The Spirit of Exclusivity

Mulliner, the jewel in the crown of the Bentley factory in Crewe. Behind the closed doors of this prestigious workshop, a hundred or so craftsmen and technicians lavish the utmost care on fulfilling the most specific wishes of Bentley owners.

Embodying a blend of technology and tradition, commissioning is taken to its ultimate conclusion.

This spirit of exclusivity has given rise to an extraordinary timepiece, the Mulliner Tourbillon chronograph. A rare and indeed extremely rare model, since only a few dozen will be made over the next few years, at a rate of two per month.

 

 

While exclusivity comes at a price, it also brings its share of privileges, since each Mulliner Tourbillon is customized by its future owner. According to his personal preferences, he can choose the type of case – in platinum or in yellow, rose or white gold – the dial colour or the exact shade of the crocodile leather strap. Even the precious wood decoration on the back of the watch comes in a choice of six types of veneer.

This masterpiece also has an exceptional heart in the shape of hand-wound Breitling Caliber 18B, a Tourbillon chronograph movement exclusive to “ Breitling for Bentley ”. The tourbillon is a sophisticated mechanism constituting one of the most ingenious mechanical watch complications: the balance, balance-spring and escapement are contained within a carriage spinning on its axis, a construction which compensates for the variations in rate that occur when a watch is in a vertical position. This is not the only special feature of this mechanism: its “30-second ” type chronograph mechanism is distinguished by its central hand revolving around the dial in half a minute instead of the usual 60 seconds; this apparently surprising configuration enables extremely precise read-off for the fractions of a second, in this case 1/6ths. It is also endowed with a 15-minute totalizer and a pointer-type date display.

Each hour-marker on the dial is fashioned from natural hand-crafted mother-of-pearl. A work of trueartistry.

Both literally and figuratively, each Mulliner Tourbillon carries the hallmark of its owner, including hisinitials engraved on one of the movement bridges.

Protected by a sapphire crystal, the precious wooden ring is available in the same shades and veneers as the Bentley Mulliner trim: burr walnut, dark stained burr walnut, madrona, birds eye maple, burr oak, olive ash. The countless ways of personalizing a Mulliner Tourbillon chronograph are directly inspired by those offered by the Bentley Mulliner workshops in Crewe.

Each automobile that emerges from the Mulliner workshops is unique… and such is also true of each Mulliner Tourbillon, thus guaranteeing its owner the certainty that he will never see an identical watch. Never!.

 

 

 

Text: Enrique Rosas ± Photo: Cortesía de la marca.