Why Austin Butler is the ideal match for Breitling’s Top Time B31

There’s a particular art to selecting a brand ambassador — one that goes beyond profile or popularity. In watchmaking, especially, it’s about resonance. A timepiece carries history, engineering, and identity on the wrist. So when a brand like Breitling unveils a model as significant as the Top Time B31 — its first-ever in-house three-hand movement — the person representing it must embody more than just aesthetic appeal. They need to reflect the mechanical discipline and cultural nuance behind the watch. Austin Butler, with his quietly magnetic presence and deliberate approach to craft, does precisely that.

Butler is not a face of the moment. He’s an actor whose rise has been defined by restraint, precision, and a refusal to conform to expectations. Whether stepping into the world of Elvis or the cinematic scale of Dune: Part Two, his choices feel curated, not calculated. That same quality runs through Breitling’s Top Time B31 — a watch that may appear deceptively simple, but beneath its surface lies a considered evolution of one of the brand’s most free-spirited lines.

The Top Time dates back to the 1960s, when Willy Breitling designed it for a generation more interested in speed and self-expression than old-world formality. With graphic dials and bold proportions, it was worn by motorsport fans and cultural icons alike (most famously, by Sean Connery’s Bond). The new Top Time B31 revisits that heritage through a more distilled lens. It retains the soul of the original but introduces a new level of refinement, both visually and mechanically.

At its heart is the calibre B31, a manufacture automatic movement developed entirely in-house, an achievement that marks a technical milestone for the brand. Measuring 28mm across and just 4.8mm thick, it allows for a slimmer case profile without compromising performance. The movement is COSC-certified, ensuring chronometric precision, and features a free-sprung balance for enhanced stability. The skeletonised bidirectional rotor, visible through the exhibition caseback, is decorated with Geneva stripes and perlage, underscoring the meticulous attention to detail.

Visually, the Top Time B31 is clean but assertive. Available in three colourways — blue with white, green with black, and white with sky blue — it plays with contrast in subtle but effective ways. The dial features applied indices and a magnified date aperture, while the orange central seconds hand injects a sense of movement and edge. The 38mm case, paired with either a perforated leather strap or a three-row stainless steel bracelet, wears light on the wrist but feels substantial in presence. The asymmetrical centre link on the bracelet — a subtle Breitling signature — adds character without tipping into eccentricity.

Austin Butler wears the watch in a way that feels innate. There’s no performance, no overt branding. In interviews, he speaks about the spirit of adventure, about pushing the limits. But what stands out is his attention to the finer points — the way he prepares for a role, the way he navigates public life without spectacle. That temperament mirrors the B31’s ethos: focused, enduring, and quietly confident.

By placing Butler at the centre of the campaign, Breitling underlines a simple but powerful idea: that watchmaking, at its best, is about more than mechanics. It’s about alignment. The right movement. The right moment. And the right person to carry it forward.