Jewellery & Watch News
Ahead of the 2021 Watches and Wonders event starting tomorrow morning, Breitling have announced a new collection of Breitling Premier Heritage watches. Taking inspiration from three of the Swiss watch brand’s legendary founders, the series continues their proud traditions with chronograph complications with the Breitling Premier Heritage B09 Chronograph, the B15 Duograph and the B25 Datora.
The Breitling Premier watch collection was first presented during the 1940’s, well before even the likes of the Breitling Navitimer or Superocean was conceived. With its name coming from the French word for “first”, the Premier collection was launched when the world was at war, and while Breitling pilot instruments and chronographs were being supplied to the armed forces, Breitling Premier watches offered regular non-combatants an elegant and refined aesthetic deserving of their difficult lifestyles. Today, the new Premier Heritage collection builds on its fascinating heritage with three new designs inspired by three of Breitling’s founders, Leon Breitling, his son Gaston and his grandson Willy.
These three generations of men were pivotal to the success of the Breitling brand, each inventing and developing their own technologies that would change the timekeeping industry forever. The original founder of the Breitling brand, Leon Breitling, established the company in 1884 and shortly after patented a wonderful selection of timepiece technologies including a simple timer, or tachymeter, which could measure any speed between 15 and 150 km/h. In 1915, his son Gaston created one of the first wrist-worn chronographs equipped with an independent pusher at 2 o’clock, a technology that allowed the separation of the start, stop and reset functions from the crown. Lastly, in 1934, Willy Breitling, Leon’s grandson, patterned the second independent chronograph pusher at 4 o’clock. It is the brand’s historic dedication to the chronograph complication that is revived today in the Breitling Premier Heritage collection with six new watches divided into three categories: The Chronograph, The Duograph, and The Datora.
Breitling Premier Heritage B09 Chronograph 40
Beginning the line-up is the Breitling Premier Heritage B09 Chronograph 40, a duo of manual wound chronographs that take look extraordinarily close to their 1940’s predecessors. The first reference AB0930D31L1P1 is dressed in classic polished stainless steel with an eye-catching pistachio green dial at its centre. The second reference RB0930371G1P1 is the more opulent of the two, engineered from 18 carat rose gold with a crisp silver-coloured dial. Both Premier Heritage B09 Chronograph watches measure to 40mm in diameter and are fuelled by the Breitling Calibre B09 hand wound movement with a 70 hour power reserve and column-wheel, vertical clutch chronograph with 1/4th second, 30-minute counter complications. The green-dialled Premier Heritage B09 Chronograph pairs with a golden-brown alligator leather strap while the 18 carat gold model is delivered on a darker brown alligator leather strap.
Specifications:
- Case Size: 40mm
- Case Material: Stainless steel or 18ct rose gold
- Bezel: Fixed
- Glass: Cambered sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides
- Crown: Non screw locked, two gaskets
- Case Back: Screwed, sapphire crystal
- Water Resistance: 100 metres
- Movement: Breitling Manufacture Calibre B09, hand-wound
- COSC: Yes
- Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, 1/4th second, 30 minute counter
- Power Reserve: 70 hours
- Jewels: 47
- Frequency: 28,800vph
- Dial: Pistachio green or silver with Superluminova hour and minute hands
- Strap: Gold brown or dark brown alligator leather
- Buckle: Folding
- RRP: £6,200 (Green dial), £13,400 (Silver dial)
- Release Date: Available now
Breitling Premier Heritage B15 Duograph 42
Another duet dressed in a choice of stainless steel or 18 carat rose gold, the Breitling Premier Heritage B15 Duograph watches represents the epitome of Breitling’s technical prowess with one of the world’s most elaborate complications: the Rattrapante. Also known as a split-seconds chronograph, the Rattrapante is equipped to time two intervals instead of one and unlike a conventional chronograph which has just one hand to show elapsed time, on a Rattrapante there are two. The clever complication is powered by the hand-wound Breitling Manufacture Caliber B15 movement embraced within a 42mm case with 100 metre water resistance, cambered sapphire crystal glass and a screwed down exhibition case back. The stainless steel model under reference AB1510171C1P1 boasts a nautical blue dial with Superluminova hour and minute hands while the 18 carat rose gold variant under reference RB1510251B1P1 pairs with a sophisticated black dial with matching rose gold numerals and hands.
Specifications:
- Case Size: 42mm
- Case Material: Stainless steel or 18ct rose gold
- Bezel: Fixed
- Glass: Cambered sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides
- Crown: Non screw locked, two gaskets, integrated pushpiece
- Case Back: Screwed, sapphire crystal
- Water Resistance: 100 metres
- Movement: Breitling Manufacture Calibre B15, hand-wound
- COSC: Yes
- Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, split second chronograph, 30 minute counter
- Power Reserve: 70 hours
- Jewels: 47
- Frequency: 28,800vph
- Dial: Blue or black with Superluminova hour and minute hands
- Strap: Gold brown or black alligator leather
- Buckle: Folding
- RRP: £7,700 (Blue dial), £15,900 (Black dial)
- Release Date: Available now
Breitling Premier Heritage B25 Datora 42
Last but not least is the Breitling Premier Heritage B25 Datora, another effortlessly elegant 42mm piece that draws inspiration from its 1940’s precursor. Again, dressed in a choice of stainless steel or 18 carat rose gold, the design stands out powerfully from the rest of the 2021 releases for its obviously visible and complex functions. Thanks to the Manufacture Calibre B25 self-winding movement, each Premier Heritage B25 Datora watch delivers central hands for hours, minutes and chronograph seconds, a small seconds dial at 9 o’clock, a 30 minute counter at 3 o’clock, a moonphase aperture at 6 surrounded by a date indicator and a double day and month window at 12 o’clock. The complications are presented on a copper dial for the steel reference AB2510201K1P1 and on a silver-coloured dial for the rose gold model RB2510371G1P1. Both are framed by cambered sapphire crystal glass and boast a 48 hour power reserve, 100 metre water resistance and a dark brown alligator leather straps.
Specifications:
- Case Size: 42mm
- Case Material: Stainless steel or 18ct rose gold
- Bezel: Fixed
- Glass: Cambered sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides
- Crown: Non screw locked, two gaskets
- Case Back: Screwed, sapphire crystal
- Water Resistance: 100 metres
- Movement: Breitling Manufacture Calibre B25, automatic
- COSC: Yes
- Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, 1/4th second, 30 minute counter, moonphase, day, date, month
- Power Reserve: 48 hours
- Jewels: 47
- Frequency: 28,800vph
- Dial: Copper or silver with Superluminova hour and minute hands
- Strap: Dark brown alligator leather
- Buckle: Folding
- RRP: £9,250 (Copper dial), £17,950 (Silver dial)
- Release Date: Available now
