The England and Norway quarter-final match in the World Cup on Saturday was an intense one. We saw Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham, friends since their days at Borussia Dortmund, put their bromance aside for 120 minutes of hard-fought, leave-everything-on-the-pitch drama. And now England's in the semi-final again. Is it coming home? Too soon to tell. But what we can say for sure is that Haaland's dad, cheering his son on, wore a striking watch that stood out from the crowd.
Haaland's opted for a Breitling Chronomat 39, an old school model that has now been discontinued. It features a yellow gold and stainless steel bracelet, with a gold bezel, against which the deep black dial hugely stands out. The golden sub-dials, which match the bracelet and bezel, make for an especially elegant contrast. In a 39mm case, it's large enough to make a statement without being so big that the contrasts become ostentatious.
The Chronomat was first released in 1941, just a few years after Breitling was founded, and it functioned as a tool watch with a number of groundbreaking aviation features. The logarithmic scale on its rotating bezel, when used alongside the chronograph, allowed pilots to track fuel consumption, distance, climb and descent. It was a gamechanger for pilots, although it was originally designed for scientists and mathematicians.
The design of the line has gone on a real journey since then. Haaland's two-tone version, the Breitling Chronomat D13352, was released in 2001 and remained in production until 2004. It's bulky and tough, not unlike the Haaland clan. The modern version of the Chronomat underwent a sleek redesign this year.
If you are looking to get your hands on a Breitling Chronomat 39 like Haaland's, they're not particularly hard to find on the second-hand market. They sell for anywhere between GBP2,000 and GBP5,000, depending on the specific model and material you're looking at.
