Breitling Navitimer, everything about the original pilot watch
A chronograph is one of the most popular complications. Besides the incredible watchmaking that is involved in a chronograph, for a lot of people, the design of the chronograph with the small sub-dials is already a good enough reason to buy a chronograph.
Therefore, it's no wonder that every major brand has a chronograph in its lineup.
But one chronograph stands out from all the others, the Breitling Navitimer.
The Navitimer is not only one of Breitling's most popular watches but also one of the most famous luxury watches ever. It is over 70 years old and is known to be a very reliable chronograph. Besides this, the Navitimer is most famous for the tachymeter scale that takes up a big part of the dial. With the tachymeter, you can do various calculations, for example, you can calculate speeds or distances. Since 2009, the Navitimer is equipped with an in-house movement from Breitling, the B01.
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The Brand Breitling
The history of Breitling is absolutely fascinating.
In the year 1884, a young watchmaker named Leon Breitling, opened his watchmaking workshop in Switzerland. With a special talent for watchmaking, he wanted to realize his vision to enlarge the boundaries of watchmaking.
At first, he set his focus on pocket watches, that were known for their, at the time, extraordinary accuracy.
Besides producing some of the most accurate watches, Breitling was also a pioneer when it comes to chronographs. It seems as if he was obsessed with this complication because over the years, he came up with a couple of innovative solutions to improve the functionality and precision of their chronographs.
Das Unternehmen stellte bereits 1915 den weltweit ersten Chronographen mit unabhängigem Drücker vor, welcher es ermöglichte, verschiedene Zeit Intervalle genau zu messen. Das heisst der Chronograph kann gestoppt und gestartet werden, ohne das er zurückgesetzt werden muss.
This innovation was so significant that Breitling has gotten the reputation to be the chronograph specialist.
In the early days, Breitling focused mainly on pocket watches, and it was not until the late 1930s that Breitling entered the wristwatch business.
Since then, Breitling is known for their excellent pilot watches, during the Second World War, they have been able to supply the English and American Air Force with pilot watches.
In the following years after the war, Breitling released several watches; some of them had innovative designs. One of the most popular watches was released in 1952, the Navitimer.
A watch that has established itself over the years as one of the most iconic watches on the market.
Today, 135 years after Breitling was founded, the company sticks to their traditional values. The art of watchmaking is still a big part and gets combined with new styles that go with the time.
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The history of the Navitimer
As we've mentioned before, the Navitimer was first introduced in 1952. The first edition of the Navitimer was fitted with a hand-wound movement, the Venus 178. The name for this watch is a creative combination between the words “Navigation” and “Timer”.
Especially the first part of the name Navitimer should have given a hint on the tachymeter/calculation scale on the bezel and around the outside of the dial.
The scale on the dial in combination with the scale on the bezel basically works like a slide rule. With this feature, you can perform simple rule of three calculations, multiplication, and divisions. This was useful for calculating fuel consumption, distance traveled, or the rate of climb and descent.
Of course, at the time, this was especially useful for pilots.
Nowadays all these metrics are shown by modern board computers, making this function obsolete. But in the early years of aviation, this was extremely useful.
So, it's no surprise that the Navitimer was very popular among pilots.
Even the Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association (AOPA) started to collaborate with Breitling, which is why on the Navitimer 806 there even was the logo of the AOPA.
But for Breitling, this was not enough. This is why Breitling also delivered their watches to big airline companies and different pilot associations.
Breitling even made the bold claim to be the "Supplier of aviation."
Overall, the Navitimer hit like a bomb, meanwhile pushing the brand image and reputation of Breitling to a new level.
Just a couple of years later, the Navitimer even got into space. If we are really precise, it was not an original Navitimer but a slightly changed version, named Cosmonaute. This chronometer had a small but significant difference; it was fitted with a 24-hour dial. This was due to the fact that if you are in space orbit, you don't have a 12-hour day and night cycle, and therefore you're not able to tell whether it's 6 o'clock in the morning or in the evening.
This is how this Breitling watch actually was the first Swiss wristwatch to be in space. Many would think it was the Omega Moonwatch, but the Breitling got in space with the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission of NASA, which was 7 years earlier than the Moonwatch.
Over the years, the Navitimer has gotten a lot of different mechanical calibers, such as the Lemania 1873 or the ETA 2892.
Just like many other watchmakers, Breitling had their struggles during the Quartz crisis. In a desperate attempt to save the company, they even made a version of the Navitimer with a quartz movement and an LCD display.
But still, Breitling did not manage to get through the Quartz crisis on their own. Breitling was sold to a businessman called Ernest Schneider in the year 1979. After that, it was very quiet around the Navitimer until it was finally reintroduced in the middle of the 80s.
Since then, the Navitimer has been able to stand the test of time.
In the year 2009, the Navitimer finally got the movement it deserved, the in-house caliber B01, a very high-quality mechanical movement with a chronograph.
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Technology and quality
From a watchmaking standpoint, the Navitimer has not always been an excellent watch. Every watch up until 2009 had standard movements that were not designed or manufactured by Breitling. This is something that is frowned upon among watchmakers.
The first Navitimer had a hand-wound movement, the Venus 178.
