Breitling has launched a few motorcycle related watches over the last year or so and we salute that, being bikers as well as watch fans here at NWC mag. The latest variation on the Top Time retro chrono model is the Deus Ex Machina model, which is a branding partnership with the surf clothing, lifestyle and custom build biker hangout from Australia.

Originally, Deus Ex Machina was a hangout, a coffee shop/garage where surfers, petrolheads and general tinkerers could create stuff, share ideas. Great. We love that casual custom workshop vibe.

Now however, Deus Ex Mchina is a global fashion brand and yeah, we don’t rate that sh*t at all. It just becomes a badge that people wear trying to look edgy. Whereas really edgy people tend to have charity shop clothing, a sharp weapon concealed on their person and a crazed look in their eyes.

But we digress, what about the watch? Well it’s the B01 engined Top Time, with a custom Deus dial; logo on there, nice black and white tones. Dash of red too. It retails at £6,250. That’s steep, compared to the light blue Deus Top Time at just under five grand. That has the Cal 23 Breitling movement inside, which is COSC grade, so we think it’s a better deal in pure watch quality terms.

When the Top Time was revived back in 2020 NWC loved the `Zorro’ dial design. It was punchy, retro yet fresh and it was under five grand. It had its own Breitling identity and we miss that original 2020 design. Now the Top Time range is veering towards something more fashion brand tie-in and that isn’t the way for us. There are some great iterations of the Top Time from the 60s which could provide inspiration for new watches; cushion cases, two or three sub-dials, gold coloured bezels and more.

More info at the Breitling site.