Navitimer 806 Re-Edition (AB0910371B1X1)

Breitling's Navitimer puts a stopwatch and a calculator on the wrist. The calculator is a circular slide rule: two numbered scales move against one another to work out ratios. The watch was developed for pilots, for whom elapsed time, speed, distance and fuel use were related questions.

This is Breitling's 2019 recreation of a 1959 Navitimer 806, not a surviving watch from that year. Its 41 mm steel case, black face and domed acrylic cover follow the older design closely. The movement inside is modern, although it is still wound by hand.

The crowded rim belongs to the calculating function. One scale turns with the bezel, using the small rounded beads around its edge as a grip. The three small dials belong to timekeeping: ordinary seconds at the left, stopwatch minutes at the right and elapsed hours below. Large pale hour numerals make another reading possible within those rings of smaller figures.

Breitling used a dark background for the counters as well as the dial, so their white markings are more prominent than the circles themselves. The luminous material has a deliberately aged-looking color. Its appearance was chosen during manufacture; it is not the result of sixty years of use.

Caliber B09 derives from Breitling's modern B01 chronograph architecture but omits automatic winding. A full wind supplies a stated reserve of roughly seventy hours. The historical shape therefore contains a different movement from the Venus 178 used in many old 806s.

The edition comprised 1,959 numbered watches, supplied on black leather. Its most interesting fidelity is not the number on the back. The scales still form a usable calculating device: moving the outer ring changes the relationship between the figures without moving any of the watch's hands.