Erling Haaland is something of an enigma, bringing his own brand of style and personality to the top flight of football. Even in what was a relatively muted season by his standards he came in as the third top goal scorer. His new collaboration watches with Breitling however are anything but muted, featuring a bold combination of precious metals and meteorite. They’re the Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 Erling Haaland and Chronomat B01 42 Erling Haaland.
Breitling Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 Erling Haaland
Kicking things off (pun intended) is the Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 Erling Haaland, a 40mm Chronomat in steel with a platinum bezel and meteorite dial. You can clearly see the influence of Haaland in the choice of materials. A platinum bezel feels wholly unnecessary, especially for a travel watch like a GMT that’s prone to dings and scratches as it trots around the globe. However, this is a watch designed in part by a footballer so I think if any watch can be forgiven for footballer style ostentation, it’s this one. And let’s be honest, you’re less likely to ding it travelling by private jet.
I actually think the watch looks quite handsome. The silver tone of the platinum/steel case matches that of the meteorite dial while the GMT 24-hour scale separates them with a thin black ring. It gives the display a nice amount of structure, adding emphasis to each part of the watch while making the whole piece work cohesively together. The golden GMT hand adds another layer or prestige to the piece though it’s the seconds hand that features Haaland’s initials as the counterweight.
The individuality that comes from a meteorite dial with its Widmanstätten pattern is also attractive. The characteristic cross-hatched markings that are never the same between two watches. Breitling have sourced their meteorite from the most common source in watchmaking, the Muonionalusta meteor, which is one of the oldest materials on Earth.
Turning the watch over reveals a solid caseback engraved with Erling Haaland’s signature lotus goal celebration pose. You can also find the inscription of his name, jersey number (9) and a commemorative inscription of ‘One of 500’ marking it as a limited edition. Beneath the caseback is the Breitling Calibre 32 with 42-hour power reserve.
On rubber strap the Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 Erling Haaland is £8,150 and on steel bracelet it’s £8,400.
Price and Specs:
Breitling Chronomat B01 42 Erling Haaland
Second is the Chronomat B01 42 Erling Haaland, which is actually split into two separate limited editions. There’s a 250-piece edition available to the public and a 5-piece edition exclusive to Erling Haaland and his friends and family. Structurally they’re the same with a 42mm case in rose gold with a meteorite chronograph dial sporting black subdials. Like the GMT above it features Haaland’s initials on one of the central hands, this time the chronograph seconds.
The differences between the standard edition and the Haaland Signature version aren’t visible from the dial. Instead, you have to look at the side of the case where the Signature model has an inscription of ‘Erling Haaland 9’ that’s absent from the standard version. They also feature slightly different casebacks, with the Signature featuring a silhouette of the lotus celebration while the standard goes without. The limited-edition numbers are also different, which makes sense.
Powering both models is the B01 automatic chronograph movement with 70-hour power reserve. It’s their premier chronograph movement, finished nicely with Côtes de Genève and an openworked rotor. It’s equipped with hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph seconds, 12-hour timer, 30-minute timer and date functions.
As noted, the Signature edition is exclusive to Haaland’s wrist plus trusted friends while the standard version of the Chronomat B01 42 Erling Haaland is priced at £21,900 on rubber strap or £39,700 on bracelet. If you’re fed up of sitting on the meteorite Daytona waiting list or spending twice as much for a secondary market version, Breitling have got you covered.
Price and Specs:
More details at Breitling.
I guess being a brand ambassador can have it’s pitfalls as well as it’s obvious benefits. Pitfalls appear to be few (unless you are called upon to add a design input as in this case, where you leave yourself open to comment), whilst the benefits are more obvious, – the ambassadors are after all, people in the public eye, so used to being fêted and are not generally afraid of publicity. I myself will sadly never be called as a brand ambassador by either JLC or Bucherer (or anyone else for that matter) as I’m a complete unknown to the world of people watchers and social media “influencers”, and, in the case of Bucherer (and to use football terminology), this amazing brand is being “kicked into touch” by Rolex, I suspect due to their august history and the fact that their watches are so beautiful, that Rolex may be afraid of the competition, – I draw attention to the CF Bucherer “Heritage World Timer” limited edition in rose gold, this for me is hard to beat in many ways, and, is one watch that really looks good in rose gold. Which is a point I will return to regarding the Breitling / Erling Haaland collaboration.
So, to the Collab detailed in the review.
Footballers are not generally known for being shrinking violets and tend towards bling (no names but I guess we can all fill-in the blanks here). A hint would be reference to Rolex again, amongst others. I’m surprised that the more simply styled SS version is actually very nice and fairly restrained. I agree that the use of platinum for the bezel is less than ideal for durability purposes but the overall styling is super (if a bit on the bulky side), the dial, what can I say, other than it is the latest “trend” material but does look nice, the tapered semi Onion crown, and crown protectors are superb, the elastomeric (rubber) strap is somewhat unique and again looks super, overall, not a lot of negatives. But, now to the rose gold Chrono! IMO, the use of rose gold needs to be in moderation, and restraint needs to be applied, this rule hasn’t been considered with this watch, the case is too bold for rose gold (I’m not saying that the watch itself is too bold, but the use of rose gold for this case is too much), so, that being said, it shouldn’t even have been considered for the bracelet, way too much gold, but I guess it’s down to taste. (hence my earlier reference to the CFB limited edition HWT, just the right level of rose gold for the case on a leather strap). To summarise, the SS Breitling EH hits the back of the net, the rose gold bounces off the crossbar.