Another nice touch is that the hands

The Breitling Navitimer 01 is the first Navitimer with the new in-house Breitling B01 movement. The Navitimer is maybe one of a handful of original classic aviator watch designs and Breitling can claim that it's the only wrist watch chronograph in continuous production for more than 50 years. With the B01 movement, Breitling has recently extended the guarantee of the Navitimer 01 to five years from the typical industry standard of two years.

Another important historical simple truth is that the Navitimer was initially released around the time of the creation of the automatic chronograph (late 1960s) in collaboration with brands like Heuer, Hamilton, and Zenith. And like all Breitling watches, the Navitimer 01 is certified C. I. S. C. However, it is fair to ask what makes this watch special and worthy of your horological time and passion and of maybe your emotional and monetary investments?

Well, like most Breitling watches, it has a certain "bling" to it and which make it easily noticeable. The main reason is that Breitling uses a highly finished steel case and the classic Navitimer fluted ring on the bezel. However, this Navitimer does have differentiating details from previous versions.

First, what haven't changed is the patented Breitling style and super busy switch that somehow remains legible. The switch is black with three silvery white subdials and a silvery white slide rule ring at the periphery that turns efficiently with the bezel yet with also a measured resistance. Like all Navitimers, the switch includes three concentric rings of indicators that essentially makes over the watch into an analog computer. If you know how to use it, that is...

Using the slide-rule (the bezel) and the chronograph function, one can measure average speed and productivity rate, perform various computations such as currency conversion, multiply and partition numbers, calculate ground speed and miles each and every minute, calculate rate of climb or lineage, gas consumption, and of course passed time. Using the bezel and the current position of the sun in the sky, you can also use the Navitimer as a compass. And, if this became not enough for your analog processing pleasures, the solid caseback includes, along with the unique serial number of the watch, a Celsius to Fahrenheit table to easily convert temperatures. A current post (How to use a Watch Bezel Slide Rule) come july 1st on aBlogToWatch.com explained how to use these types of  computing bezel slide rules.

Two really nice details on the busy switch are first the brand's anchored B- winged logo applied and raised in gold and second, a surprisingly great, yet minimal, application of Super-LumiNova. The lume is applied on the hour and minutes hands and applied as sq dots on the hour indicators. While at first you would think that this won't make any difference in night legibility, it actually results in a switch that is quite legible in the dark. You only have to charge the lume for a few minutes and voilà, you can tell the time in the dark for a few hours. The date window (not lumed) between 4 and 5 o'clock integrates nicely with the switch and softly, yet visibly, shows the date in white with a black background.

But what maybe is the most important area of this Navitimer and also explains the nice, short, 01 moniker is the movement. It's the first Breitling manufacture movement, the B01. This is the same movement used in the Chronomat B01 and other newer Breitling models. That same movement is also the foundation for the Breitling B02 and B03 in-house variations. It is a classic column-wheel chronograph design which is typically agreed by most to be a better design for a chronograph than alternatives like lever or cam actuated movements. While being a common design and not revolutionary, creating a new completely in-house column wheel chronograph is no small task and pushing the guarantee to five years shows the brand's confidence on the reliability of these new movement.

Additionally, the 01 movement has a quick date change feature and a hacking second. As well as this, you get almost three full days (60 to 70 hours) of power reserve. Congratulations Breitling, and welcome to the little league of true timepiece manufactures.

The chronograph is the classic two-pusher type with a start/stop button and reset to zero button. The feel on the buttons is measured with a satisfying click. At first it might appear a bit too hard but it is done very well since that resistance will help guarantee that the buttons are pushed only when you want them to.

When started, the distinctive red seconds arrow hand with the anchored B-logo counter balance, moves around the switch in tiny steps and the minutes counter at 3 o'clock only moves one position at the 60 seconds gun. The hour tally at 6 o'clock counts up to 12 hours and moves slightly between the hour indicators indicating 15, 30, and 45 minutes for the current hour count.

Another nice touch is that the hands for each of these tally subdial is done in the same shiny steel as the case, however, the backdrop is silvery white with a radiating pattern that contrasts well with the black switch and silver hands. The result is a watch with a really distinctive look, especially since the rotating slide rule background is also of these same silvery white finish. Truly an elegant, unique instrument style, that is identifiable from a packed chronograph preliminary watch market…