To commemorate the 125th birthday of the Breitling, the company released a Breitling Navitimer watch to celebrate. Now, there’s been a lot of confusion because of this. The Breitling Navitimer watch is not 125 years old, Breitling the company is. We are going to take a deeper look into the Breitling Navitimer history and its journey that made it the number one aviation watch today.
The version of the story we are telling here at the Breitling Blog, is not definitely the whole story. The only people who know the real story of the birth of the Breitling Navitimer are not talking; it is clouded in mystery, conspiracy theories, and a lot of emotion.
The best place to start is the name… Navitimer derives from two words; Navigation and Timer. It all started in 1952 when Breitling partnered with Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA) in 1952 and the AOPA made the Breitling Navitimer it’s official watch. This was also the birth of the winged B logo because the AOPA watches all bore the wings on the dial and the Breitling logo was on the back; eventually the two came together to form the “winged B”.
The first movement was the Valjoux 72, however it was replaced by the Venus 178 movement. The Valjoux 72 is very rare today and is a prized watch for Breitling enthusiast today.
Obviously, the first place your eyes go when viewing 125th Anniversary Special Edition Breitling Navitimer watch is the watch bracelet. It’s stunning and it’s called the Air Racer Bracelet. The Breitling Air Racer Bracelet gives the new Navitimer a new look with a futuristic upgrade. The huge symmetrical holes go from case to buckle, definitely a special watch… if you can get your hands one.
The Navitimer originally came to life in 1952 and is the best selling and most popular Breitling watch to date. Professional who only wear Breitling as a sign of their trade and watch enthusiast that spend their lives collecting Breitling watches understand the importance of this 125th anniversary Breitling Navitimer watch.
The 125th Anniversary Breitling Navitimer Watch has a calibre 26 movement and 60 minute and 12 hour totalizers. Absolutely gorgeous.
TheBreitling Navitimer World Watch has a big name and even bigger features. It’s 10 percent larger than the original Breitling Navitimer Watch and has that awesome Breitling known second time zone feature.
The Breitling Navitimer World Watch uses Caliber 24 to indicate a time zone in a 24 hour mode. On the caseback Breitling adds a signature touch with engraving of the time zones on the back case. Additionally this Breitling watch has a 42 hour power reserve, 28,800 vibrations per hour, 25 jewels, a dial aperture calendar, steel case or your choice of 18k rose or red gold, 3 bars of water resistance, and a bidirectional slide rule bezel.
The Breitling Navitimer World watch also includes a non screw-locked crown with two gaskets, screwed in case back, and sapphire glare proofed crystal on both sides. Here is a close up video of the a Breitling Navitimer dial:
