Breitling has revealed the Top Time B01 Eddy Merckx timepieces, “an homage to the greatest cyclist of all time”.
Breitling CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué says: “Eddy Merckx is the greatest cyclist of all time. His record speaks for itself. These watches capture that drive, that constant push to go further, faster, and push limits.”
The watch is said to honour Merckx’s domination of professional cycling. Nicknamed The Cannibal, Merckx clocked 525 victories during this career. This included 11 Grand Tours, 19 Monuments and three World Championships. He won the Tour de France five times and recorded 96 days in the yellow jersey.
The Breitling Top Time B01 Eddy Merckx
The Breitling Top Time B01 Eddy Merckx encapsulates these victories through several details.
The Top Time itself was introduced in the 1960s, when Merckx began his career, as a line of racing watches, “designed to capture the era’s spirit of speed, style and freedom”.
The new Eddy Merckx edition has a yellow dial to reflect the champion’s Tour de France success.
“Contrasting subdials in the collection’s signature “squircle” shape bring clarity and edge, echoing the visual language of race timing and performance,” Breitling says.
'One of 525' is etched on the caseback to mark his total number of victories (which were also honoured by the recent Eddy Merckx 525R). 'Eddy Merckx Tribute' is written on the open caseback and Merckx’s signature can be found at 6 o’clock.
The 41mm watch is powered by Breitling’s Manufacture Caliber 01, and it is self-winding with a 70-hour power reserve.
The watch has either a calfskin leather strap with a folding clasp or a stainless steel mesh bracelet with butterfly clasp.
Not the first cycling watch from Breitling
The new Top Time B01 Eddy Merckx isn’t the first cycling watch from Breitling. The Swiss watchmaker released the Top Time Coppi and Top Time Bartali editions last year, which were “inspired by one of cycling’s most iconic rivalries”.
Breitling also says its relationship to the sport extends back to the 19th century, when the company created cycling-oriented stopwatches. In the 1930s, it created a timing apparatus that was used for cycling races.
Breitling hasn't confirmed the cost of its latest watch, but we doubt it will cost anything like as much as the Colnago and Richard Mille million-dollar watch that launched earlier this week.
Recently, we also saw Bravur release the Grand Tour Sprinter, which celebrates “cycling’s fastest finishers”, and a collaboration with Zwift.
