features the Breitling Caliber B21, first seen in the Premier Tourbillon. This movement, developed in collaboration with Manufacture La Joux-Perret, uniquely combines a tourbillon and a chronograph. This is a first for the Top Time Collection. The watch incorporates materials like bronze, ceramic, titanium, and walnut burl for dials.

Breitling CEO Georges Kern emphasizes that the tourbillon addition exemplifies the brand’s fusion of functionality, sophistication, and style, reflecting the essence of the classic cars it symbolizes.

The Top Time Collection, launched in the 1960s, was aimed at active lifestyle consumers. Its founder, Willy Breitling, intended the Top Time to be a style-focused chronograph, diverging from the traditional tool watches. The series quickly became popular among car and motorcycle enthusiasts. It continues to evolve with modern retro designs, featuring mushroom chronograph pushers and a unique dial layout. The tourbillon is positioned at 12 o’clock, and a distinctive “squircle” shaped chronograph minute counter at 6 o’clock, inspired by vintage dashboard gauges, with a tachymeter scale encircling the outer dial.

The Top Time B21 Shelby Cobra is designed with a 44-mm black ceramic case complemented by a titanium back, crown, pushers, and buckle. Its blue dial is coordinated with the color scheme of the original car, which was developed in 1962 by Le Mans champion Carroll Shelby. He ingeniously merged a compact, lightweight British chassis with a robust and dependable American small-block engine.