Breitling Navitimer Twin Jet Steel Ref. 806, 1960s

Identity

Breitling Navitimer in steel, Ref. 806, 1960s. Manual-winding chronograph movement, three registers. Steel case, 41 mm diameter, signed crown and pump pushers, caseback engraved with the 806 reference and the Stainless Steel marking. Notched rotating bezel carrying the circular slide rule. Black lacquered dial with three white registers in a concentric pattern — running seconds at 9, thirty-minute counter at 3, twelve-hour counter at 6 — applied baton indexes and hands with tritium luminous fill, the figure twelve beneath the boxed MPH marking, Twin Jet logo and Breitling Genève signature. Plexiglas crystal. Leather strap, monogrammed Breitling pin buckle.

Horological context

Founded in 1884 at Saint-Imier by Léon Breitling, the maison devoted itself from the outset to short-time counters, and in 1934 signed the two-pusher chronograph that became universal. The Navitimer was developed in 1952 and appeared in 1954. Its rotating bezel carries a circular slide rule inherited from the E6B flight computer of the 1930s: it solves distance, flight time, speed and fuel consumption. The first examples were reserved for members of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, who bought them directly for eighty-seven dollars fifty. The Ref. 806 appeared in 1956, driven by the manual-winding Venus 178 calibre and produced until the early 1970s; in 1964 the Twin Jet logo replaced the AOPA wings and the notched bezel definitively succeeded the beaded one. In the early 1980s the Navitimer moved to quartz under the Jupiter name, delivered notably to several Middle Eastern air forces. The line remains in the catalogue.

Character

The Twin Jet logo and the notched bezel place this example in the second half of the decade. The tritium on the indexes and hands has taken on a deep cream. The outer ring of the dial, where the slide-rule graduation runs, carries old moisture marks, now fully stabilised: the pale layer has mottled grey and green. The lacquered black centre has stayed intact and the three white registers have not moved — it is the contrast between those two zones that gives this watch its face.

Serviced. Patina and marks of age. Delivered with the brand box and the Contre-Temps 24-month warranty certificate.