Over at the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance this week, Jaguar unveiled its continuation Lightweight E-Type sports car, and to keep it company, British watchmaker Bremont chose the same venue for the début of its Lightweight E-Type wristwatch. No prizes for guessing, but the bespoke watch with a limited run of six is a commemoration timepiece on offer to the buyers of the Jaguar replica racers.
Built by Jaguar Heritage, the continuation Lightweight E-Types now being built are the last six of the 18-run limited edition started in 1963, but suspended 50 years ago with only 12 completed. To celebrate this impressive bit of automotive catch up, Bremont is producing six watches that not only complement the six cars, but actually contain materials from the car production line.
The Lightweight E-Type watch is a collaborative effort between Jaguar and Bremont that builds on a partnership that began when the watchmaker built the clocks for the C-X75 and XJ75 Platinum concept cars. The 43 mm watch is based on Jaguar archives to reflect the tachometer of the E-Type car and to create such details as the numeral font from the original rev counters.
Like the original gauge, it has a black dial, plus the "red zone" quadrant and chamfered hour and minute hands that are the same as the gauge needle. Down in the six o'clock spot is stamped the corresponding chassis number for each of the six continuation Lightweight E-Types.
To make the bond between car and watch even closer, the central band of the white gold cases are made of aluminum scraps left over from making the cars’ body panels that have been anodized to match the car finish. Inside is Bremont’s first proprietary self-winding movement, with a 50-hour power reserve and an alloy rotor that mimics the familiar Jaguar steering wheel and includes real wood trim.
In addition, the winding crown has the same pattern as the period-correct Dunlop tires fitted on the cars, while the strap is made of the same Conolly leather as the E-Type’s trim. To round things out, the engine number of the watch’s corresponding car is visible through the sapphire crystal on the reverse.
"The Lightweight E-type project is so special that we thought we really needed to create something which complemented the cars and, since most classic enthusiasts also tend to be horophiles, a wristwatch seemed to be the answer," says Jaguar’s director of design, Ian Callum.
The video below introduces the Bremont Lightweight E-Type watch.
Source: Bremont