The house of Breitling
The house
Breitling
- Founded
- 1884
- Country
- Switzerland
- Based in
- Grenchen
Léon Breitling opened his workshop in Saint-Imier in 1884 and specialised immediately in timing things that moved — first for industry and science, later for aviation. The company's contributions are specific and consequential: the independent chronograph pusher in 1915, which separated starting the timer from winding the watch, and the second pusher in 1934 that gave the chronograph its modern reset.
The watch everyone knows came in 1952. The Navitimer carries a circular slide rule on its bezel, and before electronic flight computers a pilot used it to work out fuel burn, climb rate and conversions in the air. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association adopted it as its official watch, which is how a chronograph ended up on tens of thousands of American wrists.
Breitling built its own automatic chronograph movement, the B01, in 2009 — a late but serious piece of engineering, and the basis of most of the range now.
Known for
Navitimer B01 ChronographAB0138241C1A1
A working slide rule on the bezel, since 1952.
Chronomat
The 1980s pilot’s chronograph that saved the company.
Before you buy one
A Navitimer bezel that will not turn smoothly makes the watch's one party trick useless; check it. Dial printing on this watch is dense and is where fakes fail first — look at the slide-rule scale under magnification.
Breitling restyled heavily from 2018; earlier models are a different look and trade accordingly. Decide which era you want before comparing prices.
Luxigate doesn’t authenticate pieces. For anything you’re serious about, have it checked independently before you pay. How buying works
Last revised 22 Oct 2026.
On the floor
