The Excellent Watches Reference For Pilots - Watch Manufacturers In USA

In the 50s of the last century, Breitling Watches Manufacturers added a circular slide rule to the bezel of his chronographs. This simple fact gave rise to the Breitling Navitimer, an iconic watch that became the symbol of aviation throughout the world.

The taste for highly precise mechanical complications is the hallmark of the Breitling Navitimer, so it is not necessary to fly planes to show off one of its models, it is enough to enjoy the most precise complications of mechanical watchmaking.

Breitling's development up to the Navitimer

The origin of the brand is in the watchmaker Leon Breitling, in the Swiss city of Saint-Imier. In the year 1889 he obtained his first patented chronograph, the simplest in the world to date, but with a much more complex mechanism than the meters of that time.

This tradition for the measurement of time was the origin of what is today its main model, the Breitling Navitimer, but at the moment we are several decades away from reaching its origin.

In 1915, Gaston Breitling, son of the brand's founder, launched the world's first chronograph with a separate push-button, an unprecedented complication that is nonetheless very common today.

In the 1930s, and after surviving the Crack of '29, the brand already offered 40 different models and was not yet specialized in chronographs, although in 1934 he patented the first two-button wrist chronograph.

Until the early 1950s, Breitling continued to develop chronographs, at which point the brand was considering launching a new chronograph model that, from the moment of its launch, became a classic.

1952, the year of the first Navitimer by Breitling

The year 1952 saw the birth of the first prototype of the Breitling Navitimer. Its name comes from two different concepts, but united in this piece, Navigation (navigation) and Timer (timer), from the union of these two concepts the definitive pilot's watch is born, and which still continues to be a reference today.

The Navitimer included a specific slide rule for aviation, which is why, since the 1950s, many pilots have incorporated it into their usual piloting tools.

Just ten years after its appearance, in 1962, the Navitimer evolves for what was its greatest journey, a model made for astronaut Scott Carpenter with a 24-hour dial, because in space, it is impossible to distinguish the day from the night.

The circular slide rule

Contrary to what many people think, the Breitling Navitimer does not incorporate a tachymeter on the bezel, but rather a circular calculation, adapted to perform all kinds of operations related to air navigation.