Only 2 years later, they had to improvise and change the movement to the Valjoux 72 because the Venus 178 was not available anymore.
But this movement turned out to be better than expected, which is why they stayed with Valjoux and used the Caliber 774 from 1960 onwards.
In 1969, the Caliber 11/Chrono-Matic was released. This movement was one of the first chronograph movements with an automatic winding mechanism. It was engineered in collaboration with Breitling, Tag Heuer, Hamilton-Büren, and Dubois Dépraz, and was so revolutionary that it was used by a lot of watch manufacturers, obviously Breitling being one of them.
During the quartz era, battery-powered LED and LCD models of the Navitimer shamefully followed.
This is why it was only after the Quartz Crisis in the 1980s that the Navitimer got the Chrono-matic movement.
And after a long time, the Navitimer has now finally gotten its own in-house movement made 100% by Breitling.
The B01 is even the very first-ever in-house caliber from Breitling.
Among other things, this movement has a patented self-centering system, which distinguishes the caliber.
An unknown fact about the B01 movement is that, in a slightly changed version, it powers the Tudor Black Bay watch. Just like Breitling did in the past, Tudor decided to choose this movement as a base for their Black Bay movements, of course, this is to save cost.
Design
If we look at the design, the Navitimer is a one-of-a-kind watch and not comparable to anything else.
The slide-rule bezel takes up a lot of space and is therefore a major design element. All these different scales give the Breitling a technical look that is absolutely unique.
Besides that, the biggest design elements are the 3 small sub-dials for the chronographs, placed centered around the middle of the dial. The pushers for the chronograph are round and polished, giving the watch a sporty look.
We think that the Navitimer looks best with a leather strap because it rounds off the sporty and technical design perfectly.
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Different models and configurations.
After over 70 years of existence, there are numerous models of the Navitimer.
Over the years, the Navitimer has been available with a stainless steel bracelet, with a leather bracelet, as well as with a fabric bracelet.
Besides that, you can have the Navitimer in all sorts of materials such as the “normal” stainless steel, yellow-gold, rose-gold, or in some limited editions even platinum.
As you can see in the photo above, you can also choose between a lot of different colors for the dial. However, the panda dials, either black with white sub-dials or white with black sub-dials, are the traditional versions of the Navitimer.
If you are looking for another complication besides the chronograph, you have a couple of options with the Navitimer. One of these options is the 1952 QP that is available as a Grand Complication, with a perpetual calendar. Since this watch was only produced until 2004, the movement is not an in-house, but a modified ETA Caliber.
Another special edition is the Navitimer Olympus with a perpetual calendar and a moon phase; besides that, there is the Breitling Cosmonaute with a 24-hour dial, as well as the Navitimer World that shows a second time zone (like a GMT).
Something that contributes to model diversity is that the Breitling brand is always reinventing itself, but always invokes old traditions. Breitling recently collaborated with the airline Swiss and released a limited version of the Navitimer. This can then be purchased on selected flights on board Swiss and receives a certificate signed by the pilot of the respective flight.
In the end, we can say that there is a wide variety of watches in the Navitimer line. Due to its long history, the watch has seen many variations and further developments. We hope it will continue like this for a long time.
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Prices and Value Development
The most basic Navitimer is available for about 4 to 5,000 Euros. However, you must be careful because to this day the Navitimer is available with different movements.
With the cheaper watches, you get a modified ETA Movement, without a chronograph. If you want to have the real in-house movement with the chronograph (B01), the watch will cost you between 8 and 9,000 Euros. By the way, we think it is an absolute must to buy the in-house movement.
If you want to have a different material or another complication, prices rise all the way to over 20,000 Euros.
If you don’t mind buying a used watch, you can save a lot of money, of course depending on the condition of the watch. Some used models are even available for under 3,000 Euros. If you're buying used, make sure to get the right movement!
As always, there are some exceptions, with some limited editions that are traded for a lot more than their list price.
The normal Navitimer, however, does not have positive value development at all. If you buy a new watch, the value of your watch will decrease by about 50%. This is due to the fact that the demand for Breitling watches is nowhere near as high as for other watches such as Rolex or AP.
If you are looking for a watch with better performance prospects, you should take a close look at our article " Luxurywatches as an investment".
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Conclusion
The Breitling Navitimer is an excellent watch that can look back at a glorious history.
Especially if you are a fan of the chronograph, the brand Breitling is the one for you. Not only because it helped to develop the chronograph as we know it today, but also because they have some very beautiful chronograph watches.
The Navitimer is one of the most famous wristwatches with chronographs, as well as the Rolex Daytona, theZenith El Primero</a, the Omega Speedmaster and many others.
One small bummer is the value development of the Navitimer. Unlike other watches such as the Rolex Daytona chronograph, you lose money from the first day on. However, if you're buying a Breitling Navitimer, you're not going to buy it as an investment, but because you like the aesthetics and the history of this iconic watch. In this case, it's absolutely irrelevant how the value of your watch changes.
Source cover image: Breitling
About the author
Alexander Weinberger
For me, the most fascinating thing about watches is the interplay between precise craftsmanship and artistic development. In a watch movement, hundreds of small parts have to be put together precisely so that they form a large whole.
