The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I purchased a Navitimer World a few months ago, and after flying from Los Angeles to New Orleans I'm wondering about it. What happened was that after reaching 20 thousand something feet altitude the slide rule froze up. Is this normal? I'm pretty much over the crunching/rewinding sounds the watch makes, but this one bothers me. Breitling, I thought, was a brand more or less for pilots, yet the slide rule on this one didn't work at appropriate altitudes for a pilot. Is it normal for the slide rule to stop functioning at high altitude? I can appreciate a construction done so well that even air won't escape the inside of the timepiece keeping the slide rule from working, but I also want the peace of mind to know that this is normal or at least not unheard of behavior. What say you?

Attached a photo for those who want to see it (yes, I like the NATO style straps).

I'm assuming you were in a pressurised environment, which while not equivalent to atmospheric pressure will mitigate the effective height you were at. It certainly isn't usual but I suppose it is possible the pressure drop had some impact, though I'm not sure how.

Being absolutely not a watchmaker I still cannot imagine how a pressure difference could affect the slide rule. I assume the slide rule is "just" a mechanic series of trains and gears and thus independent of the environment pressure (at least for pressure values that are also no problem for human beings). If the slide rule is damaged (and that's what I think), I think it has nothing to do with the flight.
Just my thoughts... and I'm really no expert.

Well, I'd say that 20000 ft is below commercial jet airplanes usual flight level so I assume that Bueller used something else to fly (long distance for a microlight though ).

Maybe it literally froze due to low temperature at 20 k ft ? Maybe a slide rule gasket makes a lot of friction at low temperatures.

Now is all well with a watch at sea level and normal temp, I suppose ?

What did you fly Bueller ?

Welcome here and, interesting first post I'd say

for your Navitimer

haha, I wish I were flying in something more interesting than a commercial jet. But, I was flying Southwest, and I only know the approximate altitude because I could monitor it via the web page they let you get to on the flight. I only paid attention to it because the slide rule was frozen in place, but it had worked while on the ground not but an hour earlier (my first thought was pressure caused it to seize up). The result was, while descending, I would try to move the slide rule and when I could move it a little I remembered the altitude, which was about 24k feet. Then it completely freed up about 13k feet.

I was wondering how the pressure would or could cause it to freeze up myself, and then I starting wondering if it was perhaps damaged. When it started to move again, it was grindy feeling, but it's completely free now and feels as smooth as it did before the flight.

Do you think it's nothing?

The cabin pressure (altitude) on Southwest in the Boeings they fly would not have been more than, at most, 8000 ft. If as you say the airplane altitude showed 20,000 ft then the cabin pressure would have been lower, more likely 6000 or less.
The watch would never have seen the temperature range or altitude you describe. You would have suffered much more than the watch. At 20,000 ft, you would have major problems after 10 minutes and most likely have frozen to death. I see no reason why any flight would have effected your watch in any way, General Aviation or commercial.

I fly General Aviation and wear a Navitimer and have no problems even at a pressure altitude of 14,000 ft plus.

The pressure altitude you were flying at would have less than walking the streets in Denver Colorado or much less than most ski resorts.

I'm starting to think gbuergisser is right: that it's damaged, and the sensitivity to pressure changes is a symptom. I think I'm going to go take it to get looked at and see what they have to say.

Yes, have it checked, maybe its something benign like a piece of dirt or something (did they serve cookies on the flight ?)
I think that altitude vs bezel performance isn't relevant in this case.

Navitimer bezel is tight due to its construction in order to facilitate at least small water resistance, but I see no reason that it could be so sensitive to air pressure.

You have a nice tool watch with aviation heritage, I wish you to enjoy it for a long time.

I just reversed my own Navitimer.. Below the Bezel there are two gaskets: a white PTFE (Teflon) one and above an black O-Ring.

The PTFE Gasket should allow a smooth turning operation. If there is dirt or the gasket is worn off, it will not turn smoothly any more..

Flight pressure has normally nothing to do with it, just a bad coincidence that it recognized it first after the flight.

I made the new gasket myself out of a PTFE Foil with 0.2mm thickness but am looking for a supplier which can deliver me a professional one...


Regards
Werner


P.S. If anybody is more interested in this I can also supply some pictures..

I must say I've also experienced the same problem when I travel. The slide ruler in my navitimer world just freezes. It is almost impossible to rotate it. I've had the same behaviour with two separate navitimer world models.

Now that I know I'm not the only one seeing this, can other navitimer users attest to this?

It says right in the manual, DO NOT TAKE THIS WATCH ON VACATION BEZEL MAY FREEZE UP. Just kidding. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

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