{"id":216205,"date":"2026-04-02T16:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/216205\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:00:16","slug":"both-the-cars-and-the-watches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/216205\/","title":{"rendered":"Both The Cars and The Watches"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOrlando Bloom<\/a> is a Porsche guy. A few years back, he was in Stuttgart choosing the custom finishes for his Sonderwunsche\u2014the term for a special request or \u201cfactory commission.\u201d He was outfitting the 911 GT3, his fifth Porsche, which qualifies him as one of the company\u2019s biggest super fans. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt all started with the first paycheck I got from making a movie,\u201d he says. \u201cI was like, \u2018Okay, now I can go buy myself a sports car,\u2019 so I got a 911S from 1973, which I still own. It kept going from there; When I finished a film, it was either a watch or a car. So years later, there I was at the factory in Stuttgart, building out my dream car. They said, \u2018We really see your passion for the brand and we\u2019d like to talk about working together.\u2019\u201d The 48-year-old actor is now officially global brand ambassador for\u00a0Porsche Design<\/a>\u00a0timepieces and eyewear. \u201cFor me it felt really natural and authentic,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m a bit of a geek for the brand, and so it\u2019s kind of like I\u2019m living my boyhood dream. First I started collecting, and now I\u2019m working with the design team at Porsche, and I\u2019m very grateful for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Porsche Design Chronograph 1 \u2013 All Titanium Numbered Edition, a numbered, 1,000-piece edition. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPorsche Design<\/p>\n

\n\tSince then, the star of The Lord of The Rings and Hobbit series, and more than a dozen other films, including Gran Tourismo, has collaborated with Porsche Design on a pair of sunglasses and a leather jacket, both inspired by Porsche car models. He\u2019s especially proud of the jacket: \u201cIt\u2019s very beautiful leather. It has a hood because I wanted it to have a slightly street feel to it, and I wanted it to have a utility feel as well, so it\u2019s reversible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019s also a watch guy, a passion instilled in him by his grandfather, who collected Omega and other top brands. When Bloom was a teenager, before he became a movie star, he remembers buying a Timex from a guy who was selling pre-owned watches out of the trunk of his car. Today, his collection is more aspirational. He rhymes off several coveted models from top brands when asked about his collection. And he loves Porsche Design watches. When Bloom helped launch the company\u2019s watchmaking headquarters last month in Grenchen, Switzerland, he was wearing the Chronograph 1 \u2013 1975 Limited Edition, which he helped launch in July 2025. Porsche\u2019s original Chronograph 1\u00a0was one of the first chronographs<\/a> with a black-coated steel case when it was introduced in 1972, kickstarting a trend that lasted for years. Inspired by the dashboard of a Porsche 911<\/a>, it was created by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche and has been refined in the years since. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tOrlando hasn\u2019t designed a watch yet with Porsche Design, but would love to. \u201cI\u2019ve got some great ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPorsche Design<\/p>\n

\n\tThis month, Porsche is launching the Chronograph 1 \u2013 All Titanium Numbered Edition, based on last year\u2019s 1975 Limited Edition. It\u2019s a limited numbered series of 1,000 pieces per year. The case (40.8 mm) and bracelet are made of glass-bead-blasted titanium, with a titanium folding clasp and fine adjustment. The dial is all about legibility, with white markings over a black surface, including a larger-than-usual tachymeter scale printed on one of the deepest flanges in the business. The indexes and hands are liberally coated with Super-LumiNova. The movement, Porsche Design WERK 01.400 with chronograph and day\/date display, is COSC certified, with a 48-hour power reserve. It retails for $8,250. Most will go to Porsche car owners like Bloom.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Chrono 1 just makes a lot of sense to me,\u201d says Bloom. \u201cIt\u2019s good design, and I think good design gives you that feeling of safety. It\u2019s like when you\u2019re sitting in the cockpit of your car, you feel like the design and the arrangement of everything makes sense, and it makes you a better driver.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCustomers can drive their Porsche cars right into the new Porsche Design Timepieces Manufaktur in Grenchen, Switzerland.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlars borges<\/p>\n

