Horological Meandering

WatchFred
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Breitling Navitimer (and some Cosmonautes) over 59 years - pic heavy, beware !

Well, I've already outed myself as a bit of a Breitling addict and there is no brand section on PuristsPro, so I hope you will not mind to see some Navitimers here, although some members who normally have eerily similar tastes to mine do not like them too much - for me it is one of the iconic aviation watches.

I will not bother you with too much historical information, a lot has been written about the Navitimers, though much of that is slightly incorrect. Breitling launched their first sliderule chronograph in 1941 or 1942, the Chronomat ref. 769; the patent application for the logarithmical sliderule was filed in September 1940 and granted in January 1942, it proved to be highly successful. In the early 1950s Breitling and AOPA (the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) - probably motivated by the success of the Jardur Bezelmeter  - adapted the Chronomat sliderule design to fit aviation requirements and named it the NAVIgationTIMER, quite a chunky watch for the times with a diameter of 40mm it offered  pilots calulation tools for ground speeds, gasoline consumption, rates of climb and descent, climb and descent distances and more.

Breitling still claims the Navitimer was launched in 1952 and last year celebrated their 60th anniversary - evidence shows the Navitimer was only launched in small quantities in 1954, mass production started in 1955. The mythical 1952 and 1953 Navitimers probably result from misnumbered cases - the watches that bear those serial numbers have all the specifics (movement, case, import marking WOG instead of BOW, bead numbers on the bezel) of late 1950s Navitimers; confronted with the evidence Breitling now claims there were Navitimers produced for military use in 1952 - but they can not disclose which army commissioned them, still secret. Yeah, sure. I must mention the Navitimer-guru Kurt Broendum and "Dracha" Ren'e Kesting, without their persisent research we would probably still believe the Breitling lore.

In the first years AOPA had an exclusive distribution agreement for the Navitimer 806 (displaying their logo on the dial instead of the Breitling brand), but quite soon Breitling-branded pieces appeared for markets outside the US.

So, enough blah; let's start the journey with a family shot, spanning the years from 1955 to 2011:


1955
Navitimer 806 V1b, Valjoux V72, AOPA (V1a would be the even rarer 1954s without reference numbers. 1952 Navitimers are a myth, as discussed above).

1956
Navitimer 806 V1c, Venus V178, AOPA, watch came with the original box and the earliest printed manual I have ever seen.

1956
Navitimer 806 V1c, Venus V178; AOPA


1958
Navitimer 806 V1c, Venus V178, AOPA (fully restored, dial relumed, sliderule replaced)


1958 or 1959
Navitimer 806 V1c, Venus V178; serial number would indicate 1953, but all characteristics prove it to be a late 1950s, one of the misnumbered cases that most probably are the reason for that 1952/53 launch myth. This is an example of an "international distribution" Navitimer, no AOPA lettering inside the wings, Breitling-branded.

1963, 1964
Navitimer 806 V2, Venus V178, new "twin-plane" Breitling logo for non-AOPA distribution

1964
Navitimer 806 V2, Venus V178, AOPA & "boxed 10"

1966
Navitimer 806 V2, Venus V178, AOPA

1967
Navitimer 806 V2, Venus V178, twin plane "boxed 10"

1971
Navitimer 7806, Valjoux 7740


1973
Navitimer 7806-S, modified Valjoux V7740

1986-94
Navitimer reborn; "Lemania Cossie" 81600 (later 12x2x), a Navitimer was launched in the same case, Lemania 1873

1995
Old Navitimer 1, Valjoux 7750


2001
Navitimer Mècanique Japan LE (400 in black); Lemania 1873. Rare bird, but really quite nice.

2004-2010
Navitimer A23322, modified Valjoux 7750

2011
Navitimer 01, in-house cal. B01