The Watch: Breitling introduced the Navitimer in 1952 with a circular slide rule built into the bezel, a scaled-down version of the rotating computer the company had put on the Chronomat a decade earlier. It let a pilot work out fuel burn, climb rate, and unit conversions on the wrist. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association adopted it as its official watch, and the Navitimer has stayed in production since, which makes it one of the longest continuously produced chronographs in the industry.
The Navitimer 1 collection arrived in 2018, when Georges Kern reorganized the range and cleaned up the dial. The 41mm case is the smaller of the two sizes and closer to mid-century (i.e. reasonable) Navitimer proportions than the 46mm.
The dial is white with a silvered flange, applied polished baton markers with luminous tips, and a printed fraction-of-a-second track. The 30-minute counter sits at 12, the 12-hour counter at 6, and running seconds at 9, with the date at 3. The central chronograph seconds hand is red and reads to a quarter second.
The case is 41mm polished steel at 14.44mm thick, with a bidirectional slide rule bezel, a screwed caseback, and cambered sapphire glareproofed on both sides. Water resistance is 30 meters.
Inside is the Breitling cal. 13, a modified Valjoux 7750, 25 jewels, 28,800 vph, roughly 42 hours of reserve, COSC certified.
This example comes as a full set with its original steel Navitimer bracelet and an aftermarket leather strap.
Condition: Good, see photos.
Includes: Full set. Box, papers, original steel bracelet, and an aftermarket leather strap.
