KEY POINTS:
Aston Martin boss Ulrich Bez hailed it as the perfect James Bond gadget. For a super-select group of Aston Martin customers it might be the ultimate automotive status symbol.
No, it's not Aston Martin's just-launched DBS flagship sports coupe, despite its 510hp engine, 302km/h top speed and £240,000
($467,000) price tag. The British brand will make just 500 of these exclusive two-seaters each year but, for some, even these limited-production numbers aren't exclusive enough.
Now Aston Martin has the perfect answer: a limited edition Jaeger LeCoultre chronograph, available only to DBS customers and, in its most sophisticated form, capable of technical tricks that would impress even the cool-headed Bond.
Jerome Lambert, chief executive of Le Sentier, Switzerland-based Jaeger LeCoultre, says the all-mechanical AMVOX2 chronograph is one of the most complex timepieces in the world, with more than 200 parts to its casing and an equal number in the watch movement itself.
For Aston Martin, Jaeger LeCoultre is working not just on a "plain" grade 5 titanium model, limited to 999 units, but also a special rose-gold edition in just 300 examples.
Lambert said it was a world first. "We have miniaturised the DBS transponder electronics into the base of the watch, so you can lock and unlock the car by touching the watch."
The DBS owner need never use a key again. "The watch is something that's always on you, that you can't lose."
The fictional character Agent 007 never knew the cost of the gadgets Ms inventors dreamed up for him but, for the DBS buyer, the price of this exclusivity is, ahem, modest: just ¬25,000 beyond the cost of the car.
But don't worry, added Lambert, "we will find ways of making it more expensive".
The DBS shares its basic underpinnings with the DB9, but there are some notable upgrades to the car that was first revealed in the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale.
Slightly lower and wider than the DB9, Aston's new flagship also gets bulging wheel arches to house the standard, 20-inch Pirelli P-Zero tyres.
The DBS' 6-litre V12 engine delivers 430kW (580bhp), enough to launch the car from zero to 100km/h in 4.3 seconds. That's a full half-second faster than the Vanquish, the brand's previous speed king.
"The king is dead. Long live the king," said Bez, adding that the new car is not only quicker, but has better braking and handling than the Vanquish. The DBS laps the Nurburgring circuit, in Germany, around 30 seconds quicker than the DB9.
With Aston Martin sales expected to hit a record 7000 this year, Bez and the company's new owners are setting the stage for even more growth.
They're about to open the carmaker's first design studio, which will help support a product development programme that has actually been stepped up since Aston spun off from Ford earlier this year.
Among an assortment of new models coming, two limited-edition variants were displayed at Frankfurt. The DB9 LM is designed to celebrate Aston's recent victory in the GT1 class at Le Mans. Only one car per dealer - a total of 124 worldwide - will be produced and only in a unique silver paint scheme.
Then there's the V8 Vantage N400, which honours the Nurburgring. In its special Carousel Orange paint, this spin-off gets a modest performance boost, going from 280kW to 300kW.
