Breitling

For an aviation enthusiast, the Navitimer is hard to beat. It has been Breitling's defining pilot's chronograph since 1954, and its slide-rule bezel and busy, technical dial are instantly recognizable. Treat it as a heritage piece you will wear and enjoy rather than a pure investment, and it earns its place.

It is a genuine flight calculator. In the 1940s Breitling added a circular slide rule to the bezel of its Chronomat models, and that bezel became most associated with the Navitimer, launched in 1954. Pilots could use it to perform aviation calculations on the wrist, which is exactly where the name comes from: Navigation plus Timer.

The Navitimer is the model most people picture when they think of Breitling, thanks to its slide-rule bezel and aviation heritage. The Chronomat, released in 1942, is another cornerstone and remains one of the brand's best-selling models. Between them they capture Breitling's identity as the aviation chronograph specialist.

Breitling is a Swiss luxury watchmaker whose movements are chronometer-certified by the COSC, and its watches carry decades of aviation heritage and engineering. The brand also developed its own in-house B01 self-winding chronograph movement, used in models like the Chronomat 01 and Navitimer 01. You are paying for certified Swiss watchmaking and a genuine pilot's-watch pedigree.

Breitling SA was founded in 1884 in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, by Léon Breitling. Today its headquarters are in Grenchen and production is based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. After 1884, the business passed down through the founding family until the line stepped away in the late 1970s.

Since 23 December 2022, Breitling has been majority-owned by Partners Group, a Swiss investment and private equity firm, which took over the shares from CVC Capital Partners. Partners Group co-founder Alfred Gantner became president of Breitling's directorial board. Under recent ownership the brand has also expanded, acquiring Universal Genève in 2023 and Gallet in 2025.

It does. In 1961 astronaut Scott Carpenter asked Breitling to build a Navitimer with a 24-hour dial instead of the usual 12-hour one, because space has no normal day and night. He wore it on his 1962 spaceflight, and Breitling later released a commercial 24-hour version called the Cosmonaute Navitimer. It is a real piece of aviation-and-space history.

The Emergency is genuinely a rescue device. It contains a radio transmitter that broadcasts on the 121.5 MHz civil aviation distress frequency as a backup beacon, with a military version on 243.0 MHz. In January 2003 two British pilots who crashed a helicopter in Antarctica were rescued after activating their Emergency watches. Buyers without a pilot's license must agree to bear the full cost of any rescue they trigger.

All three are top Swiss names, but Breitling is the aviation specialist, with bold, technical dials and larger cases that announce their pilot heritage. Omega leans more understated and everyday, while Rolex sits at the more expensive, prestige-and-investment end. If aviation DNA and a striking wrist presence appeal to you, Breitling is the natural pick.

Frequently. In the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball, Bond is given a Breitling Top Time fitted with a geiger counter, and the SPECTRE pilot in the same film wears a Navitimer. Jerry Seinfeld is seen wearing a Breitling Navitimer or Chronomat in nearly every episode of Seinfeld and later in Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. The brand has a long pop-culture pedigree.

Yes. In 2002 Breitling designed the dashboard clock for the Bentley Continental GT, and the next year began producing chronographs for Bentley Motors. The collaboration ran for nearly two decades, including the Mulliner Tourbillon dashboard clock for the Bentayga, before the partnership ended in 2021. It is a notable chapter in the brand's automotive history.