Breitling’s 1960s chronograph pays tribute to James Bond’s iconic car

Did you know that Breitling and Aston Martin go way back, well before the F1 partnership? In 1965, pieces from the Swiss watchmaker and British car company were altered by Q branch for use by James Bond in Thunderball.

As the world’s most famous fictional spy, played by Sean Connery at the time, sped through the Swiss Alps in pursuit of stolen nuclear warheads, he drove a decked-out Aston Martin DB5 and wore a Breitling Top Time ref. 2002, equipped with a Geriger counter.

Breilting and Aston Martin pay homage to that first encounter, when two design icons of the 1960s were paired up by the film’s production team, with the new Top Time B01 Chronograph Tribute to Aston Martin DB5.

The Top Time Aston Martin DB5 (as I’ll abbreviate the name) combines design elements from the first generation of Breitling’s sporty chronograph, which debuted in 1964, with, thanks to Agent 007, the most iconic Aston Martin ever produced.

Three references are available, one with a silver sunburst dial mimicking the car’s radiant exterior, and two with black dials that follow the dashboard instrument panel. All three have the same black snailed bicompax subdials, baton hands and faceted stick hour markers.

The standout feature that ties the watch and the car together is a wooden internal bezel finished to match the steering wheel of a 1960s DB5. It is marked with a tachymeter scale that reads “Aston Martin DB5” across the first 10 seconds.

A bit of cushion

Breitling made the intriguing design choice not to match the case of the ref. 2002, opting instead for a cushion case, much like the contemporaneous Top Time ref. 2007 and 2009. The latter references placed the same bicompax dial and Valjoux 7730 movement in a more fashionable case.

The 41mm cushion case, along with the matching rounded-square subdials, is a scaled-up version of the 38mm case from the Top Time Racing introduced in 2025. It matches the same shape as the ref. 2007 and 2009, but adds fluting to all four corners and swaps in pump-style pushers.

Like its 1960s progenitor, the Top Time Aston Martin DB5 case is available in both steel and solid gold.

Three of a kind

There are two steel variations of the Top Time Aston Martin DB5 and one rose gold. Starting with the most affordable and closest visual counterpart to the car, there is a full steel case with a silver sunburst dial.

Next, we have the more elevated steel case with a platinum bezel and black lacquered dial sporting the same sunburst brushing, black subdials, and rhodium-plated hands and indices.

Finally, making a substantial leap up the luxury scale, there is the full rose gold reference, featuring a solid onyx dial and rose-gold plated hands, indices and subdial frames.

All three references come on a brown leather strap with side stitching and a pin-buckle deployant clasp in matching metal. Each strap is hand-finished to resemble vintage leather car seats.

Under the hood

Bond’s Top Time ref. 2002 was powered by the Venus Caliber 188, a hand-wound, cam-switching predecessor to the iconic Valjoux Caliber 7730. This modern homage runs on Breitling’s pride and joy, the Caliber B01.

The in-house, COSC-certified automatic movement features a column wheel, vertical clutch and 70-hour power reserve. Its custom rotor, with a laser-etched Aston Martin logo, is visible through a sapphire caseback.

Availability and pricing

I appreciate how Breitling didn’t take the easy road by just throwing a wooden internal bezel in a reproduction of the ref. 2002, which is saying a lot because I love the Top Time references from the 1960s. The cushion case is a better fit for the novel attribute and draws on a more obscure chapter of the brand’s history.

The Breitling and Aston Martin Top Time B01 Chronograph Tribute to Aston Martin DB5 is available now from Breitling for $11,400 in full steel, $18,600 in steel with a platinum bezel and $41,500 in full rose gold. This is a limited edition release of 1,022, 315 and 250 pieces, respectively.