Breitling Navitimer

In 1952, Swiss watch makers Breitling introduced their Navitimer watch. The watch is capable of dealing with all aviation-based calculations, and following its initial launch, it didn’t take the piece to rise in popularity amongst pilots. The Navitimer is self-winding, and features 25 jewels.

The watch can be purchased with one of three case types; steel, steel and gold or 18 yellow gold.

The watch has three dials on the right-hand side; the main dial in the centre is normally black, except with steel and 18k gold case, of which the central dial is silver. The upper and lower dials, or sub dials are normally silver, however they are golden with the steel and 18k gold case.

The Navitimer weigh 79.40 grams, and is 41.80 mm in diameter, and 14.60 mm thick. The crystal is glare proofed on both sides.

There are five strap-types available for the Navitimer: Leather, which is available in green, blue, black or brown. Croco, which is available in blue, green, camel, black, gold, burgundy and brown. Diver Pro, which is available in blue or black. The Diver Pro II is only available in black. The final strap is the Ocean Racer, which is available in blue and black.

The Navitimer is also available with a bracelet, rather than a strap. Bracelets are available in steel, two-tone and yellow gold 18k.

Up until the early 1960’s, the Navitimer only featured the 12 hour clock on it’s face, however, in 1961, Breitling were approached by astronaut Scott Carpenter, who asked Breitling to replace the 12 hour clock with the 24 hour clock, because when up in space, it is impossible to distinguish between night and day. A year later, Carpenter wore his newly created 24-hour watch during a space flight, and Breitling continued to produce the watch under the title Cosmonaute Navitimer.