STRAP IN and HANG ON

Fancy a little bit of BMW M3 or Lotus Evora on your wrist?

Expensive cars and expensive watches go together like precision mechanical things that make certain people very emotional and status anxiety.

Premium watches with car connections are common, but watches that are actually made out of automotive bits are much rarer.

Here’s an intriguing one: a collaboration between Bamford London (it describes itself as “the world’s ultimate hub for personalised luxury products”) and Michelin, the B347 Pilot Sport.

The B347 is a model released by Bamford in 2021, but the Pilot Sport adds “new materials and design choices”, including one detail that is sure to melt the hearts of well-heeled car nerds: a strap made from recycled Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tyres, including a yellow fleck in the brand’s signature yellow. A small thing? Yes, but delight truly is in the tiny detail with high-end watches.

The strap material comes from Michelin’s research and development campus, Ladoux, in Clermont, France – via tyre recycling specialist Greenology.

The strap also features the actual tread pattern from the Pilot Sport 5 225/40 ZR18 tyre, as used on the BMW M3 (E36 and E43), Lotus Evora, Morgan Aero

8 and various iterations of the Volkswagen Golf GTI.

The case back and custom box also feature Bibendum, the iconic “Michelin Man”, a trademark which is not usually permitted on products outside Michelin’s own range.

Just 133 examples of the watch have been produced, one for each year of Michelin’s existence since 1889. It features a carbon case with a single pushbutton at

2 o’clock for the start-stop-reset function. The tachymeter has a chequered flag motif, with more Michelin yellow on the hands and white sub-dials – a reference to the company’s latest advertising campaign, which recalls past times when tyres were in white, not black.

The price is not as extreme as you might think: NZ$4950. Makes sense; it’s not like it has a posh stainless steel strap or anything.