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Breitling Navitimer Caliber 01 Limited EditionThe new Breitling Navitimer Caliber 01 Limited Edition automatic watch has its ETA-based B26 movement changed in favor of their latest B01 totally in-house job.It looks like Breitling has taken the path paved by Panerai.The Swiss watch maker still sticks to base calibers from ETA, but slowly reintroduces well-established models equipped with its own 100 percent in-house B01 movement originally introduced together with the Chronomat model.The main advantage of this strategy is that you do not need to poor massive money in re-tooling manufacturing facilities and hiring and training dozens (or even hundreds) of workers. Also, you can always sell an existing model with a manufacture-made movement at a premium price!Enter the Breitling Navitimer Caliber 01 Limited Edition.Previously available with the B26 caliber that was based on a mass-produced COSC-certified chronometer-grade ETA 2892-A2 movement, the new limited edition watch now sports a much more interesting from enthusiast’s point of view B01 mechanism.Since the B01 is slightly larger than the B26, the limited edition watch is also offered in a slightly broader case, but the overall dimensions are identical to those of the last year’s Breitling Navitimer 125th Anniversary chronograph.The rest is pretty much the same. The watch features a standard tri-compass dial layout and a signature fluted rotating bezel with their signature circular slide ruler.Oh, and there is finally a transparent case back with sapphire crystal that lets you admire the gorgeous COSC-certified chronometer movement.Breitling offers the Navitimer Caliber 01 Limited Edition in two versions. The Navitimer in stainless steel will be limited to only 2000 units and priced at €7420, which is whole 600 Euros more expensive than the base model. The version in rose gold will be limited to 200 units and offered at a recommended retail price of €19,950.

Breitling Chronospace SuperQuartz ChronographRemember the good old Breitling Chronospace quartz chronograph watch that was discontinued about 12 years ago? This year, the Swiss brand decided to resurrect the popular model.Featuring their iconic analogue/digital display and powered by a super-accurate thermo-compensated SuperQuartz chronometer-grade movement, the watch has become a lot bigger. But does bigger mean better, even in this particular case?Form follows function. That's the main principle of contemporary industrial design. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case with Breitling. Or, at least, the Swiss watch maker slowly but steadily drifts away from this principle with its latest models. The re-edition of the long-discontinued Breitling Chronospace is the latest evidence proving the theory that each year Breitling's watches become less of a professional tool for the real pilots and more of an accessory for people searching for the bling stuff.Of course, some may argue that, positioned as a professional time measuring device, the watch just had to feature an oversized dial with larger than life numerals and ultra-bright hour indexes, but I do not really understand why did they make the "3" and "9" so huge? Is there some dark numerological secret behind this decision? Why is the emphasis on this pair of numerals? And why did they remove the "6" and "12" from the dial if it has actually became bigger than that on the original watch? (In fact, sporting almost frightening diameter of 48 millimeters the new watch sports dial that is bigger than the original Chronospace's body!)Is the new SuperQuartz COSC-certified chronometer movement so big that they couldn't fit it inside a smaller body? I don't believe so, since the Breitling Caliber B78 is based on the ETA E20.341 Thermoline quartz movement, which is only 30 mm in diameter and the Caliber B56 that ticked inside the original Chronospace was about 22mm x 26 mm: not particularly small, either.Perhaps, they wanted to differentiate the resurrected model from the Emergency, Aerospace, and the Airwolf that feature less bombastic dial layouts. Or, maybe, someone at the marketing department simply decided that the "bolder" the design, the better the watch will sell on today's market.To my opinion, if you are searching a Breitling with an analogue/digital display, you will be much better off getting yourself the new Aerospace model, which is delivered in a 42 mm by 10 mm titanium case and offers almost the same set of functions. Or, maybe, the last year's Breitling Airwolf Raven Special Edition quartz chronograph that features a 43.5 mm stainless still case with molded rubber will be the right watch for you.And, guess what, both these models look a lot better than this oversized thing.