Breitling :  lnstruments for professionals

Breitling :  lnstruments for professionals

1884 : In St-Imier, in the Jura mountains of Switzerland, Léon Breitling opens a workshop specialized in making chronographs and precision counters for scientific and industrial purposes

1892 : In response to his company's significant growth, Léon Breitling relocates in La Chaux-De-Fonds, the center of Swiss watchmaking in those days

1914 : On the demise of Léon Breitling, his son Gaston takes over the firm

1915 : Gaston Breitling creates the firts wristwatch chronograph and subsequently provides pilots with the first wrist instruments

1923 : Breitling develops the first independent chronograph pushpiece. Start and return-to-zero functions had previously been controlled using the winding-crown

1932 : Gaston's son, Willy Breitling, takes the helm of the family firm

1934 : Breitling develops the second return-to-zero pushpiece. This invention, making it possible to measure several successive short times with an add function using the first pushpiece, gives the wrist chronograph its definitive form

1936 : Breitling becomes official supplier to the Royal Air Force. This marks the start of a longstanding record of cooperation with international aviation

1942 : Breitling launches the CHRONOMAT, the first chronograph to be fitted with a circular slide rule. In parallel, the company broadens its professional clientele to include the Amercian armed forces

1952 : Breitling creates the NAVITIMER, a wrist instrument equipped with the famous 'navigation computer' capable of handling all calculations called for by a flight plan. This super chronograph quickly becomes a firm favorite among pilots around the globe. By this stage, Breitling is already supplying the major international airlines with cockpit clocks

1962 : Astronaut Scott Carpenter wears the COSMONAUTE chronograph on his wrist during his orbital flight aboard the Aurora 7 space capsule

1969 : Breitling invents the self-winding chronograph movement, in cooperation with Büren and Heuer-Leonidas. This technical feat represents a major breackthrough for the entire Swiss watch industry

1979 : Ernest Schneider - a pilot, watch manufacturer and microelectronics specialist - takes over the Breitling brand from the founder's grandson, Willy Breitling

1984 : Breitling launches the CHRONOMAT, in close cooperation with the 'Frecce Tricolori' elite flight team. With its sturdy case and famous bezel with rider tabs, the Chronomat marks the return of the chronograph and quickly becomes the best-selling line in the Breitling collection, a position it has held ever since

1985 : The AEROSPACE, an innovative multifunction electronic chronograph crafted in titanium, immediately appeals to many pilots

1995 : Breitling presents the EMERGENCY, a multifunction instrument watch with built-in micro-transmitter broadcasting on the 121.5 MHz aircraft emergency frequency

1998 : Breitling launches the B-1, the most versatile multifunction chronograph ever to emerge from its workshops. Designed in cooperation with aviation professionals and fitted with a microprocessor specially developed for Breitling, the B-1 embodies significant progress in the field of Swiss microelectronic engineering

1999 : The 'all chronometer' challenge : as the crowning touch to a century of watchmaking excellence, Breitling has set itself the ambitious goal of submitting its entire product range to the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC). A world first among watch brands

The last aviation record is set on March 21 1999. After 20 days of flight, the experimental Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon, flown by Brian Jones and Bertrand PIcard, touches down in Egyptian desert. It has achieved the apparently impossible : a non-stop round-the-world balloon flight

2000 : Breitling inaugurates its new headquarters in Grenchen, Switzerland, made up of an ultra-modern administrative building and a state-of-the-art production unti where Breitling chronometers are assembled in optimal conditions

2001 : With the introduction of SuperQuartz, Breitling now provides movements ten times more accurate than standard quartz. The brand thereby asserts itself as a benchmark in the field of quartz : its electronic movements are the only ones on the market able to meet the COSC requirements

2002 : Breitling Chronométrie, a unit specializing in the making of mechanical movements, is established in La Chaux-De-Fonds, the town where Léon Breitling opened his first chronograph factory 110 years earlier

2003 : Breitling associates with the prestigious British carmaker Bentley in launching the Breitling for Bentley collection

2009 : Breitling sets the crowning touch to 125 years of passion for chronographs by introducing its own self-winding chronograph movement, Caliber B01, and by revolutionizing traditional movement assembly