Breitling

History of Breitling Watches

Breitling is most widely known in the watch world as the inventor of the modern chronograph. Since their creation in 1884 they have specialized in “instruments for professionals”. From athletes to astronauts, Breitling watches have set the standard for those in need of precision timing instruments.

In the Swiss Jura in 1884, Leon Breitling began devoting himself to refining the chronograph and timer function of watches. These speciality watches were primarily used in the fields of sports, science and industry.  Due to the high quality of their products, Breitling thrived along with the boom in sports and automobiles in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

In 1915 Breitling made their first major mark on the world of wristwatches, with their introduction of the first independent chronograph pushpiece. By 1923 they had perfected this movement by separating the stop-start function. This innovation made it possible to add several successive times without returning the hands to zero.  Such an addition proved extremely useful in timing both sports competitions and flights. In 1934, Breitling made the final addition to the modern chronograph with the addition of the second independent pushpiece.  This was a massive achievement for the company and one that would soon be emulated by the competition.

Breitling has been synonymous with the field of aviation for decades now and this dates back to the 1930’s. The company was known for speciality timepieces but this move would earn them great praise in not only the world of watches but in flight as well.  Their introduction of onboard chronographs intended for aircraft cockpits was a huge success. These instruments became vital to various armed forces, including the Royal Navy.

Furthering their presence in the world of aviation, in 1952 Breitling introduced its legendary Navitimer. This wrist chronograph featured a circular slide rule for performing navigation calculations. This watch has become somewhat of a cult icon over the years and has been continuously produced by the company for over 60 years now.  In 1962 the Navitimer made history by accompanying Scott Carpenter on his orbital flight on the Aurora 7 space capsule, making it the first chronograph watch in space.

After decades of perfecting the manually wound chronograph movement, Breitling set out to create the worlds first self-winding chronograph movement.  It was widely known as one of the “greatest 20th-century watchmaking challenges” and after years of work the company succeeded.  In 1969, Breitling introduced the worlds first self-winding chronograph watch to the world and it was a huge success. The popularity of this movement would propel Breitling towards the top of the watch world and in 1984 they released the first Chronomat model.  This mechanical chronograph was a hit and is still the company’s leading model.

Modern Breitling watches may look similar to those of years past, but what is inside saw a major change in 2009.  Breitling set out to create its first fully in-house made self-winding movement, and in 2009 they released the Caliber 01. This high-performance self-winding movement is completely developed and produced in Breitling workshops.