The 1960’s were the heydays of space travel and right there amongst the astronauts was Breitling, the Swiss watch manufacturer. On May 24th, 1962 Lieutenant Commander Scott Carpenter orbited the earth three times in the Aurora 7 capsule and on his wrist was a Breitling Navitimer watch. The Breitling Navitimer was first introduced in 1952 and was a favorite among pilots; it met all the requirements for a watch that would work perfectly in space, so Breitling commissioned a Cosmonaute version for the space program with a 24 hour counter which was necessary to tell whether it was day or night in space.
On May 24, 2012 the Swiss watch manufacturer celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first chronograph watch in space with the limited edition Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute watch, only 1,962 pieces will be produced.
The Navitimer Cosmonaute’s dial is quite busy with a 24 hour display, three chronograph sub-dials, and a tachymeter measuring kilometers and miles per hour. On top of the tachymeter function, there are also a lot of other numbers around the outer edges of the dial, I’m not exactly sure what they are for, which make the watch dial look very overwhelming. I’m sure astronauts have a use for these numbers but “regular folks” like me would find the watch dial confusing.
The Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute watch comes in a 43mm steel case with leather straps or metal bracelet. The watch is powered by a Breitling Caliber 02 manual hand-wound movement that’s COSC certified and features a 70+ hour power reserve. The outer dial features a bi-directional rotating bezel and anti-reflection coated sapphire glass. The case back is engraved with Aurora 7 related insignia and a Celsius/Fahrenheit converter.
Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute Watch Pictures
