Even with the massive Navitimer 8 unveil barely behind us, we were kind of wondering whether Breitling would still deliver a healthy dose of novelties at Baselworld in 2018. And luck would have it, Georges Kern still had a few tricks up his sleeve that speaks to his new vision of the brand, and by and large, things are looking good for the future of the brand. Though one of the brand’s much larger release (both in media attention and in sheer physical size), the Navitimer Super 8, was unavailable during our press appointment, we still had a few gems to see and feel for the first time this year.
The name of the game is clear at Breitling for the first time in a while—heritage is king, and the days of mega-sized watches is slowly fading into the background. Given the dwindling demand for larger 46mm+ timepieces, and the fact that the vintage market is still booming, the move is entirely logical. Thankfully Breitling’s heritage runs deeper than most, providing the much-needed legitimacy that is sorely lacking from many other brands who presently offer “vintage inspired” timepieces.
Breitling’s Superocean Heritage line got a proper refresh just recently, however, for 2018 the newest addition to the line is an important one; the addition of a B01 chronograph reference to the collection. Breitling’s pride and joy, the B01 self-winding in-house column wheel chronograph caliber has been fitted in a 44mm Superocean case, and the end result is just about perfect. The moderately large case still wears well on smaller wrists due to its short lugs, and being a dive watch any concerns about case thickness are pretty much a non-issue. Sticking with the design cue first unveiled with the Navitimer 8, every model fitted with this caliber features contrasting subdials. As it stands, the watch will be sold with a black dial with cream subdials, a blue dial with cream subdials, and a silver dial with black subdial (effectively a panda-dial configuration. If anything, the latter of the pack I would file as the least appealing of the pack, but we don’t doubt the brands certainly appreciate it.
