Cool Time: The Breitling Navitimer B09 Chronograph 41 Miles Davis

While it cannot be disputed that the Breitling Navitimer is perhaps the quintessential aviator’s chronograph, with its slide-rule, E6B flight computer bezel, it is a testimony to the pure stylishness of the watch that one of its most famous owners wasn’t a pilot at all. Jazz great Miles Davis had a fifty year career during which he repeatedly reimagined what jazz could be, in seminal albums like The Birth of Cool, Kind of Blue, and the rock-funk-electronic sound fusing Bitches Brew, and onstage and off, he wore a Breitling Navitimer – the hand-wound 806 Mk5. Breitling’s just released a tribute to the man and the watch: the Navitimer B09 Chronograph 41 Tribute to Miles Davis.

The watch is being released in a 500 piece limited edition in steel, and Breitling is also offering, for the serious Miles-Davis-Navitimer-completist enthusiast, a set of three watches in yellow gold, steel, and platinum.

The Miles Davis Navitimer includes a couple of design elements which are shout outs to the original model. The first is the logo – for the Miles Davis Navitimer, Breitling has brought back the Twin Jet logo. The Twin Jet logo shows two superimposed jet aircraft, and Breitling used it on the Navitimer between, roughly, 1965 and 1973. The Aircraft Owners and Pilot’s Association (AOPA) logo, showing a winged shield carrying the letters, AOPA, continued to be offered as a special order, and the Twin Jet logo was used on standard commercially available Navitimer watches.

Another interesting offering with the new release is the Air Racer bracelet, which is a style Breitling introduced in the 1960s, and which is in stainless steel with rally-style perforations. It’s an unusual and attractive look, and is offered as an alternative to a brown leather calfskin strap.

To help keep the Navitimer Miles Davis period-correct, the movement is a hand wound caliber.

The caliber B09 is a column wheel, vertical clutch chronograph movement, 30mm x 6.73mm, and it runs at a modern 28,800 vph, with a 70 hour power reserve; it’s chronometer certified by the COSC.

The watches are being launched along with Breitling’s announcement that in 2027, it will launch the Breitling Social Club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Here’s how Breitling describes it:

“More than a private member’s club, it is the physical embodiment of the brand. A place where Breitling is not only worn, but lived. Bringing together collectors, entrepreneurs, creatives, artists, and Breitling enthusiasts from around the world, the club will offer a year-round program of hispitality, culture, and exclusive experiences that celebrate the spirit of a Breitling life of hospitality, culture, and exclusive experiences.”

Owners of the the 500 piece limited edition will also receive a two year membership in the Breitling Social Club, while owners of the 50 piece boxed limited edition set will have a lifetime membership.

It’s a sharp looking watch, and you don’t have to be a Miles Davis fan or even a jazz fan to appreciate its good looks and subtle connections to the original 806 Mk5. It’s also nice to know that you don’t have to feel like you’re cosplaying as a pilot if you wear it. I’ve taught myself how to use the Navitimer’s slide rule bezel at least five times over the years, and it never sticks, but I suspect Miles Davis didn’t sweat it and you shouldn’t either.

The Navitimer B09 Chronograph 41 Miles Davis: case, stainless steel, 41mm x 13mm, 47.09mm lug to lug; 30M water resistant, with sapphire crystals front and back and of course, that E6B-based circular slide rule bezel. Reverse panda dial with white rehaut and subdials, and “old radium” Super-LumiNova on the indexes and hands. Movement, Breitling caliber B09, hand-wound, column wheel controlled vertical clutch chronograph, with 70 hour power reserve. Price for the individual watch, $8900 on a strap, or $9600 on a bracelet; the three-piece boxed set in steel, yellow gold, and platinum is $96,400.

The 1916 Company is proud to be an authorized retailer for Breitling watches. Please contact us for current pricing and availability.