Everything about BREITLING

Source Breitling Navitimer 1461 created in a limited 1000 piece series
General information
Breitling SA is a privately owned company founded by Léon Breitling in 1884 in the Grenchen, Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland, wishing to provide to the world a new palette of instruments manufactured with care and total precision.

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Company history
The company was renamed “ Leon G. Breitling SA Montbrillant Watch Manufactory ” and by 1892 it was an independent firm with 60 employees who could produce a timepiece from scratch to the final touches.
In 1914 Leon dies and the business is taken by his son, Gaston who wants to produce instruments so accurate and powerful that could be used in aviation.

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In 1915 the company exeeds the boundaries of watch technology by inventing the first independent chronograph pushpiece. It is perfected in 1923 by separating the stop/start functions from that of resetting. The innovation makes possible a new quality impossible until then, and allows the addition of several succesive times without having to return the hands to zero. This patented invention made life easier for both athlets and aviators, being excellent for timing sport games or calculating flight times.
In the 1930s, chronographs continue to be perfected for the cockpit of airplanes. They begin to be utilized in the WW II by numerous armed forces, including the Royal Air Force .
The Navitimer is introduced in 1952, featuring a circular slide rule.
In 1961, the astronaut Scott Carpenter (known for the Mercury space program ) starts a collaboration with Breitling and by 1962 he wears a Navitimer in one of his missions. The model had incorporated a 24 hour dial instead of the usual 12 hour dial.

Source Carpenter wearing a Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute inside the Aurora 7 spacecraft in the Mercury Space Program on May 24th, 1962.
The Chronomat is invented in 1984, being the main feature Breitling is recognised for.
In 2009 Caliber 01 launched the best self-winding chronograph movement ever created.

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Categories
Breitling creates models for three categories of activities:
- powerful waterproof watches for diving: SuperOcean ;
- complicated mechanisms for aviation: Navitimer ;
- luxurious timepieces for special events: Breitling for Bentley .
In the aviation domain, but also for the army, Breitling has created a new model entitled Breitling Emergency , which contains a radio transmitter (for civil aviation purposes). The model is divided for two categories, containing a frequency used in aviation and catching a special military frequency also. In April 2013, the company has launched a new collection named Breitling Emergency II .

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Advertising
Breitling is known all over the world but a few iconic events when the company created its image was:

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- in the James Bond movie, Thunderball from 1965 when Sean Connery worn a Breitling Top Time by Q which he told is also geiger counter, that allowed the main character to follow two stolen nuclear bombs. This model appears in 2012, at a car boot sale in UK where is bought for only GB 25. At a later Christie auction it is purchased for its real value at over GB 100,000.
- John Travolta heavily wears Breitling Navitimer in the company's advertisments and numerous special events.

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- Breitling also has a partnership with Bentley Motors.
This year, in 2014, Breitling has celebrated 130 years from its debut into the minutious world of precise horology.
vedere di piu copia rolex e Breitling Chronospace