My classic Breitling Top Time Chronograph, which I bought as a 21st Birthday present to myself. I’m pleased to report it’s still working well, which is more than can be said about me.
Insert: Sean Connery wears a version in ‘Thunderball’. I’m not sure if the case is real, or just made up for the film.
Breitling Top Time is the name given to the series of watches characterized by a bold and elegant design, which were also useful tools for professional pilots and racers. These watches were first introduced in 1964 and were primarily intended for young men. Breitling Top Time watches were positioned as entry-level chronographs, with much lower prices than the company’s flagships, the Navitimer and Chronomat.
The Breitling Top Time eventually became a classic among watch enthusiasts, thanks to its continued popularity. The many celebrities from the entertaining and sports worlds who were known to wear a Breitling Top Time paved the way for the watch to be etched forever as a part of pop culture.
The most famous among these celebrities is actor Sean Connery who played Agent 007 in the 1965 James Bond film “Thunderball.” In the film, Connery’s character was tasked to find two NATO atomic bombs that had been stolen by the criminal organization Spectre. To aid in his mission, Q (Desmond Llewelyn) presented James Bond with a modified version of the Breitling Top Time Ref. 2002, equipped with a Geiger counter. The watch featured in various scenes in the movie as Bond uses it to survey radiation in places where the stolen bombs were thought to have been hidden, including in the Disco Volante boat and the Nassau Palmyra estate.
