Built for the cockpit, the Breitling Navitimer is a true pilot’s watch
Buffy AcaciaIt’s easy to dish out the term ‘pilot’s watch’ to any chronograph with sword hands, especially if the dial is overloaded with information. But what do those watches actually have to do with flying an aircraft? Even historically speaking, most pilot’s watches during both World Wars were time-only, and the chronographs that were used were fairly basic. Breitling was the first brand to realise that pilots could use their watches to help with quick calculations, and it created a genre of watches specifically for them. The Breitling Navitimer has gone through many evolutions since then, but it remains one of the only watches that puts flying first, and its effect on people can’t be understated.
Early history
You’ll need to travel back more than 100 years to find one of the first wrist-worn chronographs: a 1915 Breitling pocket watch with a strap and, importantly, a single pusher. A few years later in 1923, Breitling introduced a chronograph with two pushers, one at 2 o’clock, and the other in the crown. It’s this watch that made it possible for a stopwatch to measure multiple times in sequence, a truly revolutionary moment in timekeeping. By WWII, Breitling had become renowned for its chronographs, and in 1940, introduced the first one featuring a slide rule bezel called the Chronomat. With that one feature, pilots could perform mathematical calculations without relying on the circular slide rules used up until that point.
For context, slide rules have existed since the 1600s, and it’s essentially a form of analogue computer. Various scales are lined up together, and through the comparison of two points, you can figure out the missing piece of information. It can be a lot more complicated than that, but through the use of a logarithmic scale on a rotating watch bezel, there are so many uses for a pilot. Average speed, distance travelled, fuel consumption, rate of climb or descent, and converting kilometres to miles or nautical miles are just some of its capabilities. Outside of flying, the civilian wearer can use it for calculating tips, discounts, any sort of multiplication, and any kind of unit conversion. Considering all of that extra functionality with no extra complications sacrificing a mechanical movement’s reliability, it was a huge hit with pilots.
In 1952, Breitling was approached by the United States’ Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) to come up with a specific tool watch for the pilots of their membership. The result? The very first Navitimer, with an all-black dial, 41mm stainless case, chronograph movement (supplied by both Venus and Valjoux at varying times), winged AOPA logo, and that all-important bidirectional slide rule bezel.
Rise to fame
It wasn’t long before the Navitimer sent ripples throughout the rest of the world outside the AOPA. Astronauts of the United States’ nascent NASA program started wearing it too, with Lt. Cmdr. Scott Carpenter requesting one in 1962 with a 24-hour dial to distinguish day from night in the blackness of space during his orbital mission. That would eventually become known as the Cosmonaute. By this time, the Navitimer’s subdials had switched from black to silver, or reverse panda, for easier legibility.
The logo was changed again from wings to the iconic ‘Twin Jet’. By the end of the ’60s, the subdials were enlarged, with those references being nicknamed ‘Big Eyes’. But time was ticking for the manually-wound chronograph. In 1969, as part of a race to market against Zenith and Seiko, Breitling was part of a consortium along with Heuer/Leonidas, Hamilton/Buren and Dubois-Depraz which developed and released a automatic chronograph movement, the Calibre 11 (also known as the Chronomatic). The resulting watch was the ref. 1806, and for the first time, the Navitimer included a date window.
The Navitimer’s fall and revival
In the ensuing years, many more variations were released, but the effects of the so-called ‘quartz crisis’ were strong. Breitling’s fortunes waned, and after ownership passed from the Breitling family in 1979, the Navitimer seemed destined to follow in the bigger and blingier footsteps of some of Breitling’s other contemporary models. Flash triumphed over function for the most part, until finally, a private equity firm led by former IWC honcho Georges Kern bought out the company in 2017. Vintage watches were really heating up, and he was determined to restore the Breitling name to its former glory. His first shot across the bow of the watch world was the spectacular black-dialled Navitimer ref. 806 1959 Re-Edition, and he couldn’t have picked a better place to start.
