Breitling Takes Iconic Navitimer To New Heights With New Duo

Few watches embody the spirit of aviation quite like the Breitling Navitimer. Since its debut in 1952, the model has charted a remarkable journey, from indispensable cockpit instrument to enduring design icon.

Now, Breitling elevates its legendary pilot’s watch to a new level of mechanical sophistication with the introduction of the Navitimer B19 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph, presented as a striking high-altitude duo.

For more than seven decades, the Navitimer has served many purposes. Originally created for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), it combined a chronograph with Breitling’s patented circular slide rule, enabling pilots to perform essential flight calculations directly on the wrist. In doing so, it quickly became the quintessential aviator’s companion. Over time, however, the Navitimer transcended the cockpit, earning recognition as a cultural touchstone worn by pilots, astronauts, and influential figures alike.

Today, Breitling presents the Navitimer at perhaps its most refined and technically ambitious. Powered by the manufacture Caliber B19 perpetual-calendar chronograph movement, the two new timepieces represent the pinnacle of the model’s mechanical complexity and material expression.

A Milestone Movement: The Manufacture Caliber B19

At the heart of the Navitimer B19 lies a movement of significant importance to Breitling. First unveiled in 2024 to commemorate the brand’s 140th anniversary, the Manufacture Caliber B19 represents a landmark achievement, bringing together Breitling’s chronograph expertise with a full perpetual calendar complication.

Designed to account automatically for leap years and the varying lengths of months, the perpetual calendar will not require a major correction for a full century. A moonphase indication completes the display, subtly reinforcing the Navitimer’s enduring connection with the skies.

Technically impressive as it is visually captivating, the automatic chronograph offers a robust 96-hour power reserve and COSC-certified chronometer precision. Practicality has also been carefully considered: a one-step crown correction allows the calendar indications to advance simultaneously, while discreet pushers positioned at eight and ten o’clock enable individual adjustments when needed. Visible through the sapphire caseback, a solid 18k red-gold rotor provides the finishing touch to what is currently the most advanced movement ever fitted to a Navitimer.

Two Interpretations, Two Altitudes

The new Navitimer B19 arrives in two distinctive executions, each inspired by a different layer of the skies the watch was born to navigate.

The first is a 75-piece limited edition crafted entirely from platinum. Its deep blue lacquered dial evokes the stratosphere at high cruising altitude, where the atmosphere thins and the sky darkens into an intense blue. A black outer slide rule and crisp white inner scale frame the dial, drawing attention to its celestial centre. The watch is completed by a navy-blue alligator strap secured with a folding clasp.

The second interpretation pairs a stainless-steel case with a platinum bezel and introduces an anthracite dial designed to echo the stillness and vast depth of space. The high-contrast slide rule configuration remains, while the watch is offered on either a brown alligator strap or a seven-row stainless-steel bracelet, giving it a distinctly contemporary presence.

Across both models, Breitling refines the Navitimer’s signature design language. Glossy lacquered dials deliver impressive depth, while raised metal rings surrounding the subdials introduce a subtle three-dimensional architecture. At 12 o’clock, the moonphase display adds a poetic visual focus, complemented by the brand’s familiar knurled bezel. The result is a dial that feels almost celestial in its complexity, technical, elegant, and unmistakably Navitimer.

An Aviation Icon That Continues to Evolve

Born from the needs of professional pilots, the Navitimer quickly became synonymous with the golden age of civil aviation. Yet its appeal extended far beyond the cockpit. Over the decades, the watch has appeared on the wrists of cultural and sporting figures such as Miles Davis, Serge Gainsbourg, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, and astronaut Scott Carpenter.

With the Navitimer B19 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph duo, Breitling demonstrates that its most recognisable watch still has new heights to reach. Combining heritage, high complication, and contemporary refinement, these exceptional timepieces reaffirm the Navitimer’s place not only in aviation history, but in the future of watchmaking.

Technical Specifications:

NAVITIMER B19 CHRONOGRAPH 43 PERPETUAL CALENDAR

Reference: PB1921251B1P1

WATCH MOVEMENT

Caliber: Breitling Manufacture Caliber B19
Diameter: 30 millimeters
Thickness: 8.73 millimeters
Winder: self-winding mechanical, bidirectional with ball bearing
Power reserve: approximately 96 hours
Number of components: 374
Balance frequency: 28,800 a/h or 4 hertz
Chronograph: column-wheel, vertical clutch, 1/4th second, 30-minute
Display: hour, minute, second, perpetual calendar
Certification: COSC-certified

CASE

Material: Platinum and stainless steel
Diameter: 43 millimeters
Thickness: 14.94 millimeters
Height (upper lug tip to lower lug tip): 49.07 millimeters
Water resistance: up to 3 bars (30 meters)
Glass: cambered sapphire, glareproofed on both sides
Case back: stainless steel, screwed in, sapphire crystal
Crown: stainless steel, non screw-locked, two gaskets
Bezel: platinum, bidirectional with circular slide rule

DIAL/HANDS

Slate Grey
Super-LumiNova® luminescent indexes, hour and minute hand

STRAP

Black alligator leather strap with a stainless steel folding buckle Size (lug/buckle): 22/18 mm

PRICE

RRP: £27,800.00

NAVITIMER B19 CHRONOGRAPH 43 PERPETUAL CALENDAR

Reference: LB19211A1C1P1

WATCH MOVEMENT

CASE

Material: Platinum
Diameter: 43 millimeters
Thickness: 14.94 millimeters
Height (upper lug tip to lower lug tip): 49.07 millimeters
Water resistance: up to 3 bars (30 meters)
Glass: cambered sapphire, glareproofed on both sides
Case back: stainless steel, screwed in, sapphire crystal
Crown: stainless steel, non screw-locked, two gaskets
Bezel: platinum, bidirectional with circular slide rule