FLOAT 100 · Watches · No. 97

Breitling Top Time

Breitling built the Top Time in 1964 to win over the baby boomers, James Bond turned one into a Geiger counter, and the name has now returned as a small, simple steel watch inspired by classic-car dashboards.

Year: 1964 origin; current Top Time B31 (2025)
Maker: Breitling
By price in watches: 94 of 100

Market asking price, not a sale · Oct 4, 2026$5,850This is not a sale. It is an asking price, and no transaction is recorded at this figure.

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Maker: Breitling, Switzerland
Introduced: 1964, under Willy Breitling
Original type: Two- and three-register manual chronographs, refs. 2000, 2002, 2003 and 810
Vintage movements: Venus 188 and Valjoux 7730/7733
Film role: A modified ref. 2002 with a Geiger counter in Thunderball, 1965
Revival: 41 mm limited re-edition in 2020, then a full Top Time collection
This entry: Top Time B31, refs. AB3113 series, launched 2025
B31 case: 38 mm stainless steel, 10.31 mm thick, 100 m water resistance
B31 movement: Breitling Manufacture Caliber B31, self-winding, three hands and date, about 78 hours of power reserve
B31 list price: $5,850 in the U.S. (October 2026)

A chronograph for the young

In 1964 Willy Breitling, who ran the family company, saw that the baby-boom generation wanted watches that matched their lives, not their fathers'. 'We are sweeping into the field of youth, and we are going to speak their language,' he declared. The answer was the Top Time.

The original Top Time was a slim, streamlined chronograph, about 36 mm across in its classic form. Its monocoque case improved water resistance, it used mushroom-style pushers, and buyers could choose an outer scale for different uses: a tachymeter for speed, a pulsometer for heart rate, or a decimal scale. It was a sports watch meant to be worn every day.

Early references included the 2000, 2002 and 2003, with two registers, and the 810, which added a third. Movements came from outside suppliers, the Venus 188 and the Valjoux 7730 and 7733. The best-known dial, now called the 'Zorro', set two white sub-dials inside a black mask-like shape. Breitling later added cushion and square cases, and the line was featured in Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, appealing to women as well as men.

Q's Geiger counter

Thunderball, the fourth James Bond film, opened in Tokyo on December 9, 1965, and became the highest-grossing Bond film until 1973. In it, Sean Connery's Bond is issued a Top Time reference 2002 modified by Q with a built-in Geiger counter to track down two stolen nuclear warheads. It was the first true gadget watch in the Bond series.

The prop was heavily altered by the film's production team and looked little like a standard Top Time. After filming it disappeared. It resurfaced in England at a car boot sale, the British version of a yard sale, where it was bought for £25 in 2012, and in 2013 it sold at auction for £103,875. One news agency reported the price as $160,000. It remains one of the most expensive vintage Breitlings ever sold, and its value came from the screen, not the watch itself.

Gone for decades, then back

Vintage Top Times have long traded well below comparable chronographs of the era, often for a third to a fifth of the price of an equivalent Heuer Carrera despite similar quality, which made them a favorite of collectors on a budget.

Breitling brought the name back in 2020 with a 41 mm limited edition of the Zorro-dial chronograph, after the Top Time had been absent from the catalog for some 45 years. A Classic Cars capsule followed in 2021 with Corvette, Mustang and Shelby Cobra editions; collaborations with Deus and Triumph came in 2022; and in 2023 the range grew to include B01 chronographs and B21 models in ceramic and bronze. The current U.S. lineup runs from the B31 to Top Time B21 models listed at $51,500.

The Top Time B31: how to identify it

Launched in 2025, the Top Time B31 is a departure: despite the Top Time's chronograph roots, it is not a chronograph. It is a three-hand watch with a date, powered by the Breitling Caliber B31, which the brand calls its first in-house three-hand manufacture movement. The self-winding caliber beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour and runs for about 78 hours.

The case is stainless steel, 38 mm across and 10.31 mm thick, with a fixed bezel, a non-screw-down crown, a screwed-in sapphire caseback and water resistance to 100 meters. The watch weighs 65.84 grams. Its look borrows from classic-car dashboard clocks.

References begin with AB3113. The AB3113281A1X1 comes on a beige calfskin strap; the AB3113A71L1X1 has a green dial on a green strap; the AB3113A71C2X1 is a third variant. In October 2026 each was listed at $5,850 in the United States, excluding sales tax.

The numbers

Reference family: AB3113 (e.g. AB3113281A1X1, AB3113A71L1X1, AB3113A71C2X1)
Caliber: Breitling B31, self-winding, 28,800 vph, about 78 hours
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date; no chronograph
Case: 38 mm stainless steel, 10.31 mm thick, 65.84 g
Water resistance: 10 bar (100 m)
Production years: 2025 to present; original Top Time from 1964

Timeline

1964
Breitling introduces the Top Time under Willy Breitling.
Dec 9, 1965
Thunderball premieres in Tokyo, with Bond wearing a modified Top Time ref. 2002.
1966
Thunderball wins the Academy Award for visual effects.
2012
The Thunderball prop is found at an English car boot sale and bought for £25.
2013
The prop sells at auction for £103,875.
2020
Breitling revives the Top Time with a 41 mm limited Zorro-dial edition.
2021
Top Time Classic Cars capsule: Corvette, Mustang and Shelby Cobra.
2022
Deus and Triumph Top Time models arrive, the latter with the in-house B01.
2023
B21 Top Time models appear in ceramic and bronze.
2025
Breitling launches the 38 mm, three-hand Top Time B31.

The world in 1964

Feb 9, 1964
The Beatles first perform for American television on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Mar 27, 1964
A magnitude 9.2 earthquake strikes Alaska.
Jun 20, 1964
The Ford GT40 makes its first appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Jul 2, 1964
The Civil Rights Act is signed into law.
Oct 1, 1964
Japan opens the world's first high-speed rail line, Tokyo to Osaka.
Oct 10, 1964
The Tokyo Summer Olympics open, the first in Asia.
Oct 14, 1964
Martin Luther King Jr. becomes the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Breitling Top Time is number 94 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (97 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

Despite the Top Time's chronograph roots, the Top Time B31 has no chronograph at all.
Bond's Thunderball Top Time was bought for £25 at a car boot sale before it sold for £103,875.
The original Top Time let buyers choose a tachymeter, pulsometer or decimal scale.
The 'Zorro' nickname comes from the black mask-shaped panel framing the two sub-dials.
The Top Time was out of Breitling's catalog for about 45 years before its 2020 return.
Vintage Top Times have often sold for a third to a fifth of the price of comparable Heuer Carreras.

How this page is made

The figure: One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
Realized or not: A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
The story: Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
Archive: Oct 5, 2026