Breitling makes its manual-wind Navitimer chronographs permanent

Breitling has added two manual-wind Navitimer chronographs to its mainline collection after years of keeping them in limited editions. The Navitimer B09 Chronograph 41 and the Navitimer B02 Chronograph 41 Cosmonaute both arrive in 41mm stainless steel cases with reverse-panda dials.

Both watches carry a bidirectional bezel and a circular slide rule, the signature of the Navitimer since its 1952 debut as a cockpit calculation tool for pilots. A decade later Breitling adapted the design for spaceflight, and the Cosmonaute name was born.

The B09 is offered with a black or blue dial, white rehaut and white subdials. The Cosmonaute comes only in black with white subdials. Each dial wears the Twin Jet logo introduced in 1957, set in gold against the monochromatic face.

Hands, numerals and indexes on both models are filled with Super-LumiNova. The cases measure 13mm thick and 47mm lug-to-lug, with a cambered sapphire crystal that is anti-reflective on both sides and a screwed-in sapphire caseback.

The crown is not screw-down, and water resistance is 30 meters. Breitling has dropped the date window from the B09, which the brand says works with the manual-wind caliber to give a slimmer case profile.

Two chapters of Navitimer history

Each watch draws on a different period. The B09 takes its cue from the 1960s Navitimer that racing drivers Jim Clark and Graham Hill wore, both of whom also flew aircraft. The Cosmonaute follows the model Breitling developed for Scott Carpenter's Mercury-Atlas 7 flight.

That 24-hour display let the astronaut track time beyond the cycle of day and night. Carpenter wore the watch into orbit on May 24, 1962, and Breitling describes it as the first Swiss wristwatch in space.

The B09 runs on the Breitling Manufacture Caliber B09, appearing in the core collection for the first time. Until now it was reserved for limited editions and commemorative pieces, most recently the Navitimer Tribute to Miles Davis shown at Geneva Watch Days.

The Cosmonaute runs on the Breitling Manufacture Caliber B02, a 24-hour chronograph movement used only in the Cosmonaute. Both calibers measure 30mm across, beat at 28,800 vibrations per hour and hold a power reserve of approximately 70 hours.

Both movements are COSC-certified chronometers and both are wound by hand. The B09 is 6.73mm thick and the B02 is 6.83mm. The B09 shows hours, minutes, seconds and chronograph; the B02 adds a date, with its 24-hour hour display.

The black B09 comes on a hand-applied brown gradient calf-leather strap, and the blue dial gets a blue gradient calf-leather strap. Both close with a folding clasp fitted with release buttons. The Cosmonaute is offered on a brown gradient calfskin strap with the same clasp.

Both models can also be had on a seven-row stainless steel bracelet with satin and polished finishing. The B09 is priced at $7,900 on a strap and $8,400 on a bracelet, while the Cosmonaute costs $10,600 on a strap and $11,000 on a bracelet.

Reference numbers run AB0950211B1X1 for the black B09 on a strap and AB0950211C1X1 for the blue. The Cosmonaute is AB0230211B1X1 on a strap and AB0230211B1A1 on the bracelet. Buyers once faced limited runs or limited quantities; both constraints now disappear.

A brand returning to its roots

Breitling has spent 2026 as the senior sibling to Universal Genève and Gallet under parent company House of Brands, and the year has brought well over two dozen new references across the revived marques. This release turns attention back to Breitling itself.

In our guide to luxury pilot watches we said to look for a large legible dial, luminous indices, an oversized crown for gloves and bezel markings or a circular slide rule, the very tool set the Navitimer has carried since 1952. We name IWC and Breitling as makers of the top aviation watches.