![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It was Willy Breitling, Jack Heuer (yes, that Jack Heuer) and Gerald Dubois who shared a common vision of an automatic chronograph and worked together to create the legendary Calibre 11 that was based on a Boer automatic calibre with a micro-rotor. It wouldn't be until 1969 that the first Navitimer featuring an automatic movement saw the light of day.Ī new automatic movement changes the look of the Navitimer But this calibre was still only a hand-wound movement with a manual winding and cam drive. This was to follow the general trend of complications becoming the norm. ![]() Additionally, Breitling became the official manufacturer of a number of on-board instruments for aircraft such as the Boeing 707.ĭuring the 1960s, the Venus hand-wound calibre was ultimately replaced by the Valjoux 7740 with the addition of a date complication and a 12-hour counter. One special feature of the Navitimer editions was introduced in 1954: due to a delivery bottleneck, these Navitimer 806 models were not equipped with the standard Venus calibre, but rather with a Valjoux 72 movement, which was used in the Rolex Daytona Then, during the late 1950s, with the help of marketing genius Georges Caspari, the brand launched an advertising campaign that created a huge demand for navigational chronographs among pilots. The first Navitimer with the reference 806 was powered by the non-proprietary Venus 178 calibre with a manual winding and column-wheel mechanism. In 1952, the first Navitimer featured the emblem of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) on its dial, which laid the foundation for the classic double-winged logo. This was the beginning of the Breitling Navitimer. Ten years later in 1952, the decision was made to further develop the Chronomat, which had become popular with US Air Force pilots, and to focus on pilot watches. However, the Chronomat was still equipped with a third-party calibre, the Venus 176. The series' characteristic slide rule bezel was already known all over the world at that time. It's no wonder that the Navitimer's history began as early as 1942 with Willy Breitling and the development of the first pilot's watch in the Breitling workshop, the Chronomat. Hence, the correct pronunciation of the Navitimer is derived from the phonetic spelling of the newly compounded word "ˌnævɪˈtaɪmə(r)" and is not pronounced as "ˈneɪviˈtaɪmə(r)" as one might assume.Ī look at the history of the Breitling Navitimerīreitling has long been one of the important names in the Swiss watch industry. Consequently, the name is made up of "Navi" from the English word "navigation" (ˌnævɪˈɡeɪʃn) together with "timer" (ˈtaɪmə(r)) on account of its many features, such as the stopwatch function, tachymeter scale and slide rule bezel. It was originally designed to help pilots navigate. In fact, this is not the case, because the name of the Breitling Navitimer does not come from the world of the maritime forces, but rather from the world of aviation. However, it's easy to assume that the model name is pronounced as if the US Navy had a hand in developing it. We must admit that we also mispronounce the name of this collection from time to time. Let's embark on an exciting journey through the history of the Navitimer – from its release in the 1950s to the present day. Today, the Breitling Navitimer is considered an absolute classic in the industry that no watch collection should be without. As one of the most well-known pilot's watches in the world, the Navitimer shaped the entire image of its brand and made history. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |