Introducing the New Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute
On May 24, 1962, history was made with the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission, at its command was astronaut Scott Carpenter who orbited the Earth three times and five hours later would land safely in the Atlantic aboard the “Aurora 7”, the space capsule.
What few knew is that during his mission Carpenter wore on his wrist the “first Swiss wristwatch in space”, the Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute, a special variant of the Navitimer, an iconic pilot’s watch, prepared according to the instructions given by Carpenter himself, which included a 24-hour dial that allowed you to distinguish day from night in space.
Carpenter’s rescue operation in the ocean would take three hours, and during that time the watch was exposed to seawater that resulted in irreparable damage, which has been faithfully kept in the Breitling archives to this day.
Today, which celebrates the 60th anniversary of that mission to Breitling, it pays tribute to that historic milestone with the launch of a 362-piece limited edition of the iconic Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute.
The new Navitimer Cosmonaute, which is very similar to the original from 1962, however, has some new features, such as the platinum bezel, a date window integrated into the hour-counter at 6 o’clock and an open sapphire case back through which it is possible to observe the Caliber B02 manual movement, which comes with special engraving bridges that mark the date: “Carpenter”, “Aurora 7”, “3 orbits around the Earth” and “Mercury 7”, the name given by NASA to the group of 7 astronauts that were part of the mission.
All other details on the watch remained very similar, a 41mm stainless steel case with a lacy bezel, sapphire crystal, crown at three o’clock and two pusher buttons. On the black dial, a white inner ring followed by another black with different scales to support navigation, and now showing some details in red, 24-hour scale dial and central syringe-shaped hands all in beige tones filled with luminescent material, three subdials: a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock, 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock and small seconds at 9 o’clock, and finally, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association “wings” logo at 12 o’clock preceded now with the brand inscription instead of the previous one “Cosmonaute”, and finally the inscription of “Navitimer” at 6 o’clock.
The watch is offered with a black leather strap stitching in white, and is available at the brand’s official boutiques and authorized retailers for €9,200 and €9,700 for the leather strap and steel bracelet variants respectively.
Read more here.
General Specifications:
Brand: Breitling
Model: Navitimer B02 Chronograph 41 Cosmonaute
Reference: PB02301A1B1P1 (on strap), PB02301A1B1A1 (on bracelet)
Dial: Black
Case Material: Stainless steel and platinum
Case Dimensions: 41 mm diameter, 13 mm thickness
Crystal: Sapphire Glass
Case Back: Sapphire Glass
Water Resistance: 30 Meters
Strap: Black alligator leather strap stitching in white with a folding buckle, stainless steel bracelet
Caliber: Breitling B02
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph
Winding: Manual
Jewels: 47
Frequency: 28,800 Vph
Power Reserve: 70 Hours
Price: € 9,200 (on strap), € 9,700 (on bracelet)
Availability: Now
Limited Edition: 362 pieces
