Breitling Replica Montbrillant Watches is an important name in the history of the chronograph, and now the brand is marking that role with a limited-edition version of the Transocean. The new Breitling Transocean Chronograph 1915 marks the 100th anniversary of a major design innovation that we too often take for granted on contemporary chronographs.
When you think of a chronograph today, one of the first images in your head is probably the two pushers on the side of the case at 2 and 4 o’clock. But timers had to go a long way before this design became standard. It was a matter of many separate inventions, developed in sequence over decades. In the early 20th century, a chronograph had a completely different appearance. At the time, all chronographs were monopushers, with the controls for starting, stopping, and returning the timer to zero all placed in the crown.
Breitling was one of the first companies to break free of this paradigm and to kickstart the evolution of the modern chronograph. In 1915, Gaston Breitling, son of founder Léon Breitling, designed a timing watch with a separate pusher to control the start, stop and reset functions. He placed it on the side of the case at 2 o’clock, just above the crown. The 2 o’clock positioning would soon become standard, as it is easy to reach and control on the wrist. (With wristwatches only just coming into vogue during World War I, the 3 o’clock position of the crown was still a new idea, too.) It wasn’t until 1923 that Breitling would separate the zero-reset button from the start/stop pusher, thus allowing for timing individual events without resetting the chronograph. But the advent of a monopusher distinct from the crown made a world of difference.
The new Transocean Chronograph 1915 plays off of these roots, updating them for a dial and case design in keeping with the Transocean collection. An angled pusher sits at 2 o’clock, above the fluted crown. The silvered dial has a bicompax display: a small-seconds subdial is at 9 o’clock and a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock. The hands and Arabic numerals have luminous coating. A date window can be found at 6 o’clock.
Whereas Transocean watches usually have the Breitling Replica Navitimer 01 automatic movement, the Transocean Chronograph 1915 uses a new manufacture movement. Chronometer-certified by COSC, Caliber B14 is a hand-wound movement running in 33 jewels. It has a 70-hour power reserve. Thanks to a frequency of 28,800 vph, the chronograph can time events up to a 1/4 of a second. The seconds scale around the dial is graduated to divide up the minute into 240 parts. Caliber B14 has a double column-wheel construction, arranged in two tiers.
The watch has a stainless-steel case with a diameter of 43 mm. The dial is covered by a sapphire crystal with nonreflective coating. The caseback also is made of sapphire to reveal the movement; it also shows an engraving to mark the occasion: “100e anniversaire 1915-2015.”
The watch comes on a crocodile strap or on the Ocean Classic steel-mesh bracelet. It is water resistant to 100 meters. Appropriately for the anniversary, Replica Breitling Skyland Avenger is manufacturing 1,915 pieces of the Transocean Chronograph 1915.
