Time to Go Navy!
Yet, the iconic watches we all admire aren’t always up to the rigors and needs of today’s world. What’s needed is the time-honored look with modern performance. Rising to that challenge is Breitling – the 140-year-old watchmaker that has been crafting cutting-edge, quality watches for generations. The company that pioneered the modern aviation chronograph at a time when airplanes were made of wood and canvas, and then never stopped innovating.
Mixing the best of today and tomorrow, the Swiss watchmaker recently revealed the latest update to their Avenger chronograph line – which first debuted in 2001 – to mix classic aviator watch DNA with modern performance. The newest Avengers are a trio of dark-tone Night Mission watches that pay homage to U.S. Naval Aviation.
Each of these three new Avenger B01 Chronograph 44 watches – while sharing the same casing – feature unique faces, emblems, and accent colors which salute the United States Naval Academy, and two of the Navy’s elite flight test squadrons: the VX-30 Bloodhounds and the VX-31 Dust Devils.
While the trio of new Avengers maintain the look of iconic aviator chronographs, there’s nothing traditional about these mechanical marvels. Each features corrosion-resistant construction, and is wrapped in a black ceramic case with a titanium back. The case features a bi-directional ratcheted ceramic bezel with rider-tabs that make setting the bezel a breeze in the cockpit, even when wearing gloves. The watch crystal is cambered sapphire, glare-proofed on both sides for clarity no matter what the lighting; and the hands and indexes feature Super-LuniNova® luminescent afterglow pigment. A second sapphire crystal set into the case back provides a peak at the 292 internal gears, springs, wheels, cogs, and rotors that keep time with 45-jewel Swiss precision. Multiple case gaskets assure water resistance to 300 meters.
The knurled three-position crown lets you independently change the date, hour, or minute displays, and a pair of large push-button stop/start function control buttons power the chronograph; which records and displays hours, minutes, seconds, and ¼-seconds on it’s trio of totalizer dials. The button at 2 o’clock starts and stops the chronograph, the button at 4 o’clock resets it to zero for timing the next mission leg.
The watch saluting the U.S. Naval Academy – established in 1845 as the Navy’s premiere officer training college – features a midnight blue face with gold accents, with the Academy crest at the 9 o’clock position. The second watch, pays homage to VX-30, the “Bloodhounds,” an elite weapons test squadron based out of Naval Air Station Point Mugu, CA. The Bloodhound salute watch features a deep grey face with Navy yellow accents, and VX-30’s triple-bloodhound unit emblem. And last, but certainly not least, the watch saluting the elite Air Test and Evaluation squadron VX-31, China Lake’s Dust Devils, features an inky-black face with red accents and the unit emblem of VX-31.
Each of these self-winding mechanical watches are impressive in scale, but not overwhelming. Weighing in at a hair over 110 grams, the 44 millimeter-diameter watches are 15.22 millimeters thick – each held securely on your wrist by military leather straps with matching color schemes and contrasting topstitching, and feature titanium hardware. While built for jet pilots, the new USN trio, with its classic design aesthetic, exceptional resilience, and next level functionality, is perfect for any pilot – jet or piston – military or civilian.
Oh, and speaking of resilience and functionality, if everything on your modern flight deck fails you, your Breitling Avenger can serve as your back-up navigator. It’s engineered to function as a “sun compass,” letting you find true north and south with nothing more than your watch.
That’s a pretty smart mechanical watch.