As part of the brand’s “140 Years of Firsts” birthday celebration campaign, Breitling just released a pair of new Navitimer watches and a limited edition reimagining of the iconic Cosmonaute, the first Swiss timepiece to go into space back in 1962. The smaller cases and cleaner dials of the post-2022 Navitimer have been a commercial success with the brand’s spike in revenues rebuffing critiques that the design has strayed too far from the original. Of course, there has been just as much praise by those lauding the fact that not every Navitimer has to be beholden to the admittedly very busy combination of both slide rule and chronograph.
Unlike previous iterations, the new Navitimer GMT 41 sheds the chronograph function though it retains the slide rule (it is a Navitimer, after all). Done in a 41mm case that measures 11.65mm thick with a 46.86mm lug-to-lug height (30 m of water resistance), the Navitimer GMT debuts in both steel and gold iterations. Just like the Chronomat GMT, it is outfitted with the COSC-certified Caliber 32 movement that operates at 4 Hz with a passable 42-hours of power reserve. The Navitimer GMT comes in black, silver, or ice blue dial in steel and a vibrant green dial in 18k red gold.
Also new is the Navitimer Automatic 41 which expands the non-chronograph Navitimer collection to now include a 41mm case size, joining the 36mm and 32mm versions. Measuring 41mm wide and 11.65mm thick with a lug-to-lug height of 46.86mm (30 m of water resistance), these time-only models also retain the bidirectional bezel and slide rule. These are outfitted with the COSC-certified Breitling Caliber 17 — the same movement found on the Navitimer Automatic 36 — which operates at 4 Hz and has a 38-hour power reserve. The Navitimer Automatic 41 comes in blue, green, and ice blue dials in steel and a silver dial in either two-tone steel and 18k red gold or solid red gold.
Finally, there is the Navitimer B12 Chronograph Cosmonaute Limited Edition. Breitling enthusiasts may jump the gun and assume this is a gold version of the 2022 Cosmonaute reissue, but the two are very different. While that steel reissue was done with the manual-wind Breitling B02 manufacture movement, this new limited edition model uses the automatic Breitling Manufacture caliber B12 column-wheel vertical clutch chronograph which operates at 4 Hz with a 70-hour power reserve. Housed in a 41mm wide and 13.6mm thick case with a lug-to-lug measurement of 47.09mm (30 m of water resistance), this new version comes in an 18k red gold case with a green dial and is limited to 250 pieces.
The new Breitling Navitimer GMT 41 in steel is priced at $5,850 on leather strap and $6,200 on matching steel bracelet while the red gold is priced at $15,600 on leather strap and $36,500 on matching red gold bracelet. The Navitimer Automatic 41 in steel is priced at $5,300 on leather strap and $5,600 on matching steel bracelet, the two-tone steel and red gold model is priced at $7,500 on leather strap and $9,750 on matching bracelet, and the solid red gold model is priced at $15,000 on leather strap and $35,950 on matching red gold bracelet. Finally, the Navitimer B12 Chronograph Cosmonaute is priced at $22,400 on leather strap and limited to 250 pieces. You can learn more at breitling.com.
