Breitling
Breitling is the fourth largest brand in this library at 3,590 watches, and the most single-minded. Its catalogue is chronographs and divers in steel, with a median case of 43 mm. Seventy-one per cent of the watches here are steel and 82 per cent are rated to 100 m or more.
Collections
Chronomat 36
The Chronomat 36 is the three-hand Chronomat of 2020, the Rouleaux bracelet and rider tabs of the redesigned line in a 36 mm case.
Chronoliner
Airwolf
Exospace
Windrider
Chrono-Matic
Chronomat 38
Vintage
Chronomat 28
Merchandise
Professional
Top Time
The Top Time is Breitling's 1964 chronograph for a younger buyer, revived in 2020 and now the home of the brand's motoring and lifestyle editions.
Avenger
The Avenger is Breitling's oversized tool watch, launched in 2001 with screw-locked pushers and a case built around water resistance rather than elegance.
Navitimer
The Navitimer is the 1952 pilot's chronograph with a circular slide rule in its bezel, made for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Galactic
The Galactic was Breitling's sports-chic line from 2008 to the late 2010s: a unidirectional bezel and rider tabs on a case sized from 29 mm to 44 mm.
Superocean
The Superocean is Breitling's dive watch, a name that dates from 1957 and a collection that has been rebuilt roughly once a decade since.
Colt
The Colt was Breitling's entry line for three decades, launched in the 1980s for military buyers and retired in 2019.
Skyracer
The Skyracer was a Breitling chronograph of the 2000s: a 44 mm steel case with a 7750-based movement, rated to 200 m and sold on a rubber or leather…
Superocean Heritage
The Superocean Heritage is Breitling's vintage-styled diver, launched in 2007 for the fiftieth anniversary of the 1957 Superocean.
Transocean
The Transocean was Breitling's vintage-styled line of the 2010s, reviving a 1958 name on a slim 43 mm chronograph with a mesh bracelet.
Premier
The Premier is Breitling's dress chronograph, a name from 1943 revived in 2018 as the elegant counterpart to the Navitimer and Chronomat.
Chronomat B01 44
The Chronomat 44 was the flagship Breitling of the 2010s: the 2009 Chronomat B01 grown to 44 mm, with the in-house B01 movement and a 500 m case.
Chronomat B01 42
The Chronomat B01 42 is the 2020 Chronomat, the 1984 design returned to its original proportions.
Cockpit B50
The Cockpit B50 is Breitling's titanium multifunction of 2015: a 46 mm analogue-digital watch on a rechargeable SuperQuartz movement built for pilots.
AVI
AVI is the name Breitling gave in 1953 to its pilot's chronograph, the ref 765. Since 2018 it has been the name of the aviation line beside the Navitimer.
Chronomat B01 41
The Chronomat 41 was the smaller companion to the Chronomat 44 from 2011 to 2019: the in-house B01 in a 41 mm case rated to 300 m.
Endurance Pro
The Endurance Pro is Breitling's sports watch of 2020, a 44 mm case in Breitlight around a thermocompensated quartz chronograph.
Aerospace
The Aerospace is Breitling's titanium multifunction watch, made since 1985.
Montbrillant
The Montbrillant was Breitling's vintage-styled chronograph line of the 1990s and 2000s.
Breitling for Bentley
Breitling for Bentley was the partnership line of 2003 to 2021, begun when Breitling designed the dashboard clock of the 2002 Bentley Continental GT.
Chronomat 40 GMT
The Chronomat 40 GMT is the travel version of the 2020 Chronomat: a 40 mm three-hander with a second time zone, on the Rouleaux bracelet with rider tabs.
Super Chronomat
The Super Chronomat is the 44 mm Chronomat of 2021, the B01 chronograph in a case with a ceramic bezel and rider tabs.
Chronospace
The Chronospace is Breitling's steel multifunction watch, the analogue-digital SuperQuartz of the Aerospace in a larger case.
Emergency
The Emergency is the Breitling with a distress beacon, first made in 1995.
Superocean Heritage '57
The Superocean Heritage '57 is Breitling's revival of the 1957 Superocean, launched in 2020.
Chronomat Evolution
The Chronomat Evolution was the Chronomat of 2004 to 2009: the last version on the Valjoux 7750 before the in-house B01, in a 43.7 mm case rated to 300 m.
Cockpit
The Cockpit was Breitling's smaller everyday line of the 2000s, a Chronomat-style case with rider tabs.
Chronomat 32
The Chronomat 32 is the smallest Chronomat, a 32 mm SuperQuartz three-hander on the Rouleaux bracelet with rider tabs.
About Breitling
Léon Breitling founded the company in Saint-Imier in 1884 and moved it to La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1892, making chronographs and timers for industry and sport. Its two patents shaped the modern chronograph: the separate pusher of 1915, which took the start-stop function off the crown, and the second pusher of 1934, which gave reset its own button. The Chronomat of 1942 put a slide rule on the bezel; the Navitimer of 1952 refined it for pilots and is still the largest collection here, 492 watches. The Superocean diver followed in 1957, and the 1984 Chronomat, built for the Frecce Tricolori aerobatic team, returned the brand to mechanical chronographs after the quartz years.
The catalogue divides by movement. The in-house B01 chronograph of 2009, a column-wheel movement with a vertical clutch and a 70-hour reserve, is inside 861 watches here, a quarter of the brand and more than any other single caliber outside Rolex. The ETA-based Caliber 17 and the Valjoux-based Caliber 13 cover another 740; the 7750 piece explains the second. Every movement, quartz included, is submitted to the COSC, and Breitling's quartz is its own SuperQuartz, thermocompensated to ten times the accuracy of an ordinary quartz: 17 per cent of the watches here run on it, the Galactic and the Colt above all, the B71 the most common of those calibers, and the analogue-digital Aerospace and Emergency beside them.
Twenty per cent of the catalogue is chronographs and 6 per cent carries a second time zone. Depth is the other constant: 29 per cent of the watches here are rated to 300 m or more, the highest share after Panerai, with the Avenger Seawolf at 3,000 m and the Superocean at 2,000 m.
Since 2017 the range has been rebuilt around its archive. The Premier of 1943 returned in 2018, the Top Time of the 1960s in 2020 and the AVI reference 765 the same year, all on the B01 or its derivatives such as the B20 three-hander. Twelve per cent of the watches here are limited editions, a fifth have a display back, and the rarity median of 2 is the lowest of any brand in the library: Breitling makes watches in series, and the catalogue shows it.