Breitling Navitimer 1884 Chronograph: Evolution and Models
The Fake Breitling Navitimer 1884 (sometimes incorrectly called the “Breitling Navigator”) is one of the best-known and most popular chronographs or pilot’s watches of all time: thanks to a sophisticated, bidirectional slide rule bezel and good contacts in the aviation industry, the Swiss veteran Breitling achieved a breakthrough in the 1950s with the Navitimer Chrono, which is still very popular today.
In order to understand the evolution of the Breitling Navitimer, in this article we will first look at the history of chronographs from Breitling. Since the founding of Breitling SA, Léon Breitling’s focus has been on functional chronographs, which were used for military or industrial applications, for example. But Breitling’s expertise was also in demand in aviation, which is why the Swiss supplied aircraft manufacturers with on-board chronographs early on. Breitling was considered a real pioneer in this field at the time. But first things first…
Chronographs from Breitling: The origins of the Breitling Navitimer 1884
When the founding father Léon Breitling died in 1914, his son Gaston took over the family business. And Gaston (thank God!) did not question the company’s focus on chronographs: just one year after taking office, in 1915, he launched one of the world’s first chronograph wristwatches with a separate pusher…
Just a little later, in 1923, Breitling once again showed its pioneering spirit: a patented pocket watch with two chronograph pushers came onto the market. The special thing about it: the watch was started and stopped using the pusher at 2 o’clock, while the second pusher was integrated into the crown and set the chronograph mechanism to zero. This made it possible for the first time to measure several time intervals one after the other.
Here are two original advertisements from 1894 and 1905 that highlight the chronographs (Chronographes) and time counters (Compteurs) from Breitling and show their importance for the Swiss manufacturer.