British watch brand Bremont formed a partnership with Jaguar more than a decade ago when it made a bespoke clock for the C-X75 concept car. Four years later, it followed that with half a dozen gold watches to complement each of the “continuation” Special GT E-Types built by Jaguar Classic. It then produced a range named after the MKI and MKII saloons. (It even added a “MKIII” for good measure, even though no such Jaguar ever existed.)

So, when it was announced two years ago that Jaguar Classic would produce 25 continuation D-Type racers to bring the number built to a round 100, it was only right that there should be another Bremont special – this time a run of 300 chronographs with dials in the blue livery of Scotland’s 1956 and 1957 Le Mans-winning Ecurie Ecosse team.

And now the Henley-on-Thames based maker has marked this year’s 60th anniversary of the “regular” E-Type with another round of limited editions, the designs of which honour the two 1961 launch cars. Created by former aircraft designer Mr Malcolm Sayer, the E-Type was unveiled outside the Restaurant du Parc des Eaux Vives during the Geneva Salon at 4.30pm on 15 March 1961.

The gunmetal grey coupé used for the launch had been driven flat-out from Coventry by Jaguar publicist Mr Bob Berry, who arrived with minutes to spare. But the car provoked such an overwhelming reaction that factory test driver Mr Norman Dewis, then back in Coventry, was told to “drop everything” and race through the night to deliver a British Racing Green roadster to the show by the following morning.

The E-Type’s radical appearance and promise of being the fastest production car in the world caused near hysteria and resulted in 500 orders being placed before the show had ended. More than 72,000 E-Types were built, with around 12,000 being sold in Britain and the majority going to the US.

Celebrated owners included Messrs Steve McQueen, Frank Sinatra, George Harrison, Ms Britt Ekland, Mr Peter Sellers and Sir Jackie Stewart. These days, the most sought after version is the Series 1 “flat floor” roadster, with original, 1961 examples now fetching up to £200,000.

Now, Jaguar is creating six matched pairs of fully-restored E-Types – three in a specially produced colour called “Flat Out Grey” and three in “Drop Everything Green” in memory of the original show cars.

Accordingly, the Bremont watches that go with them will be made in two editions, 60 with grey ceramic bezels and grey “racing” straps and 60 in green. In both cases, the steel chronographs feature winding rotors in the form of miniaturised Jaguar steering wheels and dials inspired by the E-Type’s Smiths instruments. Each watch will be delivered in a bridle leather trimmed box along with a superb pair of Bremont rally timer stop watches, which can be attached to a car dashboard or used as desk clocks.

But that’s not all that buyers get. The price tag also includes an otherwise impossible-to-obtain experience: a trip to Jaguar’s test centre, a drive of the MK1 E-Type once owned by the late 10-times motorcycle world champion Mr Mike Hailwood and a few laps in one of the lightweight E-Type competition cars. Bremont founders Mr Nick and Mr Giles English are especially proud of the project because they still own and drive the 1970 E-Type roadster that belonged to their late father.

“He bought it as a wreck more than 35 years ago and rebuilt it from the ground-up,” Nick says. “The fact that we remember seeing it in pieces in the workshop makes it all the more significant to us.”

In 2017 and 2018, the brothers clocked-up 5,000 miles with the E-type on brand-promoting road trips along the east and west coasts of the US. “In a conventional, modern car, those drives might have seemed a bit boring,” Nick says. “But in the E-Type, they were real adventures. In fact, the further we travelled the better the car seemed to run.”