Horological Meandering

This week's wristscan with the aviation theme reminded me of one of my first watches that I picked up many years ago. It's a Breitling Navitimer, officially named the Old Breitling Navitimer II. The Navitimer collection was first introduced in 1952 and be...  

Just today a dear friend acquired an Old Navitimer II (Black dialed, gold bezel). I had one (robbed) but one day I plan to return to this wonderful Breitling Navi line. Congrats, Nilo

Hi Nilo, the black dial with gold bezel looks great too. Congrats to your friend and hope you get another one soon. Regards, ED-209

I've always liked the Navitimer, but felt itmight be a bit large on my wrist. That's a really cool custom built cipter. Did you have as much fun building that as you do building a custom 1911? Cheers, Frederick

Hi Frederick, IMO the Navitimer bracelet is really supple and helps make the 41.5mm size wearable even on small wrists. It has a thin bezel and the sapphire crystal goes out to the edge so it makes it look larger than it really is. Thanks for the complime... 

the hands are clearly wrong for the Old Navitimer II - a shame that they could not get you correct hands (I can't think of a model these would be correct for, btw.) , I think you should contact Breitling Switzerland and insist on getting this right. It ge... 

Hi WatchFred, Thanks for the background info about the dates on the Navitimer. I didn't know about the AOPA logo versions. I'm not going to bother with contacting Breitling Switzerland, because Breitling USA had their chance to resolve the issue and blew ... 

. . . changed the hands at all, Ed. If the first photo is fairly recent, then there was practically no evident degradation. I've had a few problems of my own with local watchmakers that can't seem to follow explicit instructions: cases that were polished ... 

Hi DrNo, I'm not sure either why they changed it. To be honest, the watch was in pretty good shape even though it was almost a daily wearer. After 12 years I thought it would be a good idea for it's first service. Dumb idea right? I've worn the Navitimer ... 

About twenty five years ago my son, Jeff, was leaving the U.S. Air Force and was going to fly for a major carrier. As a gift, I offered to buy a Breitling for him. Stubborn as he was (and still can be) he refused saying that "My $20 K-Mart keeps perfect t... 

Thanks for sharing the story about your son. The Navitimer is a good fit for his profession, maybe he's really looking for the Breitling Emergency as a more 'modern' watch? The new one has both the prior analog signal as well as the new satellite frequenc...