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FROM PURPOSE TO STYLE. In 1932, Willy Breitling took over the reins of the family business and leveraged the technical improvements made by his father and grandfather. Having witnessed the rise of military aviation and already sensing the role aircraft would play in the future of the modern world, Breitling began to focus on this burgeoning ...
Oct 16, 2020 · 1943: The Premier. Breitling. Breitling’s future seemed uncertain when Gaston passed away suddenly in 1927. His son Willy was just 14, so for the first time an external team took over the ...
- JamieAlan.Carson@Hearst.co.uk
- A Surge in Popularity
- The Race Was on
- Project 99
- The Age of Astron
- Under New Ownership
- Instruments For Professionals
- Breitling in The New Millenium
- The Dawn of A New Era
- In Good Hands
In the ’60s, chronographs were becoming quite popular among young people. With a keen eye on appealing to this growing market, Breitling released the Top Time in 1964. Willy Breitling realized that younger people didn’t want the same type of watch worn by their fathers. Instead, as he put it, they wanted “a competition watch with special dials and ...
As most watch enthusiasts are aware, the end of the 1960s marked an important event in the history of horology: the race to develop the first automatic chronograph. By the 1960s, convenient automatic watches had become very popular. Until that point, however, all chronographs had been purely manual-wind. Knowing they could either adapt or perish, m...
The consortium worked secretly on what was known internally as “Project 99” for three years, resulting in the Caliber 11. The group then planned to debut it on March 3, 1969, at simultaneous press conferences in New York and Geneva. Much to the members’ chagrin, however, Zenith announced the El Primero caliber on January 10 of that same year. This ...
Not even the automatic chronograph in 1969, however, could stop the next blow to the Swiss watch industry. The very same year that Seiko released its own automatic chronograph, the Japanese watch giant also released the world’s very first quartz watch, the Astron. Several Swiss brands had been experimenting with quartz technology as well. In the ea...
On November 30, 1982, Ernest Schneider registered the company under the name Breitling Montres S.A. and relocated the company’s headquarters to Grenchen. Despite the fact that quartz watches were dominating the market at the time, there were none yet with an analog chronograph display. In 1983, this prompted the aerobatic demonstration team of the ...
In 1985, Breitling launched the Aerospace. This quartz watch featured an analog time display, two digital displays, a perpetual calendar, dual time zone, and chronograph function. Remarkably, the wearer could control all of these functions via the crown. 1985 also saw the rebirth of the legendary Navitimer, first in a Lemania-powered manual-wind va...
The 2000s were, in general, an era of large, bold, and highly-polished watches for the brand. Breitling was actually no stranger to producing large watches for its day. As far back as 1969, in fact, Breitling had brought a whopping 47mm Navitimer Chrono-matic to market. The brand revived this design, albeit in a smaller 44mm case, in 2006. Then, in...
In 2009, just in time for the brand’s 125th anniversary, Breitling made a historic move. The brand launched its first completely in-house chronograph movement for a wristwatch, the B01. The caliber features a modern 70-hour power reserve, column wheel, and vertical clutch for smooth operation and continuous accuracy, and obligatory COSC certificati...
In 2017, CVC chose Georges Kern, former CEO of 14 years at IWC, to uphold the Breitling legacy. Since then, the brand has done a remarkable job of balancing its offerings. The Avenger, SuperOcean, and Professional lines strictly feature the brand’s largest, most modern, and “toughest,” designs. The Aviator 8, SuperOcean Heritage, Chronomat, Navitim...
THE ERA OF INVENTORS. Getting into the watch manufacturing business in the mid-1880s was no easy feat. Switzerland was experiencing the worst part of a long recession. Yet, despite the economic difficulty, social unrest and uncertainty about the future, 24-year-old Léon Breitling stayed true to his vision of creating instruments that could ...
Léon Breitling founder of Breitling in 1884. In 1882 the world was in a period of transition. The industrial revolution had done its worst and everything was starting to feel incredibly modern. Industry, science and sport were all progressing in leaps and bounds. And witnessing all of this was Leon Breitling.
However, the late 1970s marked fundamental changes within the company as the Breitling family relinquished control. Willy was falling into ill health and his sons were too young to take the reins. Shortly before Willy’s death in 1979, he sold the brand names and watch models, including his beloved Navitime.
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Why did Willy Breitling make the top time?
When Willy Breitling took over in the 1930s, he continued to refine the chronograph. He filed the patent for the world's first example with two pushers in 1934. He also introduced a special aviator's version with glow-in-the-dark components and other innovative features in 1936. He continued to introduce new watch designs into the 1950s and ...
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