Sunbeam land speed record car inspires Zero West watch

If you like watches inspired by cars, motorcycles, planes and boats, the small, independent UK maker Zero West needs to be on your radar. Founded in 2018 by designer Andrew Brabyn and military equipment technician Graham Collins, its mission was to create watches that pinpoint milestones in mechanical engineering.

It could, therefore, have been serendipity that led them to base themselves in an old boat house at the north end of Chichester Harbour. After moving in they discovered that the building was steeped in vehicular history, first as the place where Sir Henry Segrave’s 1000HP Sunbeam speed record car was built during the 1920s and later as the workshop of George Gray, a metal fabrication expert who made the panelling for the first Vanwall grand prix car.

Gray also worked on Segrave’s Golden Arrow land speed car and Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird – and, during the war, built fuselage components for Spitfires when the boat house served as a shadow factory after the bombing of the main Supermarine plant in nearby Southampton.

Brabyn and Collins have preserved much of the building’s atmosphere by furnishing it with vintage lights, cabinets filled with books and various bits of car, aircraft and marine memorabilia – including a Merlin engine that is now a table base.

One of Zero West’s latest watches is the LS-2, a tribute to the aforementioned Sunbeam ‘Mystery’, the twin aero-engined car in which Segrave became the first person to break the 200mph barrier on land on March 29, 1927.

Like the 24-foot long Sunbeam, the LS-2 watch is a substantial piece of engineering that features a 44mm case hewn from 316L billet steel and with a knurled central barrel. The ‘bull-head’ design places the crown and chronograph pushers on the top of the watch in the style of the automotive stopwatches that were used for speed timing in Segrave’s day.

The back, meanwhile, combines a screwed-down steel plate surrounding an aluminium insert that’s covered by a sapphire crystal disc giving a view onto the tried and tested Valjoux 7750 automatic movement (one of the most ubiquitous and reliable in the business).

Engraved with a laurel design, the insert also carries the relevant edition number of each watch (just 50 will be made) as well as Segrave’s record speed of 203.79mph. It is secured by an aerospace-grade rubber strap.

As with all Zero West watches, its dial is printed with the co-ordinates relevant to the feat of engineering that inspired it – which in this case is Florida’s Daytona Beach where Segrave made his historic record run almost a century ago.

Zero West LS-2 Land Speed (1927), £3995. zerowest.watch

Breitling first partnered with Australian motorcycle custom house Deus Ex Machina in 2021, creating a limited-edition Top Time special that sold out fast. Now the pairing is reprised in this watch which will be made in 2000 examples, each with the lightning bolt chronograph hand and mushroom pushers featured on the previous version. The back of the model is engraved with an image of a bike and rider designed by Deus creative director Carby Tuckwell and each one is delivered with a tote bag from the Breitling/Deus co-branded clothing and luggage line.

Breitling Top Time Deus, £4650. breitling.com

Italian brand Breil joined forces with Abarth eight years ago and has recently launched this quartz-powered chronograph that honours the Abarth 695 Tributo 131 Rally from 2022 – a Fiat 500-based tribute to the 131 rally car of the 1970s. The 43mm watch has a bezel based on the tribute car’s wheel design and a case back engraved with the silhouette of a 131. The Abarth scorpion logo appears at 12 o’clock and the watch is delivered on a matching, PVD-treated steel bracelet.

Breil Abarth 695 Tributo 131 Rally, £265. breil.com

Precision is written by renowned luxury goods specialist Simon de Burton