A watch to match Porsche’s ultimate car: the 911 Turbo S

If you’re a Porsche owner or just one of the world’s millions of fans of the Zuffenhausen marque, you probably know all about Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur, the in-house customisation service that makes it possible to configure a new car exactly to taste, from the colour of the paint to the style of the wheels and the material used for the upholstery.

But what not so many people might know is that Porsche Design – the arm of the business that makes everything from bicycles and luggage to sunglasses – also offers a bespoke service for its wristwatches.

The Porsche Design Custom-built Timepieces programme (to give it its full title) was launched in 2020 to enable buyers to either own a watch that complements their car as closely as possible or to simply create the personalised one-off of their horological dreams. Watches based on various different Porsche models have been made available in the five or so years that the programme has been operational, and now it’s the turn of the 911 Turbo S.

Since the introduction of the 930 in 1974, Porsche’s 911 Turbo cars have become the marque’s halo road-legal models, especially in track-focused GT2 RS guise, but for a combination of daily driver practicality, huge power and continent-crushing capability, the more civilised Turbo S remains the ultimate.

So it’s no surprise to see that Porsche Design has gone to town on a watch to match it, even turning to colour systems specialist Pantone to develop a paint that it has whimsically named Turbonite.

In straightforward language, it’s simply a method of precisely matching any of the colours available on the Porsche car configurator to elements of the custom-built watches – something, says Porsche, that Pantone has never before done for a car company.

The 911 Turbo S watch starts life with a basic black dial which, according to Porsche, was “inspired by the glare-free cockpit” of the car itself. Buyers can then create a ring around the outer edge of the dial in a hue that’s identical to any colour available through the car configurator, and can also add a matching Porsche crest.

The watch itself features a titanium case with a black titanium carbide coating, a tachymetre bezel and a transparent case back that gives a view onto the calibre Werk 01.200 in-house flyback chronograph movement. Perhaps predictably the automatic winding rotor takes the form of a miniature Turbo S wheel and the flange surrounding the caseback can be personalised with the owner’s name, his or her car registration mark or its own vehicle identification number (VIN).

And the customisation doesn’t stop there, because the strap can be specified in identical leather to that used to trim a specific car and stitched together using exactly the same yarn. As a finishing touch, there’s also a hot-stamping service that will indelibly mark the Turbo S insignia on the strap which is secured by a titanium buckle.

The new 911 Turbo S watches are under £10,000 and can be ordered through participating Porsche showrooms. Or, if you just want to have fun creating one, check out the configurator at shop.porsche.com.

Porsche Design Chronograph 1 911 Turbo S, £9400. shop.porsche.com