“Can a heritage luxury watch brand use digital product passports and embedded consumer finance to build a direct ownership relationship that survives the secondary market?”
Founded in 1884 as a precision-instrument maker, Breitling evolved into a prestige Swiss watchmaker known for aviation-grade chronographs. Under CVC Capital Partners ownership from 2017, the brand modernised its retail strategy with a direct e-boutique model powered by Global-e for cross-border fulfilment and Riskified for fraud prevention. More recently, Breitling has leaned into digital provenance by partnering with Arianee and Dfns to issue blockchain-based digital product passports, positioning the watch as an NFT-like asset with verifiable ownership history.
Breitling processes payments through Global-e.
Breitling uses Global-e for FX and cross-border payouts.
Breitling's crypto products run on Dfns.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 4 layers in Breitling's stack: Payments / PSP (Global-e); Lending (0% financing at checkout (unnamed partner) and MUFG Pay on Behalf supply chain finance (B2B)); FX & payouts (Global-e); Crypto (Dfns).
Breitling was founded by Léon Breitling and is founded in 1884, headquartered in Grenchen, Switzerland.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Breitling and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.