Breitling Emergency II Night Mission: The Best of “Times” for the Worst of Times

Drastic times call for drastic timers. And when disaster strikes, you need a watch that can strike back. The Breitling Emergency II Night Mission isn’t just the watchuwant, it may very well be the watchuNEED… and we have one of the only examples available for immediate delivery in the United States.

Breitling’s Emergency series is about as exclusive as any professional watch can be. With annual production of approximately 2,500 units each year since the 1995 debut of the first Emergency, this volume is dwarfed by the 3,500 piece annual output of Richard Mille. That’s right, the Breitling Emergency is scarcer than Richard Mille’s vaunted output.

But the conventional lexicon of luxury watch discourse does no justice to the true purpose of the Breitling Emergency II Night Mission. “Rare,” “fine,” and “exclusive” are terms of art when dealing with man-jewelry; the Breitling Emergency II is lifesaving gear.

Realistically, nobody relies on a mechanical “dive watch” for life support in modern commercial diving, and no pilot is staking his or any number of passengers’ lives on a slide rule the size of a cracker. But fall from your offshore cruiser while underway or break both legs during a hiking fall, and the Emergency will be the *only* tool you want in your arsenal.

No novelty or anachronism, this is an internationally-regulated piece of professional rescue electronics; Breitling requires the initial buyer to sign a waiver of understanding before the owner may take possession.

In an age when “tool watch” has become an obsolete term, the Breitling Emergency II wipes the smiles from the cynics’ faces and calls the cavalry when you’re clinging to your capsized boat in the middle of a squall. Cell phones are made to be broken, and your network probably doesn’t include the middle of the Gulf Stream…

The Breitling Emergency II simultaneously sounds the alarm on the traditional 121.5 MHz distress frequency and the newer 406 MHz standard. Thanks to the latter, this is the first Breitling Emergency II equipped to engage the COSPAS-SARSAT rescue satellite network. Its enhanced ability to detect and pinpoint a distress beacon is a true godsend, but the network only detects the 406 MHz frequency. To better ensure readiness in an emergency (that’s with a small “e”), the Emergency II ships with an integrated charger and signal test station for the rescue beacon.

Extraordinary features aside, the Breitling Emergency II packs all of the functionality and high style of a modern pilot’s multifunction watch. The 51mm PVD black titanium case is exclusive to the “Night Mission” variant of the Emergency II, and, combined with the striking “Volcano” black dial, the effect is redoubtable on the wrist. Despite its size, the Emergency II benefits from the minimal mass of titanium, and the entirety weighs no more than a late model 40mm Rolex on a full Oyster Bracelet.

Breitling‘s Caliber 76 thermo-compensated premium quartz movement features a battery of useful functions energized by a useful 2 to 3-year battery. The Emergency II isn’t just a rescue beacon and a monumental wrist presence; it’s a chronograph, a 4-year calendar, an alarm clock, a dual time, a 12/24 hour time display, a countdown timer, and a dual analog/digital readout for local time.

The icing on the cake is the Emergency II‘s flexibility. Breitling engineered the watch to accept the Pro Diver rubber strap or Professional bracelet. The titanium deployant clasp fitted to the Pro Diver strap on this example enables tool-free micro adjustment via push-button strap slider.

See this rare, extraordinary, and groundbreaking Breitling Emergency II Night Mission with all Breitling accessories in high-resolution images on www.watchuwant.com