I am convinced that there is a Boethian universality concerning the power of engineering to fascinate and beguile the male mind. It may sound sexist – I admit that there are female engineers, horolophiles and car fanatics – but the condition is mostly a male one. Whether it is the micromechanical wizardry of the watchmaker who conceives and composes a whole machine in miniature to sit comfortably on the wrist, or the automotive engineer squeezing the last Newton metre of torque or kilowatt of power out of a V8 car engine, the result is that many men put reason aside and part with large sums of money for objects that, when viewed objectively, perform the tasks of transporting them from A to B or telling the hour of the day.

But if a car were just a car, or a watch were just a watch, our lives would be a little less amusing (and a lot less expensive). In recent years many car and watch brands have collaborated to create special ranges of timepieces aimed at the luxury car owner. One of the most successful of these is Breitling’s partnership with Bentley.