During the 126 years of Breitling’s illustrious horological history there are three main events that stand out, for me, as a reflection of the brand’s ability to create “Instruments for Professionals”, which is their own befitting tag line. I appreciate that Breitling makes some wonderful and class leading tool watches that focus on requirements not at all intended for pilots. However, in my opinion it is their pilot’s watches that are the soul of Breitling’s identity.
The first significant event takes us all the way back to 1942 when Breitling incorporated a circular sliderule into their new Chronomat model. This innovation allowed pilots to calculate important, even life saving, calculations.
The second event took place in May 1962 when NASA astronaut Scott Carpenter wore his own Navitimer “Cosmonaute” wrist watch during his orbital flight aboard the Aurora 7 space capsule. This made the Cosmonaute the first ever space-worn wrist chronograph. The Cosmonaute had been designed by Breitling to show the time in a 24 hour display, whereby the hour hand made one complete rotation of the dial every 24 hours. This was opposed to the usual 12 hours. This allowed space travellers to be able to differentiate between day and night, being experienced by their colleagues, friends and family on earth. An impossible task in the complete blackness of space with a simple 12 hour display.
The third, but in no way final, important event occurred in 1969 when Breitling, in co-operation with Hamilton-Buren, Dubois Depraz and Heuer-Leonidas, released the very first automatic winding chronograph timepiece.
Being an engineer I herald any great technical achievement and in my opinion the three mentioned above deserve celebratory recognition.
So, it should come as no surprise that my ideal Breitling would incorporate all three of these technical, groundbreaking and historically significant features. Well, would you believe it, there is such a watch. I must thank Breitling for being aware of their achievements and releasing a beautiful wrist instrument that celebrates these momentous events and acts as a solid reminder of Breitling’s position at the top of the pilot watch manufacture tree. Such a watch could easily have become a mismatch of design elements but I am happy, well ecstatic really, that Breitling have managed to create a timepiece that looks like it was always meant to be. This is the very limited edition Rose Gold Chronomatic 24H:
As can be seen from the above shot the use of Rose Gold has allowed this watch to become a passable dress watch whilst, at the same time, realising it’s aspirations as a genuine tool watch. This really is one of those rare wrist watches that is able to straddle both genres with ease. This is due to the wonderful warmth of the Rose Gold, which has to be seen in real life to be truly appreciated and will never be given it’s true character and depth in photographs. Whilst I appreciate the plastic bezel guard of the new Chronomatic 49 models reflect the original 1969 design I am so pleased that Breitling have decided to emphasise this original design element by incorporating a textured finish to this part of the bezel that perfectly counterbalances the polished gold of the rest of the watch. The amalgamation with the luxurious hand stitched brown crocodile strap further highlights this deep and lustrous material.
With all Navitimer styled watches that incorporate the proprietary circular slide rule this Chronomatic can look a little busy and even over designed at first glance. However, nothing is superfluous. No element of the design is additional to anything other than providing a 24 hour dialled chronograph wrist watch with the aforementioned built in calculator. With very little use both the time function and the other features become very user friendly. The time may take that little longer to work out but I view this as a bonus and an excuse to gaze upon this truly gorgeous timepiece for extended periods.
Designing a watch that is at once a utilitarian tool and a beautiful object to behold requires meticulously finished and well thought out details. I honestly get the impression that the designers had to dig deep into their repertoire of techniques to come up with this design that allows six complications on a 35mm diameter dial without looking cluttered or without having any one complication either becoming lost or overbearing.
So, let’s address those six complications, and stimulants to the senses, separately.
Date: The usual aperture display is used here but it becomes a highlight due to the matt rose gold window. This is very attractive against the black dial. The date changes quickly and very close to the passing of the day.
24 hour display: This is the second feature that most people notice, after the stunning rose gold case. It is not only of interest that reflects its unique look but is also historically significant, as already mentioned above. I confess that it has thrown me a few times, but I love this added playful, almost impudent,nature that requires that little extra from the user.
Seconds sub dial: I love the fact that the second hand is the same retro 1970’s profile of the original 1969 Chronomatic. The fact that it is now in rose gold gives a great juxtaposition between old (original 40 year old design) and new (modern material).
Chronograph with flyback: This is my first watch with a flyback chronograph. This added function is not only a unique and premium additional feature, as far as practicality goes, but it also reflects the high end status of this timepiece. The minute counter for the chronograph is unique in the fact that the elapsed time is a true display. In other words, the minute does not simply incrementally step to the next minute once a full minute has passed, as per the usual method.
Slide Rule: Some functions are redundant for me on many watches. I love the fact that this watch has a fly-back chronograph but, if I was being perfectly honest, I play with it more than I use it. The slide rule on my Chronomatic, however, does get used. Mainly for transposing mph into kmph when watching motorsports on TV but also for quick multiplications and currency conversions. I agree with most opinions that the circular slide rule does make for a busy looking dial, but I like my dials to have a lot going on. Not only is there the benefit of added utility but also it adds to the tool look of a watch and, as mentioned previously, I like the fact that sometime you do have to look fixedly for extended periods to realise the time. A point worth repeating with this watch.
Tachymeter: Not only does the watch incorporate a full slide rule, and all of the mathematical functionality that goes with it, but there is a tachymetric scale to calculate units per hour, etc when combined with the chronograph.
To Be Continued.......................
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