Do watch partnerships mean better watches?

My favourite partnerships are those struck up between watch and car brands. Not for nothing do they come around so reliably. After all, watches and cars both contain at their hearts a kernel of mechanical engineering and innovation. They also have a long and genuine history in the field: for a few glorious decades the analogue timer was a necessary part of motorsport, and the mechanical chronograph became equally indispensable in the pit lane. Today, as titans like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Mercedes-Benz join forces with Switzerland's biggest luxury group brands, there is no doubt that these are marketing agreements, with contracts as carefully scrutinised as any hand-polished component. But some romance remains, and in the eye of the customer, the successes and failures of these tie-ups matter more than others.

Partly, it's because the partnership invites a close comparison of the two players. Is Breitling really the Bentley of the watch world, or vice versa? Getting it right is a fiddly business: does it innately feel like the customer for one would be a customer for the other? For this reason, some relationships seem like they're meant to be: Roger Dubuis and Lamborghini is an example of a perfect match, as is McLaren and Richard Mille.

Also, when watches meet cars, unlike say, cigars, or shoes, there is scope for more of a genuine exchange of ideas; Flavio Manzoni at Ferrari involved himself in the design process for Hublot's partnership pieces, and the results were all the more convincing for his input.

Collaboration may not always be baked into such partnerships - IWC has never played up Mercedes­AMG's role in its watch design and yet has enjoyed nearly two decades of conferred approval (let's admit, the benefits flow mostly in one direction). But outside of horology, 'X' designs have been prevalent for years, and now watchmakers are joining the surge from Swatch to Seiko. The more hands-on the collab, the better; buyers want to know that a designer really did roll up his or her sleeves and create a watch - something Rado excels in facilitating - or that a craftsperson from a different discipline has brought something not otherwise found in watchmaking. And the more collaborators, the better, too - witness the fully-engraved, turquoise­dialled Franck Muller Casablanca created by Bamford Watch Department, King Nerd and artist Daniel Arsham. On paper, it sounds like an acquired taste, but with the energy of all four behind it, the limited run sold out almost immediately. More than the sum of its parts? I'll say.

Chris Hall, Senior Watch Editor