Breitling Navitimer – A Dream On Your Wrist

You Are What You Wear. So, what does your watch say about you? Actually a lot. For most men watches are much more than simple timepieces, they present lifestyle or dreams, prestige or understatement. And a man who wears a Navitimer tells us that he is a connoisseur, an aficionado, that he knows he is wearing one of the very few and genuine aviator’s watches. He loves his watch, it’s sophistication and a unique combination of style and function. The Navitimer is a luxurious instrument, but it is much more than that, it is an important part of aviation history and an horological masterpiece.

More than 60 years ago the first Navitimers were designed and sold. Back then not decorated with the famous Breitling wings, but with the logo of AOPA, the worlds biggest association of pilots and aircraft owners. The pilots helped out with some expertise and so the Navitimer became one of the rare watches built from pilots for pilots.

In 1962 the Navtimer made its first and only excursion into space. Astronaut Scott Carpenter who wore a Navitimer since years and loved it, convinced Breitling to design him a watch with a 24 hour graduation. Why? In space there is no day and night, no am and pm, and therefore a 24 hour dial makes life for an astronaut much easier. Three days before lift off into space Carpenter got his special watch and surrounded the earth with it.

Breitling liked Carpenter’s idea and a new Navitimer model was born and survived, with interruptions, until today: the Navitimer Cosmonaut. And the Cosmonaut has several siblings. There is the Navitimer World, a watch with a second time zone, important for pilots and globetrotters, there is the Navitimer 1461, a Grande Complication, a watch with an ultra-sophisticated movement. The date of this timepiece has to be corrected only once in four years, equals 1461 days. And then there is finally the Navitimer 01, the grandson of the original watch. It has undergone a lot of changes in more than 60 years, it became bigger, it got an automatic movement and it is much more shiny and prestigious than the original.

The watch had and still has a lot of friends, among them many celebrities and a lot of professionals like pilots and engineers. Modern technology has done away with the need for mechanical flight watches but for the many who still appreciate mechanical sophistication and aesthetics of these self winding movements, the Navitimer definitely appeals. The Navitimer made Breitling famous and for the years to come this watch will be one of the main pillars for the ongoing success story of this brand. The Navitimer has aviation in it’s genes, it is authentic and there are only less than a handful of brands and models that have similar qualities and perfection.