Cars and Watches

If any collectible item appeals to two or more audiences, it’s safe to say that its value increases. Soundtrack LPs attract movie buffs, but James Bond soundtracks attract film fans and Bondiana collectors. Second-hand values reflect this. With watches, one blue-chip enhancement guaranteed to up the ante at an auction is an automotive connection, because “car guys” and “watch guys” are kindred spirits.

This helps to explain why an already-valuable 1932 Patek Philippe “oversized” chronograph sold in auction for a heart-stopping $1.3m in 2008: its owner was pre-war racing driver Count Carlo Felice Trossi … who just happened to pilot Mercedes-Benzes, Scuderia Ferrari Alfa-Romeos, a Duesenberg and other racing classics, multiplying its appeal.

While car/watch connections might, to savvy marketing types, smack merely of commercial co-branding – and none can match the success of the “Breiting For Bentley” watches – there are myriad reasons why a watch might have a car logo on its dial. Perhaps it graced a range for sales through shops, or it may appear on a severely limited run of not-for-sale watches for presentations as gifts. But a logo needn’t even appear on the watch: collectors pay handsomely for original Heuer Monaco chronographs just because Steve McQueen wore one in the film, Le Mans.

Bentley and Breitling may have changed forever the face of watch marketing in the 21st Century, but the car/watch link is not new: there have been watches branded for car makers since the dawn of motoring. In the 1920s, Ettore Bugatti commissioned Mido to produce a handful of watches shaped like his cars’ famous stirrup radiator. Marque historians believe these served as gifts from “Le Patron” to successful drivers and cherished clients. If you could find one of the dozen or so survivors, it would easily command $30,000-plus in an auction. And it’s likely that the Bugattistes in the audience would outbid the wristwatch collectors.

Since the Mido Bugatti, but before the more calculated branding of today, the sporadic appearances of car watches – both for retail and promotional purposes – included a Lancia watch shaped as a steering wheel, a Corum in the form of a Rolls-Royce radiator (complete with a teensy Spirit of Ecstasy), and radiator-shaped watches for Chevy, Audi, Volvo, and others.

As a rule, most were low-to-mid-priced, the solid-gold Corum being a notable exception. By the 1990s, prestigious brands such as Girard-Perregaux were producing serious watches for Ferrari. But it was the success of the two “B”s – Bentley and Breitling – which showed to the watch industry that people would buy car-branded watches even if they didn’t own the cars they represented. It is believed that the Breitling For Bentley range on its own boosted Breitling turnover by 16 percent.

In the Bretlings’ wake are other high-end ventures including Jaeger-LeCoultre’s watches for Aston-Martin, Panerai’s timepieces for Ferrari, and at least 30 other current car/watch marriages, from Indycar connections to driver sponsorships. Whether or not any of them might acquire the mystique and value of the Mido Bugattis, a “Paul Newman” Rolex Daytona, or a watch once owned by Richard Petty, only time will tell.