He even brought in one of the world’s biggest Breitling collectors, Fred Mandelbaum (on Instagram as @watchfred) as a consultant. And boy, did they get it right. Mandelbaum went so far as to reject prototypes until they had the correct number of tiny beads on the outer edge of the bezel. Needless to say, the new “old” Navitimer was a smash. Breitling was back, and with it an ever-growing stable of retro-tastic re-editions to complement the rest of the line.
Famous wearers
Breitling is once again a Swiss powerhouse, with aggressive marketing that includes “squads” of celebrity and sports ambassadors, each representing a different Breitling watch. Within the Navitimer squad it has Erling Haaland, the “unbreakable” centre-forward who seems to break records on every football pitch he steps on, Charlize Theron, one of the world’s highest-paid actresses and star of Mad Max: Fury Road and Atomic Blonde, Giannis Antetokounmpo, NBA icon and hero of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Bertrand Piccard, a bonafide explorer using aerial missions to promote political action and sustainability.
Official ambassadors are one thing, but there are plenty of inspirational people who have made their own choices to wear a Navitimer over the years. Jazz legend Miles Davis is one of the biggest surprises of the lot, but despite his immeasurable success and wealth which afforded him a huge garage of exotic cars, he kept coming back to his Navitimer for over 20 years. Jim Clark and Graham Hill are two legends of motorsports who both died tragically young, and they spent a decent part of the 1960s competing against each other in Formula 1. Showcasing the crossover between being a pilot and a racing driver, they both wore Navitimers. And while he may not be a sporting icon or the progenitor of several musical movements, the comedian Jerry Seinfeld is also known as a Breitling Navitimer aficionado.
Notable models
It doesn’t get better than this. The ref. 806 1959 Re-Edition has to be one of the most faithful reproductions of a legendary timepiece I’ve ever seen, and Breitling really did sweat the details to get it right. The only concessions to modernity are Super-LumiNova on the dial and hands, the slightly improved water resistance (still, don’t take it for a swim), and the new manually-wound movement. The Breitling Manufacture Caliber B09 is a COSC-certified movement based on the Breitling Caliber 01, developed specifically for historic re-editions. If you love the Navitimer’s history but don’t want the hassle of owning a vintage chronograph, tracking down one of these references is your best bet.
The Navitimer B01 Chronograph 41 is the next best thing if you want to buy something directly from Breitling’s current catalogue, as its case size hits the original 41mm dimension. There are 43mm and 46mm versions in various dial configurations if you prefer your pilot’s watches large, but the B01 Chronograph 41 is a balanced option. It’s powered by the B01 movement which Breitling has been manufacturing in-house since 2009, with column-wheel actuation and a vertical clutch for a satisfying pusher feel and smooth reset to zero.
It may be sacrilege in the eyes of some, but there is so much style to the Navitimer and it shouldn’t be pigeonholed. As a time-only watch, the Navitimer Automatic 36 retains the slide rule details within a much dressier sphere. The beaded bezel is undeniably eye-catching, as is the variety of colours in which it’s available. The 36mm case is going to be comfortable on almost every wrist, and I can’t help but fall in love with the light shade of sage on the green reference. The automatic Breitling 17 calibre is based on a Sellita SW200-1, but features COSC certification for chronometer accuracy within -4/+6 seconds per day, as all Navitimers are.
A package of technical decadence, the Navitimer B12 Chronograph 41 Cosmonaute is about as lavish as the Navitimer gets without a solid gold bracelet. the 18k rose gold case is a gorgeous frame for the deep British racing green dial, adorned with the slide rule bezel and 24-hour numerals. A modified version of the B01, the Breitling calibre B12 is a true 24-hour movement that takes a whole day for a full rotation. It also boasts a 4Hz beat rate, a 70-hour power reserve, and a drool-worthy display caseback with a solid gold automatic rotor.