Breitling fills a big hole in their Navitimer collection today with the release of a pair of watches that feel like concerted efforts at engaging the watch enthusiast community. The new Navitimer B09 Chronograph 41 and the Navitimer B02 Chronograph 41 Cosmonaute are not limited editions, but part of the brand’s core collection, their presence there will surely please a wide swath of longtime Breitling fans, particularly those interested in vintage Breitling, and classic chronographs more generally.
It’s somewhat hard to believe, but until today, Breitling did not have a manually wound Navitimer in their permanent collection. The hand wound B09 movement used in the Navitimer has been used in a handful of limited and special releases in the past, but it feels like the brand is really plugging a gap here with a manually wound version of what is arguably their most iconic watch.
According to Breitling, this new version of the Navitimer is inspired by versions of the watch worn in the 1960s by race car drivers Jim Clark and Graham Hill, who were also pilots and would have been able to make use of the Navitimer’s slide rule bezel in flight. This is a watch that, at least in a contemporary context, straddles the line between the automotive and pilot watch worlds, and has been embraced by both cultures (which admittedly overlap a fair amount).
The Navitimer B09’s case measures 41mm in diameter and is available with either a black or blue dial with white subdials, a classic “reverse panda” execution. There’s no date, for a clean traditional and enthusiast friendly look. The case measures 13mm tall, which is a bit thinner than automatic versions, and the difference will likely be easily felt on the wrist.
Potentially even more interesting to deep Breitling enthusiasts is the release of the Navitimer B02 Chronograph 41 Cosmonaute. This version of the Navitimer was conceived for space travel, specifically Scott Carpenter’s Mercury-Atlas 7 flight. The Cosmonaute features a 24 hour display, which was thought to be an easier way to read the time for an astronaut in flight. This is the first time a modern Cosmonaute has been part of the brand’s core collection after a series of well received limited editions.
Like the standard Navitimer, the new Cosmonaute features a manually wound movement, this one with a date display positioned in the 6:00 subdial. The case is the same size as the Navitmer, and has the same dial configuration options. Also of note, these new watches feature the classic “Twin Jet” Breitling logo on the dial, in gold, a nice, knowing nod to the brand’s history.
More information the new Navitimers from Breitling can be found on their website here.
