Introducing The Breitling 140th Anniversary Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Collection
Breitling’s celebrating its 140th Anniversary, and at Geneva Watch Days, it’s just announced its very first in-house perpetual chronograph.
Breitling’s justly known for its aviation heritage, and when you think of Breitling chances are you think of aviation watches like the Navitimer and Cosmonaute, and of course, of the chronograph itself – we owe the modern two pusher chronograph to Willy Breitling, the grandson of founder Leon Breitling; Willy patented the two pusher chronograph, with separate start/stop and reset-to-zero functions, all the way back in 1934. Generally speaking, though, you don’t think of Breitling as a maker of high complications, which is not an entirely accurate impression to have, as of the three high complications, Breitling’s made many different rattrapante chronographs and has also produced perpetual calendar chronographs as well – in fact, Breitling’s even made a minute repeater, although a purist would probably describe it as a multi-function quartz analogue–digital watch. That watch is the Aerospace EVO and at a glance, I think any enthusiast would feel a hundred per cent comfortable saying that there’s no way it’s a repeater, but lo and behold, quartz high-tech timepiece it may be but it does have an honest to betsy repeater function.
However, while Breitling has made perpetual chronos before, those relied on supplied base calibers and modules, and this time around, Breitling has taken the complication in-house. The caliber B19 builds on the base established in 2009 with the caliber 01 chronograph, which was followed by the 24 hour B02, the rattrapante B03, and the B04 GMT. Design and assembly take place at Breitling Chronometrie, in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
The movement is being released in three variants: the Navitimer B19 Chronograph 43 Perpetual Calendar 140th Anniversary; the Premier B19 Datora 42 140th Anniversary; and the Super Chronomat B19 44 Perpetual Calendar 140th Anniversary. The names are all slightly different but the functionality and basic layout are the same in all three watches; 42, 43, and 44 refer to the case sizes. All cases are in rose gold.
The Navitimer B19 Chronograph 43 Perpetual
The Navitimer B19 Chronograph 43 Perpetual is, as the name suggests, a 43mm version of what may be every non-pilot’s most beloved pilot’s watch. The slide rule bezel is actually a great fit, though you might not think it at first, for a perpetual calendar complication. Although the bezel, which is based on the E6B flight computer circular slide rule pilots still need to learn how to use today, is on one level a piece of no-nonsense intrumentality, it’s also at this point got a very strong sense of nostalgia behind it – a little afterglow from the golden age of post-World War II civil and military aviation.
It is also a feature with a lot of detail, which integrates surprisingly well with the perpetual calendar complication. The layout is by-the-book classical, with a stylized representation of the lunar disk at 12:00, a subdial at 3:00 for the date and 30 minute counter, another at 6:00 for the month and Leap Year, and one at 9:00 for the day of the week and the running seconds.
The red numerals are in their usual places on the inner and outer slide rule bezel scales, and there’s just a tiny bit of red in one of the subdials as well – at 3:00, for the 31st of the month.
The Premier B19 Datora 42 140th Anniversary
The Premier line and its history may be a little less well known to enthusiasts who think of Breitling as a maker of aviation instruments, but it actually goes all the way back to the launch of the first Premier in 1943, when it debuted as a dress-chronograph alternative; an early ad for the Premier featured a charming drawing of a spiffy penguin in a bowler hat and bowtie, flourishing a walking stick, just to clarify that this was not a pilot’s instrument per se. The new Premier B19 Datora 42 140th Anniversary is the most purely traditional in layout and feel of the three new 140th Anniversary pieces, as you’d expect from its history and place in Breitlings catalogues over the years.
The tachymetric scale gives a little bit of a pragmatic, instrumentality-adjacent vibe but considering how many dress chronographs have sported one over the last half-century and more, it doesn’t detract in the least from the overall vibe of genteel dignity. There are some notable differences between this Premier Datora version and the other models, although the layout is the same – one of which is that the first segment of the chronograph minutes counter is divided by elongated markers, into three-minute segments, which is a feature found on many vintage chronographs. The Moon disk, quite logically, has a traditional Moon-face for the moonphase, and the hands are traditional syringe-type hands as well.
An interesting little factoid is that nobody seems to know why exactly those elongated three minute hash marks are found on the 30 minute register of so many vintage chronographs – Revolution has a nice roundup of all the competing theories, one of which is the venerable urban legend, to this unproven to the best of my knowledge, that they were put there to time long distance toll calls … or maybe payphone calls, or maybe both or neither. At 42mm this is the smallest of the trio.
The Super Chronomat B19 44 Perpetual Calendar 140th Anniversary
The Chronomat is of the three types of watches making up the 140th Anniversary Collection, the most recently released. The Chronomat was introduced in 1983, with the first model – the Frecce Tricolori – designed for the Italian Jet Team. The rider tabs are indelibly engraved in the collective consciousness of John Q Public Watch Client as the signature and instantly recognizable signal of Breitling, but according to Breitling their original purpose was purely practical – they acted as bumpers, elevated above the level of the crystal, but they also provide a quick visual reference for elapsed seconds.
The Chronomat 44 Perpetual leans hard and happily into the Chronomat aesthetic. The wide bezel and rider tabs are in black ceramic, and the width of the bezel is primarily what’s responsible for the 44mm case diameter. The crown screws down as do the pushers. As far as red accents go, the 31 in the date subdial is flying solo, and there’s a tachymetric scale on the rehaut but it’s happy to be a supporting player for the bezel and rider tabs.
The moonphase disk is a modern stylized representation of the Moon, as befits the modernity of the design, and the dial is skeletonized, with the subdials done in black synthetic sapphire, ringed with rose gold and seeming to float above the perpetual calendar works.
Of the three models I think this is the one that feels the most celebratory – like the Chronomats since their inception, it’s a highly extroverted watch and one that is bold with a capital B. Timorous wrists of a retiring disposition need not apply.
The watches are limited editions of 100 pieces and all 3 models are $59,000; Breitling is making 140 of each. They’re delivered in a very celebratory-feeling box that can hold up to three watches (so obviously you just have to get all three) and buyers will also receive a copy of the book, Breitling: 140 Years In 140 Stories, published by Rizzoli. For more info, check out the collection at Breitling.com.