Vintage breitling serial numbers update#

We also see the very first automatic Chronomat during this time, which gets a bolder dial вЂ“ either a black dial with silvered/white sub-registers and outer scale or one with a white dial and an outer scale with black sub-registers and both versions also feature bright red accents.Д«ut by the 1970s the dials drastically changed, this time totally omitting the chronograph subdials because the watch was actually no longer a chronograph. However, this two register design would largely stick around through the 1950s as this watch continued to increase in popularity, eventually in the 1960s getting some small updates like an arrow marker at 12 oвЂ™clock. ThereвЂ™s also a very rare Chronomat from 1946 with an additional 12-hour sub-dial. Historically, the Breitling Chronomat was known for its complicated chronograph dials, the very first Breitling Chronomat from the 1940s featured two sub-dials at 3 and 9 oвЂ™clock.

The chronograph dial is exclusively found on BreitlingвЂ™s larger Chronomat watches, which all currently have 42mm cases. Today, there are two main types of dials on the Breitling Chronomat вЂ“ the chronograph dial with three sub-dials situated at 3, 6, and 9 oвЂ™clock, and the simpler time-and-date dial that features baton indexes and a date window at the 6-oвЂ™clock location.

Vintage breitling serial numbers update#

In 2004, Breitling even went on to update the line again, this time introducing the Chronomat Evolution in 2004 and in 2009, reinventing the watch with the Caliber B01, BreitlingвЂ™s first entirely in-house movement.

In fact, the watch wouldnвЂ™t be brought back until 1984, this time geared entirely towards pilots rather than scientists.Дespite the change, the Chronomat is now one of BreitlingвЂ™s most famous watches and easily one of its consistent best sellers. However, the company was not lost and relaunched in 1980 вЂ“ just without the Chronomat in its lineup. For Breitling, like many other legacy watchmakers at the time, the quartz crisis was detrimental to business, forcing the company to go up for sale in 1979. Over the years, there have been many iterations of the Chronomat, from the first-ever automatic chronograph in the late 1960s to the quartz version during the infamous quartz crisis of the 1970s. The original Breitling Chronomat watches featured slide rule bezels and were the first models from the brand to feature this unique characteristic that has since become the signature design element of the Navitimer collection. The Chronomat was one of BreitlingвЂ™s very first tool watches, but the watchmaker wanted to further distinguish this model from all the other pilotвЂ™s watches of the time, so the brand marketed it towards the scientific community like engineers and mathematicians (hence its вЂњChronomatвЂќ name вЂ“ a combination of the words вЂњchronograph for mathematiciansвЂќ). Even the British Royal Air Force was a customer of Breitling during WWII and had some of its bombers and fighter jets outfitted with Breitling dashboard clocks. During this time Willy was also focusing much of the companyвЂ™s efforts on creating watches for pilots and clocks for airplanes. The next decade was marked by great advances in chronographs and stopwatches, including timers with tachymeter scales to measure speeds and pulsometers for doctors to measure pulse rates.Д®ventually, Willy Breitling (the founderвЂ™s grandson) had taken over the company, continuing his grandfatherвЂ™s advances in chronographs and patenting the worldвЂ™s first wrist chronograph with two pushers, which would ultimately lay the groundwork for the Chronomat in 1940. By 1899, Breitling had even obtained a patent for a simplified chronograph pocket watch and by 1892, the workshop had expanded into a new factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds with 60 employees. Imier, Switzerland, mainly focusing on building chronographs. 8 Breitling Chronomat Frequently Asked QuestionsД«reitling was established in 1884 by LГ©on Breitling in St.