The Breitling and Triumph Motorcycles collaboration spawns a slick and quick limited edition

I’ve long worn mechanical watches while riding motorcycles. I even designed a watch specifically for motorcycling. More than a few recent collaborations between motorcycle and watch brands have made more clear what I’d long thought obvious: watches and motorcycles belong together.

The Breitling and Triumph Motorcycles collaboration brings a limited-edition motorcycle and a limited-edition watch to the market. While the bike is one of the best on the market right now, the idea that one can get a watch with a matching limited-edition serial number makes the proposition sing unlike most other collabs of this nature. The way it works is that if you buy the bike, you have the opportunity to buy the coordinating watch.

The Breitling on offer is the well-known Chronomat B01 42, here rendered in titanium and red gold for a look that very much brings to mind the smoky-grey metals of a motorcycle with the famous golden shock absorbers from Ohlins (and other brands). In fact, I’d not thought of Ohlins-equipped motorcycles as two-tone until now, but that’s exactly what they are. The dial is in carbon, to match the various flat black surfaces of the bike. The Chronomat was reissued a few years back with a bracelet that’s quintessentially of the 1980s, but offered here on a leather strap it takes on a more timeless vibe that suits the similarly classic sport bike design of the Triumph.

As for the motorcycle (US$10,990), I’ve ridden these Speed Triples before, and they are brilliant machines. Fast, smooth, but with a grunt that gets the soul going. This model is, in my opinion, not only the best-looking Triumph on offer right now, but perhaps the best-looking sport bike on the market. With a 1,200-cc triple-cylinder engine and a peak 177 hp, this bike rips on the track, but offers reasonable street comfort with slightly higher handlebars and lower foot pegs than your usual sport bike.

Badged on the tank with a gold Breitling logo and offering a Breitling-branded splash on the TFT screen upon start-up, this bike will beg you to go for the limited-edition Chronomat. I can hardly imagine one without the other.

Only 270 of these bikes will be built, and the watches will be offered to owners (price not divulged).

This story first appeared on Robb Report USA