To examine a Breitling Navitimer is to immerse yourself in detail.
There’s no way around it. Even if you view the timepiece purely as a pilot’s tool (and that would be a sad lack of passion) you would have to be enthusiastic at the degree to which Breitling has managed to fill up every available tick of dial with information, scales, display in some order, and a matchless quantity of purpose-driven enhancement. There is more there than there is not, to misquote an author. And the lack of simplicity, combined with a direct matter-of-factness, will lead you to understand that here is neither excessive decoration for its own sake, nor Spartan simplicity and sparseness. With the dial of the Breitling Navitimer, not only is it all there, it’s all there for a reason.
Speaking of details, there’s a few things that, well, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to know. For one thing, the Breitling Navitimer 1884 is powered by the brand’s Caliber 21. Caliber 21 is a self-winding automatic movement, with 25 jewels, a vibration rate of 28,800 vph, and a 1/4th of a second chronograph. It has 30-minute and 12-hour counters. Good so far. It also has a calendar, with a date hand and twin apertures for the day and the month.
That slide rule was one of the pieces that took them on the path to who they are today.
The case is steel, and resistant to 3 bar. The case diameter is a hefty 46mm, and that includes that rotating bezel with the slide rule. The sapphire crystal is glareproofed on both sides. It has a black dial, naturally. The straps available are leather, crocodile leather, and rubber.
The Limited Edition Navitimer 1884 is a watch that incorporates all this detail with a sharp focus… and, as it turns out, a little taste for history. The number 1884 is the number of limited edition timepieces, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four. But more importantly, it’s a date.
1884 was the year that Breitling was founded. By using that auspicious year as the designation of this watch, they’re showing a remarkable commitment to it. And the 1884 Navitimer has other touches of history about it as well.
Indeed, it combines two points in the Breitling timeline. The watch features the famous 1952 aviation slide rule, that pilot’s instrument so very specialized in nature. And it also has the touch that was a Breitling signature back in the 1940s: twin day/month apertures. These two features, combined into a single limited edition piece that bears as its name the founding date of the company, should give you an idea of the esteem in which Breitling holds this watch model.
That slide rule was a turning point in the brand’s history. The inclusion of that circular slide rule into the watch case was what made Breitling into the watch of choice among pilots, among true working pilots and among aviation enthusiasts who could understand that such a tool, in the hands of a trained user, could serve as a genuine flight instrument. Breitling’s slogan is “Instruments for Professionals.” That slide rule was one of the pieces that took them on the path to who they are today.
And before that was the day and month paired apertures, combined with a date pointer on the central hub. That system was called a Datora, and it was a bestselling watch feature for Breitling back in the 1940s. You can see it now on the face of the 1884 Navitimer, a red-crescent-tipped pointer that marks the day of the month.
There is also a sub-dial at 9 o’clock, a 24-hour military time display. It’s a good thing to have, especially when you’re flying a plane around and changing time zones. It also makes it easier to know the time when you have to adjust the calendar, because no matter how dark it is outside the cockpit you’ll know if it’s AM or PM.
With the dial of the Breitling Navitimer, not only is it all there, it’s all there for a reason.
And then of course there’s the chronograph functions, with the 30-minute counter and the 12-hour counter. And all of this has been precision-tested and COSC certified, making the 1884 Navitimer a genuine authenticated chronometer-level timepiece.
With all of that history behind it, the Breitling 1884 Navitimer Limited Edition is a piece that not only carries the direction of the brand, it has incorporated it into itself. I said at the beginning that to examine the Navitimer is to immerse yourself in it. It has a thousand things to tell you, it has a thousand functions to perform, but you have to know how to use it in order for those things to happen. The watch is complex, and not just in function but in form. The mass of sheer information may not be for everyone… but then again, Breitling doesn’t make watches for everyone. It’s right there in their slogan. Instruments for Professionals. So even if you are a trained pilot yourself, or just a lover of the look, you have to enjoy the level of the bar that the watch inherently presents to you. And if you do that, then your enjoyment of the 1884 Navitimer will expand tenfold. You celebrate challenges by meeting them head on. So rise to the occasion. Delight in detail.
