Bentley’s Adrian Hallmark loves car-inspired watches by Rolex and Breitling – how the UK-based CEO sees precision engineering and innovation driving both worlds

Hallmark has been in the car industry for 30 years, working with leading marques including Porsche, Jaguar, Land Rover and Bentley. An industry veteran with a background in marketing, he understands the importance of timing. He was in the marketing team at Bentley when it launched the Continental GT in 2003, and convinced shareholders that the new car should be entered into the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans Race, a legendary contest that tests not only the machine but the driver’s endurance, focus and ability to stay single-minded and in the moment.

The race, he says, “is where the legend of Bentley was formed”.

Taking a page from the automaker’s founder, Walter Bentley, Hallmark understands that good things are worth waiting for: “It took 11 years for the 23-year-old engineer’s idea to become the most famous racing car and luxury brand on earth.”

Hallmark left Bentley Motors after six years but returned in 2018 as CEO, with clear ideas about steering the brand towards rapid decarbonisation, electrification and all-round sustainability. It sounds slightly paradoxical for a luxury brand but it is a timely approach. “We see it as essential to justify the world of luxury products,” explains Hallmark. “We’ve got to be cleaner-than-clean and ethically transparent.” In fact, Bentley already has a carbon-neutral factory, the second in the Volkswagen group.

Being in a position to change the way the present will affect our future, he says there is no time better than now when it comes to taking action: “We are going to see massive changes in three to five years, and then in 10 to 15 years we will have no engines.”

Rapid developments in carbon-neutral fuels and batteries will soon render liquid fuel a thing of the past. And the pace at which innovations are taking shape has this long-time auto veteran longing for what everyone desires: more time.