Aston Martin teams up with Breitling for luxury watch partnership

Aston Martin has teamed up with Swiss watch heavyweight Breitling in a new multi-year partnership that feels less like a brand tie-in and more like two luxury speed obsessives finally admitting they’ve got loads in common.

The deal names Breitling as the Official Watch Partner of Aston Martin and the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, eventually delivering a run of exclusive watches inspired by the British car maker’s high-performance machines. The first timepiece from the collaboration is expected to arrive in the second half of 2026.

If the pairing feels oddly inevitable, that’s because the two brands have been circling each other culturally for more than a century. Both built reputations on engineering precision and high-end design, both are deeply tied to motorsport, and both have long leaned into the idea that performance can still look outrageously stylish.

Breitling’s speed credentials stretch back to 1907, when founder Léon Breitling launched the Vitesse chronograph, capable of measuring speeds up to 250mph, wildly ahead of its time and accurate enough to be adopted by Swiss police issuing early speeding fines. Meanwhile, in England, Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford were busy building sports cars designed for hill climbs, eventually landing on the Aston Martin name after a successful run at Aston Hill.

By the 1960s, both brands had cemented themselves as cultural shorthand for sleek engineering and modern luxury. Breitling’s Top Time chronograph famously appeared on Sean Connery’s wrist in Thunderball, becoming the first gadget watch in the James Bond franchise. Around the same time, Aston Martin’s DB5 was carving out its own cinematic legacy in Goldfinger and later Thunderball, creating one of the most iconic luxury pairings in film history without even meaning to.

Aston Martin and Breitling reveal the Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43 Aston Martin Formula One™ Team - YouTube

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That shared heritage is something both companies are clearly leaning into with the new collaboration, which will span design, engineering and motorsport involvement. Aston Martin CEO Adrian Hallmark described the partnership as a “showcase of excellence, design mastery and performance”, while Breitling boss Georges Kern emphasised the brands’ shared obsession with proportion, detail and purposeful design.

The partnership officially launches with the Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43 Aston Martin Formula One Team edition, marking Breitling’s renewed push into racing partnerships. Expect future limited-run watches tied to Aston Martin road cars and motorsport programmes as the collaboration evolves.

The move also reinforces Aston Martin’s continued expansion beyond cars alone, with the brand increasingly positioning itself as a broader luxury lifestyle name. Alongside building high-performance icons like the Vantage, DB12, and DBX SUV, the company is pushing further into electrified sports cars, including the upcoming mid-engined hybrid, the Valhalla.

For Breitling, the deal strengthens its long-standing links to aviation, motorsport and exploration culture, areas that have defined the Swiss company since its founding in 1884.

Whether the upcoming Aston Martin watch ends up as a motorsport tool piece, a Bond-inspired statement or something that simply looks outrageously good strapped to a wrist remains to be seen. But for many, even seeing these two names together is reason enough to get excited, now we just need to find out who will play Bond.

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