With one of America’s biggest sporting events of the year around the corner, Breitling thought to join in on the fun. As such, the Swiss luxury watchmaker has revealed its Breitling Chronomat B01 42 Super Bowl LVIII.
What makes the limited-edition timepiece extra special is it being created as a tribute to Julius “Boomer” Esiason – who is a former NFL quarterback and a longtime ambassador of Breitling. In addition to the tribute, the watch’s creation is in support of the Boomer Esiason Foundation (BEF), which supports the cystic fibrosis community.
The striking timepiece appears in a 42mm case crafted from 18-karat red gold with a dark blue dial and black subdials. What also compliments those details is a matching 18-karat red gold Rouleaux bracelet or black rubber strap. Another standout feature of the watch is the Super Bowl LVIII logo appearing on the case back alongside a “LIMITED EDITION” engraving.
In celebration of this year’s Super Bowl, the timepiece is limited to 58 units. Also, the first of the 58 watches will be sold at an exclusive BEF auction where 100% of the proceeds will benefit the Boomer Esiason Foundation. 10% of the remaining watch sales will also benefit BEF.
Among the various luxury watches that you actually see on people’s wrists here in the United States, Breitling Chronomat B01 42 Super Bowl LVIII is easily one of the most frequently spotted brands. Additionally, despite being Swiss, Breitling has a long history of producing U.S. market-exclusive models and even creating timepieces that pay tribute to various aspects of American culture. Just ahead of Super Bowl LVIII, Breitling has created a limited-edition version of the Chronomat that celebrates America’s premier sporting event and the brand’s longtime partnership with former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason. Crafted from solid 18k red gold, the new Breitling Chronomat B01 42 Super Bowl LVIII Edition will be produced as a limited edition of 58 examples, and proceeds from the sale of each watch will benefit the Boomer Esiason Foundation and its mission to cure cystic fibrosis.
At a quick glance, the new Breitling Chronomat B01 42 Super Bowl LVIII Edition could best be described as an 18k red gold version of the current-production 42mm Chronomat B01 that has a similar colorway to the 44mm limited edition from 2023 that was produced exclusively for the United States. Just like other 42mm models from the Chronomat collection, the new Super Bowl LVIII Edition measures 42mm in diameter by 15.1mm thick, with 22mm lugs and an overall lug-to-lug profile of 50.5mm. A cambered sapphire crystal protects the dial of the watch, while a unidirectional rotating timing bezel sits along its perimeter, although unlike the 44mm model from last year that was created for the U.S. market, the bezel on the new Super Bowl LVIII Edition is entirely red gold, rather than having a black ceramic insert.
Just like the rest of the current 42mm Chronomat series, the new Breitling Chronomat B01 42 Super Bowl LVIII Edition features a screw-down crown flanked by a set of oval-shaped pushers on the right-hand side of the case. Additionally, the double gasket system for the winding crown helps to ensure a fairly generous 200 meters of water resistance, which should be more than enough to protect against virtually all forms of moisture contact. Unlike the standard-production versions of the Chronomat B01 42, the new Super Bowl LVIII Edition features a caseback that has a red and purple Super Bowl LVIII logo printed on the underside surface of its display window, and the caseback also has each watch’s individual limited-edition number out of 58 examples engraved along its outer perimeter.
The dial of the new Breitling Chronomat B01 42 Super Bowl LVIII Edition is very similar to the 44mm U.S. market-exclusive model that was launched last year, and it features a dark blue sunburst surface paired with contrasting black sub-dials and a matching back chapter ring that has a tachymeter scale printed in white. The luminous baton-shaped hour markers and hands all appear in red gold to match the case, and small bright red accents are placed within the chapter ring and on the centrally-mounted chronograph seconds hand to help provided a vibrant and casual touch to what is otherwise a rather refined and elevated rendition of the brand’s multi-purpose sports chronograph.
Just like the rest of the chronograph-equipped models from the Breitling Chronomat collection, the new Super Bowl LVIII Edition is powered by the brand’s in-house Caliber B01 automatic chronograph movement, which is a COSC-certified chronometer and runs at a frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz) with a power reserve of approximately 70-hours. The Caliber B01 serves as the go-to option for the majority of Brietling’s current-production chronograph watches, although the decoration on the Cal. B01 can vary depending on the specific model. Given its solid 18k gold construction, the Breitling Chronomat B01 42 Super Bowl LVIII Edition receives one of the more decorated versions with Geneva stripes on its uppermost bridge and a gold-finished rotor; however, the large Super Bowl LVIII graphic printed on the display window of the caseback hides a significant portion of it from view.
The new Breitling Chronomat B01 42 Super Bowl LVIII Edition is available with the option of either the collection’s signature Rouleaux bracelet in matching full 18k red gold or a black rubber strap, which features a textured design that is inspired by the shape of the links on the Chronomat’s Rouleaux bracelet. While the bracelet tapers from 22mm at the case down to 20mm at its clasp and is very much just the solid gold version of what you will find among the standard-production 42mm models, the black rubber strap is the textured style that is typically fitted to the larger 44mm Chronomat models, rather than the smooth style with a raised central section that is normally fitted to the 42mm Breitling Chronomat B01 watches.
The first of the new Breitling Chronomat B01 42 Super Bowl LVIII Edition watches will be sold exclusively through an auction organized by the Boomer Esiason Foundation, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to the foundation itself. Additionally, the NFL will host a special fundraiser via NFL Auction in February that will include another example of the Breitling Chronomat B01 42 Super Bowl LVIII Edition, and the proceeds from that sale will also entirely benefit the foundation (the NFL does not profit from the sale of items via NFL Auction). As for the other watches that make up the 58 total examples (a reference to Super Bowl LVIII), 10% of the proceeds from every single sale will be donated to the Boomer Esiason Foundation and its fight against cystic fibrosis.