\n\tPorsche Design Timepieces is not a typical watch brand. For one thing, it\u2019s the only automotive company with its own watch manufacture, a milestone for Porsche AG, the parent company of Porsche Design. It does not try to be all things to all people. It has not jumped on the minimalist vintage design bandwagon, and it does not follow the cycles of dial color trends. It sticks to making solidly engineered, meticulously designed chronographs aimed at auto aficionados. The watch is truly an extension of the world of Porsche, which means it\u2019s all about design, engineering and quality. Eighty percent of its watch customers own a Porsche car. And like the Sonderwunsche factory commission cars, the watches are fully customized, usually to match the customer\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe watches are customized, just like the cars.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlars borges<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur customers expect a certain level of quality,\u201d says Rolf Bergmann, CEO of Porsche Design Timepieces. \u201cWe have elegant watches in our collections, but we have no plans to do dress watches with a lot of gold or with the important colors of the moment. Our core is sports watches, and we are working with titanium. It\u2019s a technical approach. Everything we do is based on Porsche engineering, production and material. All the leathers we use on the strap, for example, are exactly the same material that we use in the interior of our cars. When we do colors, we don\u2019t do colors just by chance. We transfer the colors from our sports cars onto our customer\u2019s wrists. So yellow is not yellow, it\u2019s racing yellow or speed yellow. Red is carmine red.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPorsche watches were made under license for many years, first by Orfina, then by IWC and then by Eterna until 2014 when Porsche took over its own design and construction. The new 3,600-square-meter (about 38,000-square-foot) manufaktur (as the Germans call it) is in fact the former site of Eterna\u2014but Porsche gutted it to the studs and completely rebuilt the inside. There are 10 watchmaking stations, rows of CNC machines, an advanced ventilation system and state-of-the-art quality control equipment and systems.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe watches are as technically sophisticated, and crafted with the same passion as a sports car,\u201d says Bergmann. \u201cThe idea of the new manufaktur is not to increase volume, but to secure quality, to secure processes and engineering capabilities, to control every process. The majority\u2014more than a third of our business\u2014is sports correlated watches that are built on customer demand. And to secure that in the long term, in terms of process, in terms of quality, in terms of engineering capabilities, that was the main reason for the new building.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThere are 10 watchmaking stations at the Porsche Design headquarters in Grenchen, Switzerland. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlars borges<\/p>\n

\n\tPorsche does not make its own movements\u2014those are supplied by two respected Swiss companies: Concepto and Dubois Depraz\u2014but all are engineered to Porsche Design specs, and they are proprietary to the brand. \u201cThe construction and development of the movement is ours: our technique, our intellectual property,\u201d says Bergman.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe rotors can be designed to match the steering wheel of the customer\u2019s Porsche car. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe headquarters is also geared to delivering a direct customer experience, a growing trend among luxury brands. The first level is an exhibition and event area that traces the evolution of Porsche Design Timepieces since 1972. Although the upstairs factory itself is all business, the customer service area is sleek and black and red, (carmine red\u00a0 and \u201cTiefschwarz\u201d Porsche\u2019s deep black color), with subtle car-related accents, including a staircase handrail upholstered in original Porsche interior leather. It houses what Bergmann calls the \u201cconfiguration area,\u201d known as the Fitting Lounge, where customers go to choose their finishes and co-design their custom-built timepieces. \u201cWe transfer the look, the design, the material, the style of their cars into the wristwatches,\u201d he says. \u201cThe winding rotor, for example, isn\u2019t just any winding rotor. It is exactly matching the wheel of our customers\u2019 cars.\u201d And here\u2019s a bonus: A special door allows customers to drive their Porsches right into the building. Like drive-through watch shopping\u2014surely a first in the industry.<\/p>\n

\n\tBloom has not yet collaborated with Porsche on a watch design, \u00a0but he says he would \u201clove to. I\u2019ve got some great ideas, so I\u2019m definitely pitching them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAuthors<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Carol<\/p>\n

\n\t\tCarol Besler\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Carol Besler writes about luxury watches and jewelry for Robb Report, Bloomberg, The New York Times, Forbes, and others. She is a member of the Academy of the Grand Prix D’Horlogerie de G\u00e8neve and\u2026<\/p>\n

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