The Breitling Watch Blog

In the wake of the break-up of Ferrari and Panerai, many wondered who would be the next to carry the Ferrari logo on their watches. This has been answered: Hublot.

The partnership between Hublot and Ferrari far surpasses the typical licensing and sponsorship agreements that Car companies often forge with Watch companies, thich one is described as a “genuine exchange between the two brands, a pooling of resources and information.”

Hublot becomes the exclusive watchmaking partner in the full range of Ferrari’s activities including the “Official Watch” of Ferrari, “Official Timekeeper” of Ferrari, “Official Timekeeper” of Scuderia Ferrari, “Official Watch” of Scuderia Ferrari, “Official Timekeeper” of the Ferrari Challenge, and partners in Ferrari special events.

“Exclusivity, technology, passion, style: Hublot and Ferrari share many core values and this new partnership between two such highly prestigious brands is an important milestone for both,” said Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, president of Ferrari.

“This collaboration, rich in a host of synergies, gives Hublot a massive boost along the road,” added Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Hublot.

While most automobile brands that associate themselves with watch brands tend to be exclusive in their partnerships, Mercedes seems to suprise with every new watch venture they embark on. Some of the brands that Mercedes has associated themselves with: IWC, Graham, Tag Heuer, Fabien Cacheux, Ulysse Nardin, and their own Brand created with Tourneau. There are very possibly others that I have missed too!

Most recently is the addition of Graham to the mix to celebrate the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula 1 Team. The Mercedes watch they introduced is kind of ugly in my opinion. Designed more in the style of Graham than Mercedes, and features lots of discord with the mix of design elements making a watch that is overall not too tasteful.

While Mercedes has chosen to associate themselves with so many brands, they have for the most part made tasteful watches. However, unlike Ferrari by Panerai and Breitling for Bentley, the watches have very little association with each other.

Personally, I think the most successful and tasteful Automobile and Watch team-ups would be Breitling for Bentley and Jaeger LeCoultre and Aston Martin. The most Epic Fail Automobile Watch brand would be Tonino Lamborghini. Why would you license your brand out to a company that cannot market your product properly? Didn’t the 80’s and 90’s teach companies anything about licensing your brand – now we see Tonino Lamborghini products fill the shelves in discount stores and ebay.

Here is a gallery of some of the Mercedes collaboration watches out there:

Ferrari has a joint watch in the works with Luxury watchmaker Cabestan, and it is a memorable piece indeed. Made available exclusively to Ferrari clients, this is a watch that you will only see on a Ferrari owner’s wrist. The watch uses the Cabestan Winch Tourbillon Vertical movement, and features unique design elements taken from Ferrari’s formula one team’s ideas. The movement is said to use a 6-speed automatic transmission in order to maintain constant force to the tourbillon, achieving accuracy to within 1 second per day.