As part of its Spring 2020 launches announced today, Breitling unveiled its latest vintage-inspired family: the new Superocean Heritage ?57 Capsule Collection, a sub-series within the Superocean Heritage line that includes three new additions to the permanent collection and one new limited-edition timepiece. The new collection takes its inspiration from the first SuperOcean (on vintage models, the ?O? in ?Ocean? was capitalized) watch unveiled in the namesake year of 1957, and works to faithfully channel that original design (pictured below, via Phillips). In 2017, Breitling released the Superocean Heritage II, which offered a more modern take on the historic design and predated Breitling?s modern push into the neo-vintage design trend that has gained a large following in recent years.
It might seem surprising now, but in 1957 a dive watch was one of the last things the industry was expecting from aviation-centric Breitling. Even 63 years ago, 1884-founded Breitling was still best known for its pilots’ watches and chronographs, having released the Premier and Chronomat models in the 1940s, as well as the now-iconic Navitimer in 1952. Still, Breitling looked to capitalize on the era’s hobby-diving trend, unveiling a marine-focused dive model at the peak of the surf rock movement ? a memorable diver that rode the waves of its time but ultimately went out of production a few years later due to steep competition in the category.

Taking a look at the ne...