Breil is an Italian luxury company that specializes in watches, jewels, fragrances, eyewear, and leather accessories. The brand was founded in Milan in 1939, and introduced their first watch in 1942. Historically well known lines of watches have included Beaubourg, Breil Tribe, Breil Milano, Breil Manta, Infinity, and Gent.
Breil is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Binda Group, founded by Innocente Binda in 1906 and also based in Milan. Binda was also known for importing and marketing Wyler Vetta watches in Italy, and also currently owns Chronotech.
Valentino Rossi: Aprilia RS250 and Honda NSR500
As a personal sponsor of Valentino Rossi, Breil has made early appearances on the motorcycle Grand Prix grid on the Italian’s 250cc Aprilia RS250 in 1998 and 1999, as well as his Nastro Azzurro Honda NSR500 in 2000 and 2001.
A “Special Edition Valentino Rossi” chronograph with a yellow strap was released around 2001 after his first premier class title. A stylized “46” forms the six o’clock subdial while Rossi’s engraved signature features on case back. The reference number is not currently known (could possibly be 2519740189 or 2519740176), but the chronograph appears to be part of a collection called Wide Easy.
Valentino Rossi’s 2001 Honda NSR500. (Photo: by Rikita, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
1999 City of Imola Motorcycle Grand Prix
According to the official program cover that featured Rossi as a 250cc rider, Breil was the title sponsor of the 1999 City of Imola motorcycle Grand Prix. Archive footage shows that Breil signage could be seen around the circuit.
Certina was the Official Timekeeper of Grand Prix motorcycle racing during the 1999 season.
Loris Capirossi: Ducati Corse
Breil was also a sponsor of the Marlboro Ducati team during the 2005 and 2006 MotoGP seasons. In addition to the limited edition Breil Ducati Corse Chronograph Loris Capirossi, Breil has also released a number of other Ducati Corse edition models. It is not immediately clear if they were MotoGP-specific, or a general partnership with Ducati’s racing team division which involved MotoGP, World Superbike, and other national championships.
Binda Group and Ducati
The Binda Group signed a partnership with Ducati to produce and distribute Ducati and Ducati Corse watches, which was announced in March of 2008. A Ducati-branded booth was also present at BaselWorld that year.
Information on specific brand-involvement was not well documented.
Related Pages
References
https://web.archive.org/web/20180401021906/https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2005/01/20/ducati-unveil-desmosedici-gp5/137827
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Prix_motorcycle_racing_sponsorship_liveries
https://web.archive.org/web/20190217164705/http://columnm.com/bonhams-ducati-gp6-raced-loris-capirossi/
https://web.archive.org/web/20250612095554/http://valentinorossi.fc2web.com/foto6.html
https://www.wallapop.com/item/reloj-breil-chronograph-valentino-rossi-1111201051
https://www.brandforum.it/media/PapersPdf/pdfs/534.pdf
https://www.brandforum.it/media/PapersPdf/pdfs/506.pdf
https://www.lorologiaio.eu/shop/index.php?id_product=398&controller=product
https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/binda-group-to-make-ducati-brand-watches/
https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/watch-notes-from-baselworld-2008/
https://forums.timezone.com/index.php?rid=0&t=tree&th=1178415