A new partnership between Breitling and Tudor neatly answers the needs of both brands and potentially signals the beginning of a pragmatic new era in watchmaking.
By James Buttery

The most noteworthy development to arise out of Baselworld this year was arguably not a specific watch, but rather a partnership. Tudor and Breitling both announced that they had entered into a co-operative agreement that sees movements from each brand head in the opposite direction.
The deal plugs gaps in the offerings of each brand; Tudor receives a chronograph movement based on Breitling’s now eight-year-old B01 (the MT5813, below) for use in its new Heritage Chronograph, whilst Breitling gets its hands on Tudor?s three-hand MT5612 movement, renamed the B20 after modification, to power its Superocean Heritage II.   
Both brands achieve what they want with minimal expenditure, no movement development costs and no expensive re-tooling; the very definition of a win-win. Such partnerships and supply chains are the bedrock upon which the Swiss watch industry has been built, so why should this instance be worth mentioning"

End of an era"As many brands blithely raced ahead in search of coveted manufacture status at any cost ? usually millions of Swiss Francs – mention of any third-party assistance was, for a long time, seen as taboo.
This Manufacture era served a purpose beyond merely seeking independence ahead of ETA?s planned switch-off of its supply of me...