In 1952, Breitling secured its leading role in the history of aviation watches with the launch of the iconic Navitimer. Sixty years ago, it released one of the most collectible variations on that watch’s original design, the Ref. 806. This year, the company announced, it is offering a limited, contemporary version of that watch, which hews faithfully to nearly every period detail. Here’s what we know about the Navitimer Ref. 806 1959 Re-Edition, which will make its worldwide debut at Baselworld 2019 this week.
Breitling Navitimer Ref. 806 1959 Re-Edition (Ref. AB0910371B1X1)
The original 1952 Navitimer, as its legions of admirers know, became a mainstay of airline cockpits in the 1950s and ’60s thanks to its groundbreaking design, incorporating a rotating slide-rule bezel, which enabled pilots to make vital flight calculations from their wrist. The 1959 version stood out from past and future versions of the Navitimer thanks to its all-black dial with tone-on-tone subdials and its use of a beaded edge on the slide rule bezel ? presumably for east gripping by a pilot’s gloved hands. The Re-Edition, which uses a 40.9-mm stainless steel case, retains the same lugs profile and finish as the original, and its rotating bezel has the exact same number of beads, 94, on its edge as the 1959 model. The number of beads was known to vary widely on Navitimer bezels throughout the years, from as many as 125 in the early ’50s to as few as 93 in 1960, so this d...