In the race to stand out, Swiss watch companies are known for their innovation—both in horology as well as building a story around a watch to make it more covetable.
Aviation watches are known for their technical abilities; called chronographs because they also function as stopwatches, they often come with up to three sub-dials to measure seconds, movable bezels and many more complications.
But what they are also known for is the glamour associated with pilots and aircrafts. Why do you think aviator glasses became such a trend?
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Breitling, one of the last few family-owned independent watch brands in the world, has been making chronometers since 1884. One of the pioneers of aviation instruments on cockpits, and later of wrist chronographs, Breitling has created many iconic lines, but one model that it has always returned to is the Navitimer.
This year’s model is the Navitimer Breitling DC-3 that comes with something more than your average watch—by the time it hits stores, it will have clocked over thousand hours of flying time.
This edition of the Navitimer comes with a sleek brown strap, steel casing and the standard rotating bezel and three sub-dials, and the stopwatch function.
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What sets it apart is the caseback that features the DC-3 world tour logo along with the dates and the number of the limited edition.
Breitling DC-3—the 77-year-old Douglas aircraft—known as the Dakota among enthusiasts, is presently halfway through its grand world tour, with 500 pieces of the limited edition Navitimer Breitling DC-3 on board.
On buying the watch, customers will also get a log book with all the flight details of its journey around the world, a great story to tell people who compliment them on their watch.
The tour ends in September of this year, when the crew and the precious cargo will return to Geneva where they started off. If you want to know exactly how precious the cargo is, one of the three crew members sleeps inside the aircraft with the watches during refuelling stops.
* A bidirectional, ratcheted rotating bezel ensures easy measurement of ‘the famous circular aviation slide rule’
* The DC-3 limited edition will be distinguished by its engraved caseback that features the Breitling DC-3 World Tour logo, along with a number
* Subsidiary dials that are used to measure seconds
* The dial is a 46 mm in steel and powered by a Manufacture Breitling Caliber 01 movement that is self-winding and automatic
* The strap is made of calfskin leather strap with white seams
elizabeth.mathew@thehindu.co.in