Breitling’s story in aviation timekeeping is long and particularly deep, with its pioneering wrist computers like the Navitimer gracing the wrists of military and civilian pilots since 1952. But aviation has been in Breitling’s blood since the 1930s, when it provided the Royal Air Force with clocks for aircraft instrument panels under a subsidiary research department known as Huit Aviation. Post war, as private and civil aviation expanded exponentially, Breitling created sophisticated chronographs capable of multiple complex calculations in the air.
But while the Navitimer is arguably Breitling’s most iconic pilot’s watch, it was predated by another aviation tool, the Chronomat, which in 1941 was the first to feature a logarithmic scale around the dial operated by a rotating bezel. It allowed pilots or navigators to calculate data vital to a smooth flight, including fuel consumption, distance traveled, and rate of ascent and descent. (The “mat” in Chronomat stood, logically enough, for mathematic.) This month, the Chronomat got a major update with a redesign that plays to its functional and design heritage but updates it for modern tastes.
The new panda-dial Chronomat chronograph.
For Austin Butler, the new Chronomat is an everyday watch versatile enough in its different iterations to work for all manner of moments. Butler currently sports two from the range, one in all steel with a white panda dial and another in steel with an ice-blue panda dial and a platinum bezel, which discreetly ups the glam.
“They both felt versatile to me in different ways.” he says, “The white dial has a really timeless, understated quality, while the other one has that ice-blue dial, which has a little more personality to it. I like the balance they offer.”
Butler’s relationship with Breitling goes deeper, thanks to his relationship with Breitling’s ebullient CEO Georges Kern. “I love all those conversations with Georges,” Butler says, “because he knows so much about the intricacies, and I love the way that the machinery works. We connected on a personal level through lots of deep conversations about life and travel, his love of cars, and of course, watches. He has such an extensive knowledge, so I’ve just kind of let my curiosity be satisfied by our conversations, just learning through him.”
The new Chronomat line comes in a broad range of colors and metals, configured as simple three hand watches and chronographs, all of them COSC-certified chronometers. The most noticeable update in the new Chronomat is the fully integrated case and rouleaux bracelet design that nonetheless offers multiple choices in metal or rubber straps.
“Part of the appeal of these watches, for me, goes beyond pure function,” he says. “A great watch is also about craftsmanship, design, history, and the feeling it gives you when you wear it.”
Butler, who became a Breitling ambassador last year, found instant natural synergies with the brand. “It felt organic to me,” he explains, “because there’s a spirit of travel and adventure in Breitling that I connect with. I’ve always been inspired by people like Serge Gainsbourg, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, James Dean—people who had an easy sense of style that never felt overly polished or manufactured. Breitling has that same feeling to me and there’s a heritage there that’s very interesting”.
Butler’s first watch, he says, was “probably a Timex from Walmart and definitely not a Breitling.” But in wearing it, he was inspired by his grandfather, who habitually wore his wristwatch backwards under the wrist, a military style that was once commonplace but is now quite rare.
Style is clearly a factor for Butler too. “Part of the appeal of these watches, for me, goes beyond pure function,” he says. “A great watch is also about craftsmanship, design, history, and the feeling it gives you when you wear it. It feels utilitarian and elegant at the same time.”
The Chronomat chronograph, with an ice-blue dial and a platinum bezel.
As a nerdy footnote, this is not the first time the Chronomat has undergone a major update. In 1984, to mark the brand’s centenary, Breitling completely redesigned the original Chronomat family, giving it an almost space-age look as well as several functional improvements including rouleaux straps and the signature Breitling rider tabs mounted on the bezel to make hand adjusting for calculation both easier and more precise. It also featured an automatic movement for the first time, adding new meaning to the “mat” in its name. The very first edition was created for the Italian Air Force’s P.A.N. Frecce Tricolori (Pattuglia Acrobatica Nazionale Frecce Tricolori) display team and emblazoned with its logo.
When, not long after, a version was produced for the public, it proved a hit in some unlikely places in the 1990s. Jerry Seinfeld was a fan and wore his regularly in his long running TV series, while Courteney Cox wore one in Friends. Jean Paul Belmondo and Serge Gainsbourg wore the Chronomat, too. The watch even featured as a plot element and gangster status symbol in Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s gambling-inspired serial, Kaiji, first published in 1996.
All of which makes the Chronomat, a watch steeped in aviation history, something of a cultural icon, too. As with all the most collectible watches, storytelling is what gives this new update real, lasting value.
