The GQ guide to Breitling watches

Breitling had founded his business in 1884 in Saint-Imier, before relocating to La Chaux de-Fonds, a purpose-built enclave of watchmaking in the Jura mountains Named Breitling Huit Aviation in recognition of the eight-day power reserves with which many of the models were equipped, with their oversized, luminescent registers and hands and contrasting black dials these pieces became the template for many of the wristwatches which followed To celebrate 25 years at the helm of the company, Breitling launched a model aimed at another emerging professional and leisure market: underwater explorers.

Launched in 1984, the new-generation Breitling Chronomat, characterised by four bezel "Riders", would prove a worthy successor to its namesake and the perfect piece with which to celebrate the company's centenary In 2017, Breitling was sold to private equity house CVC Capital Partners, which installed former IWC CEO Georges Kern to oversee a realignment of the brand around its strong aviation and adventure heritage On the runway: Chronomat B01 Chronograph 44 Bearing the name of the first watch to feature Breitling's now famous "Slide rule", following its wholesale reimagining in the early-Eighties, the Chronomat is no longer simply for aviators, evinced in a new understated, satin-brushed case capable of being submerged to a depth of 500 metres and a COSC-certified, in-house B01 movement capable of powering the watch for 70 hours.

Probably the most recognisable Breitling of all, on account of its one-of-a-kind "Slide rule" bezel and dial layout, this year the Navitimer gets a slightly shrunken look, thanks to a 38mm case size that harks back to the relatively smaller diameter watches favoured in its birth decade. . Source