Navitimer

The Breitling Navitimer is built around a wonderfully dense dial: scales, hands and, on its best-known versions, three chronograph registers framed by a rotating slide rule. That aviation calculator is the family’s defining feature, but the Navitimer name spans hand-wound vintage chronographs, automatic successors, GMT models and simpler watches without a stopwatch.

Introduced in 1952, the Navitimer became closely associated with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, whose winged emblem appears on early dials. The 806 anchors the vintage story, with hand-wound movements and variations in dial design and bezel detailing across its production. The automatic Chrono-Matic models brought a conspicuous change from 1969: a crown on the left, opposite the chronograph pushers.

Later generations offer useful visual dividing lines. The A23322 has registers at 6, 9 and 12, while the manufacture B01 chronographs arrange them at 3, 6 and 9. The World adds a second-time-zone hand; the Cosmonaute uses a 24-hour display. Case sizes vary substantially, and the Navitimer Automatic drops the chronograph entirely. The Navitimer 8 takes another route, dispensing with the slide rule for a much cleaner aviation-watch dial.