To commemorate the 125th birthday of the Breitling, the company released a Breitling Navitimer watch to celebrate. Now, there’s been a lot of confusion because of this. The Breitling Navitimer watch is not 125 years old, Breitling the company is. We are going to take a deeper look into the Breitling Navitimer history and its journey that made it the number one aviation watch today.
The version of the story we are telling here at the Breitling Blog, is not definitely the whole story. The only people who know the real story of the birth of the Breitling Navitimer are not talking; it is clouded in mystery, conspiracy theories, and a lot of emotion.
The best place to start is the name… Navitimer derives from two words; Navigation and Timer. It all started in 1952 when Breitling partnered with Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA) in 1952 and the AOPA made the Breitling Navitimer it’s official watch. This was also the birth of the winged B logo because the AOPA watches all bore the wings on the dial and the Breitling logo was on the back; eventually the two came together to form the “winged B”.
The first movement was the Valjoux 72, however it was replaced by the Venus 178 movement. The Valjoux 72 is very rare today and is a prized watch for Breitling enthusiast today.
