New Breitling Chronograph Navitimer 8
It was without doubt that under the guidance of new CEO (Georges Kern, previously a top executive at the Richemont Group), that changes would be made at Breitling, although a prominent force in the world of watches, watch aficionados have long complained about that bulky, heavy and at times busy dials of Breitling watches.
And that change has finally arrived - in the form of the new Navitimer 8 collection, a redesign of one of the world’s most iconic sports watches . Composed of five models, the new Navitimer 8 collection includes two chronographs, a world timer, and the smaller-sized day-date and three-hand models
The Navitimer 8 B01
A three-counter chronograph with "panda" dial powered by the brand’s first-ever in-house developed and produced movement, the self-winding Calibre 01 beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour and offering a power reserve of 70 hours. The 43 mm case is offered with a choice of a black or a blue dial, or in red gold with a warm-toned bronze coloured dial. With either a stainless steel strap, leather strap or a metal bracelet, the gold model only comes with an elegant brown alligator strap.
Breitling Navitimer 8 Chronograph
The Navitimer 8 Chronograph features a Calibre B13 based on the highly reliable and super-tested 4 Hz (28,800 vph) ETA-Valjoux 7750 offering 42 hours of power reserve. This model displays day and date indications.
Breitling Navitimer 8 Automatic
The Breitling Navitimer 8 collection – and the simplest of them all – is an automatic time and date version. Smaller, at 41mm and rather slim at 10.7mm, it honors all the attributes of the collection, meaning large Arabic numerals, baton hands and a coin-edged bezel. The bezel is still bi-directional with a triangular marker, in order to time events. Here again, several options will be available – blue or black dial, steel bracelet (fully brushed) or leather strap. An additional black DLC-coated stainless steel version is also included, called the “Black Steel”.
Breitling Navitimes 8 Day- Date
Based on the same architecture as the automatic model, it adds a semi-circular window at 12 o’clock for the indication of the day and a window at 6 o’clock for the indication of the date. The watch keeps quite a balanced display though and has the same visual and technical attributes as the rest of the collection.
Breitling Navitimer 8 Unitime
Last but not least the Breitling Navitimer 8 Unitime. This model differs from the rest of the collection in several ways, as it is the only model available with a silver dial, it also has an interesting display showcasing the 24 main time zones, the hour hand can be moved forwards or backwards step by step via the crown when travelling across time zone borders. The date window at 6 o’clock advances automatically, while the minute hand remains in place.
Based on an in-house movement, the calibre B35, the Unitime movement is Breitling’s first in-house development without a chronograph and features two barrels for a 70-hour power reserve and a dual-acting ball-bearing rotor.
