Breitling’s new Premier Heritage Collection is for gents with an eye for the aesthetics of watchmaking’s golden age

Breitling’s new Premier Heritage Collection is for the discerning gent with an eye for the aesthetics of watchmaking’s golden age

ACCORDING TO CEO GEORGES KERN, “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”.

BREITLING HERITAGE PREMIER DATORA

Breitling hit a horological sweet spot. The reveal of the new Heritage Premier Datora modelled on its namesake collection from the 1940s, is perhaps the brand’s strongest showing for Watches & Wonders 2021. An old-school combination of chronograph with triple calendar, Breitling has begun to encroach upon the aesthetic territory that Patek Philippe became known for. Even if it’s a classic, vintage look, the Breitling Premier Heritage Datora unveils a brand-new, manual-wind B25 calibre.

The Datora is among the brand’s most elegant and refined timepieces, hence it is not a statement of irony when we claim that this watch could have been something made by Patek Philippe (albeit at slimmer proportions, more on that later).

The steel variant of the Datora with salmon-dial is especially handsome. The chronograph and triple calendar combination is iconic of mid-20th century watches where brands like Angelus and Patek made a name for themselves, providing ample evidence of the timeless appeal of good vintage design. Aesthetically speaking, the layout is sublime when you consider the numerous indications, which can typically cramp a watch face with a myriad of subdials and totalisers. The classic three-six-nine with month and day window layout for this complication gives it a satisfying symmetrical appearance with optimal legibility.

Unlike the other new Breitling chronographs offered for Watches & Wonders 2021, the manual-wind B25 calibre isn’t based on the brand’s B01 movement (Tudor has been using variations of Breitling’s B01 since 2017). Instead, it opted for the a modular development co-created with Concepto, a specialist movement maker in La Chaux de Fonds.

What Breitling appears to have done, is taken a workhorse Valjoux 7750 and modified the cam-actuated instrument into a column wheel chronograph while adding Concepto’s calendar module on top.

This technical decision takes the Breitling Premier Heritage Datora from being easily the most handsome new novelty of 2021 to one that is simply among the top few contenders ‒ not bad given that the brand’s modern raison d’etre happens to be sportive timepieces.

HERITAGE PREMIER CHRONOGRAPH

Classic with a twist best describes the new Heritage Premier Chronograph. Modelled on its namesake line from the 1940s, beloved archival designs return with bold new colour ways like an eye-catching pistachio-green dial encased in stainless steel or a stately silver dial encased in 18k red gold.

Closer in proportion (40mm instead of 42mm), manually wound, and sans date just like its 1940s predecessors, it is powered by the Breitling Manufacture Calibre B09 based on the Breitling Manufacture Calibre 01.

The manual-winding variant of the Calibre 01 can be found in many of the brand’s premium chronographs. Sans oscillating weight, purists get to enjoy the operations of the column-wheel and vertical clutch.

HERITAGE PREMIER DUOGRAPH

With stainless-steel and 18k red gold cases measuring 42mm, the Duograph comes with a blue or black dial, respectively. Its rattrapante or split-seconds chronograph is properly considered a high complication ‒ enabling the wearer to measure two elapsed times simultaneously via two superimposed chronograph hands.

While this high complication is not exactly novel, what is ground breaking is the way in which Breitling has manufactured a calibre of this complexity. The Duograph houses the mechanical hand-wound Breitling Manufacture Caliber B15, which is modular in nature, thus enabling the manufacture to make it the most affordable rattrapante on the market. From the exhibition caseback, the bridges, jewel and balance wheel positions appear to match the calibre B09.