Manchester City star Erling Haaland has stepped off the pitch and into the watchmaking game.
The Norwegian professional soccer (or football, if you’re perched across the pond) player has teamed up with Breitling on a pair of limited-edition timepieces, each equipped with an astronomical meteorite dial cut from astral rock. In addition to the Erling Haaland Signature Chronomat line, the duo also has another trick up its sleeve for Haaland’s inner circle: an ultra-exclusive iteration made just for the athlete and his closest friends.
Starting with the Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 Erling Haaland, this watch features a stainless-steel case with a platinum bezel, as well as that meteorite dial. The soccer star’s initials, meanwhile, can be seen on the central seconds hands, and a red-gold GMT hand makes it way around the dial. Flip the watch over, and you’ll spot an engraved “One of 500” and “Earling Haaland 9” on the caseback. Looming large is also an engraved image of the footballer in his goal-celebration pose. You can choose to rock the timepiece, priced from $10,000, with either a steel rouleaux bracelet or a black rouleaux-esque rubber strap.
Breitling
The Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 Erling Haaland and the Chronomat B01 42 Erling Haaland.
The other half of the duo ups the ante. Starting at $26,600, the Chronomat B01 42 Erling Haaland is done up in an 18-karat red-gold case that makes the meteorite dial pop. This timepiece is limited to just 250, as denoted by an engraving on the sapphire-crystal caseback—don’t worry, you get an engraved No. 9 in honor of Haaland here, too. And you can sneak a peek of the Breitling’s Manufacture Caliber 01 with a 70-hour power reserve through the caseback as well. Haaland’s initials appear again here on the central chronograph seconds hands, alongside black chronograph subdials. For the strap, the watchmaker offers a black rubber or 18-karat red-gold rouleaux option.
Though this ultra-exclusive watch won’t be up for grabs (to the public, anyways), we can at least appreciate its beauty. With just five on offer for Haaland’s pals, the “One of 5” model is made from 18-karat red gold and, of course, that meteorite dial. The timepiece’s transparent caseback also gives you a look at the Breitling Manufacture Caliber 01, alongside a bespoke engraving of the athlete’s name, jersey number, and signature post-goal pose.
The Chronomat B01 42 Erling Haaland’s caseback.
Breitling
As for that meteorite dial, it’s the first time that Breitling has used the space rock on one of its watches. The material in question stems from the Muonionalusta meteorite, one of the oldest materials ever found on Earth—it landed here nearly one million years ago, but is estimated to be over 4.5 billion years old.
Pieces of the celestial rock scattered across northern Sweden and have since been recovered throughout the icy landscape; the fragments were found to contain iron, nickel, cobalt, and even a mineral called stishovite, which is rarely seen on Earth due to its formation during cosmic impacts. Upon its extraction, the meteorite was sliced up to reveal its Widmanstätten pattern, a natural crystalline structure that’s rather striking. Breitling used the material to craft its dials for this collection, with each part being completely unique.
That elusive “One of 5” iteration.
“Erling plays like he’s from another planet, so when we talked about materials, a meteorite dial was the perfect fit,” Breitling CEO Georges Kern said in a statement. “It’s a watch as powerful and singular as he is.”
Breitling introduced its Chronomat watch back in 1983, marking its return to mechanical chronographs. Taking design cues from a timepiece made for Frecce Tricolori, an Italian aerials quadron, the model offers up a rotating bezel with four rider tabs and a rouleaux bracelet. Now, though, you can have an out-of-this world edition strapped to your wrist.
