Breitling 140th Anniversary Perpetual Calendars
The precision chronograph specialist Breitling is celebrating the anniversary of its 1884 founding with watches that needn’t be reset for date until the year 2100. Among the birthday debuts are its first perpetual calendar chronographs.
Perpetual calendars automatically adjust for months of varying lengths even on leap years. Theoretically, they can run without correction for a century. The milestone Caliber B19 movement combines a column-wheel chronograph with a full calendar and moon phase. It also delivers an impressive power reserve of approximately 96 hours.
Its solid-gold winding rotor is decorated with an engraving of Breitling’s historic factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, the manufacturer for more than 80 years.
Given the significance of the technical achievement, Breitling didn’t limit it to one model. It launched a trio of 140th anniversary limited editions: a Premier, a Navitimer and a Chronomat for the brand’s devotees.
The Premier B19 Datora 42 140th Anniversary (left) has a lineage back to 1943 when Breitling “took the chronograph out of the cockpit and into society,” a gentlemen’s chronograph if you will. The 42-mm, 18-karat, red gold, limited edition preserves Premier’s distinctive Arabic numerals, contrasting minutes scale and signature square pushers.
In 1952, Navitimer (right) was the first watch for pilots that combined a chronograph and a circular slide rule. Then in 1962, it was the first Swiss watch to go to space. The 43-mm anniversary edition features the slide rule in black to contrast against a radiant, 18-karat red gold dial.
The third piece in the collection, the 44-mm Super Chronomat B19 44 Perpetual Calendar 140th Anniversary (center) is a nod to the 1983 Chronomat, which helped restore the popularity of mechanical chronographs in the golden age of quartz. The special edition features four raised rider tabs at the quarter-hour marks, an onion-style crown and a rubber version of the model’s classic Rouleaux bracelet with ceramic inserts.
Each limited edition of 140 pieces ($59,000) is delivered in a suede-lined wooden presentation box with a storage drawer and travel pouch, plus a deluxe edition of the coffee table book Breitling: 140 Years in 140 Stories.
