Breitling are one of the top watch brands we see in our workshop. Their watches are large and uncompromising, with top quality components and bold designs. But where did Breitling come from? In this blog post we’ll briefly delve into a select history of Breitling watches.
Breitling was founded in the Swiss town of Saint-Imier by Léon Breitling in 1884, where he opened his first workshop at Place Neuve 1. From this workshop he began working on designing and producing the earliest Breitling models. By 1892 he was at a point where his success was being hampered by the small premises, so production was moved to La Chaux-de-Fonds and a fully fledged watch factory was opened.
In these early years Breitling was ahead of his time in both marketing nous and with some of his watch designs. He was known for his top quality chronographs and timers and used his marketing savvy to develop the brand. Even amongst fellow watchmakers Breitling advertised his wares – for example he placed an ad singing the praises of his brand in the first edition of the Revue Internationale de L’horlogerie et des Branches Annexes (the International Journal of Watchmaking and Related Sectors) published in January 1900.
When Léon died in 1914, the business passed on to his son Gaston, and in 1915 under his stewardship Breitling introduced a wristwatch featuring a chronograph complication. This watch had a pusher located at the two o’clock position to control start/stop/reset of the chronograph functions. By 1923 these functions were separated, with the crown now incorporating the reset function. The chronograph refinement further continued under Willy Breitling (who took over after Gaston in 1935) – he had the idea of adding the second pusher at 4 o’clock – with this design now being the norm for chronographs across almost all brands to this day.
Breitling is synonymous with aviation – this is largely thanks to the efforts of Willy Breitling in the 1940s, who established Breitling as a major player in the production of top quality aircraft instrumentation. Breitling supplied the British Air Ministry and many other armed forces too. By the 1950s, Breitling had developed the Navitimer – a wrist-worn chronograph capable of performing all flight calculations a pilot required to make. Breitling watches became the go-to brand for pilots – widely adopted by aviation fanatics all around the world.
In 1969 Breitling collaborated with a number of other major players in the watchmaking world to produce the ground-breaking Chrono-Matic – a self-winding chronograph. The crown was on the left hand side of the case, the pushers on the right.
Breitling weathered the quartz crisis of the 1970s/80s by positioning the brand as producing “instruments for professionals” – high-quality timepieces professionals can rely on. Breitling even embraced quartz technology with some of their models, though the always maintained mechanical watch production too.
Another notable Breitling model was introduced initially in 1988 before more widely in 1995 – the Breitling Emergency. The Emergency was the first watch to be equipped with an integrated radio transmitter. When activated this transmitter sends a distress signal to the international air distress frequency, giving the wearer’s location to search and rescue teams.
In recent years Breitling have undergone a couple of ownership changes, with the latest owners only taking control in December 2022. With a rich history of innovative watchmaking and uncompromising designs, it’s no surprises Breitling are still one of the most desirable watch brands on the market. From our perspective they’re a pleasure to work on.
Do you have a Breitling watch in need of repair? Get in touch with us today and see how we can help. From our shops in Lewes and Uckfield we accept repairs from our local clients. We also provide a fully insured, freepost watch repairs service to clients all around the UK. We are experienced watchmakers and Business Partners of the British Horological Institute – one of the driving forces for quality horology in the United Kingdom. We are also holders of a coveted Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award , so you can be confident when dealing with us.
Yours sincerely
David Clark DGA PJDip PJGemDip CertGA
Managing Director
W.E. Clark & Son Limited