Breitling Premier Heritage Collection

The Breitling Premier Heritage Collection doffs its hat to the original range first released in 1943. The Swiss marque has just released six new models, split into three separate categories, including the Chronograph, the Duograph and the Datora. While each sub-family has its own unique characteristics, every version is a COSC-certified chronometer. Other details, common to all variants, include period-style syringe hour and minute hands and hour markers featuring Arabic numerals.

In terms of complications, the chronograph is vastly underrated. While it is a popular horological genre, few watch buyers appreciate the incredible complexity of the mechanism within. Components come into play with the press of a button. Springs, levers, cams or column wheels awaken the registers and measure elapsed periods of time.

With the industrialisation of chronographs, the mass production of some movements, especially those which are cam-actuated, has made this type of wristwatch the best value complication.

When it comes to chronographs, few brands have more credibility than Breitling. Founded in 1884 by Léon Breitling, this esteemed Maison focussed on making chronographs from the outset. Indeed, the following statement perfectly summarises its focus at the time, ‘timekeeping instruments to measure scientific breakthroughs, sports records and industry advancements’. Breitling produced the ‘Vitesse’ pocket watch in 1906, a timepiece capable of measuring speeds up to 150 kph. Apparently, it was even used by the Swiss police to issue speeding tickets.

An admirable characteristic of Breitling is that it has always been innovative. Back in 1915, the firm produced ‘one of the first wrist-worn chronographs with an independent pusher at 2 o’clock’. Later, in 1923, Gaston Breitling separated the start and stop functions from the zero reset by adding an additional pusher at 4 o’clock. Today, placing pushers at 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock has become the norm. Indeed, this arrangement still provides a superb ergonomic interface between the watch and its wearer.

In 1943, Willy Breitling oversaw the launch of the Premier Collection, a number of chronograph models that skilfully blended functionality with elegant design. Now the Manufacture has unveiled a new Breitling Premier Heritage Collection to coincide with Watches & Wonders.

The Swiss marque has released six new models, split into three separate categories, including the Chronograph, the Duograph and the Datora. While each sub-family has its own unique characteristics, every member of the Breitling Premier Heritage Collection is a COSC-certified chronometer. Other details, common to all variants, include period-style syringe hour and minute hands and hour markers featuring Arabic numerals.

Each model is equipped with a Manufacture movement incorporating the highly desirable combination of a column-wheel and vertical coupling. Personally, I applaud Breitling for courageously releasing a steel variant of the Chronograph with a pistachio green dial. It may have been a commercial risky decision appealing to an esoteric audience, but to my eyes, it looks stunning.

In terms of complexity, the Duograph with its rattrapante function is über-desirable. The watch is effectively equipped with two central chronograph seconds hands allowing the measurement of two elapsed periods at the same time. Pressing the dedicated rattrapante pusher, discreetly integrated within the crown, controls the dedicated hand and charmingly instructs it to catch up with the regular chronograph hand when desired. The gap between the two centrally-positioned hands is minuscule in order to avoid any issue with parallax and to replicate the appearance of a regular chronograph when the rattrapante is in tandem mode.

Lastly, the Datora is available in a choice of case materials, stainless steel or 18-carat gold. The Datora displays the day and month via two apertures positioned below noon and includes a moonphase and pointer date. Once again, Breitling has creatively used colour, equipping the steel version with a prepossessing copper-coloured dial.

The brand’s press release (April 2021)

“This heritage-inspired design with a stylish modern twist embodies some of Breitling’s most famous innovations, and revives Breitling’s legacy of inventing the modern chronograph. This truly is our heritage revived,” says Georges Kern of Breitling’s timelessly elegant new collection.

The Premier Heritage Collection pays homage to Breitling’s very own Founders Squad: three generations of men who changed the history of timekeeping and made Breitling what it is today. Léon Breitling founded the company in 1884; later, he patented a simple timer/tachymeter that could measure any speed between 15 and 150 km/h, an invention featured in the 1906 Vitesse pocket watch.

In 1915, his son, Gaston, created one of the first wrist-worn chronographs with an independent pusher at 2 o’clock. This innovation separated the start, stop, and reset functions from the crown, making it infinitely more practical for timing sports.

In 1934, Léon’s grandson, Willy, patented the second independent chronograph pusher at 4 o’clock. Among Willy Breitling’s celebrated pioneering achievements was the establishment of the Huit Aviation Department in 1938.

Impeccable taste

Besides being bold and tech savvy, Willy Breitling understood people’s desire for a touch of elegance and glamour. This inspired him to design the original Premier wristwatches in the 1940s, Breitling’s first step in linking purpose with style. As Willy saw it, “When a man puts on his watch, it is the unmistakable stamp of impeccable taste.”

The latest generation of Premiers – Breitling’s Premier Heritage Collection – brings this timeless elegance back to life. The collection includes six watches divided into three distinctive categories: The Chronograph, The Duograph, and The Datora.

All feature Arabic numerals, vintage-inspired hands and semi-shiny alligator straps with tone-on-tone stitching. Every watch is a COSC-certified chronometer and water-resistant up to 100 meters.

Groundbreaking functions

The 40 mm Premier Heritage Chronograph is manually wound, just like its 1940s predecessors. It is powered by the Breitling Manufacture Caliber B09, which is based on the Breitling Manufacture Caliber 01. It comes in two variations: with an eye-catching pistachio-green dial encased in stainless steel or a stately silver-coloured dial encased in 18 k red gold.

With stainless-steel and 18 k red gold cases measuring 42 mm, the Premier Heritage Duograph comes with a blue or black dial, respectively. Its rattrapante function – one of the most elaborate in watchmaking – enables the wearer to measure two elapsed times simultaneously thanks to its two superimposed chronograph hands. This piece houses the mechanical hand-wound Breitling Manufacture Caliber B15, which is based on the Breitling Manufacture Caliber B03.

Like its 1940s predecessor, the 42 mm Premier Heritage Datora also stands out for its highly visible and complex functions, namely its day, date, and moon-phase displays. It is powered by the Manufacture Caliber B25. The Datora’s copper-coloured face is framed by a stainless-steel case, while its silver-coloured dial comes in an 18 k red gold one.