Breitling is a brand of Swiss watches from Grenchen, Canton of Solothurn (originally founded in Saint-Imier, Bernese Jura by Leon Breitling in 1884). The watchmaker offers Certified Chronometers designed primarily for aviation use, though most frequently worn as high-end luxury watches. Breitling Watches offer aviation functions, though their chronograph functions have become more of status symbols than practically applied tools. Based on the Navitimer chronograph, the brand's technicians developed the Cosmonaute, a space-going version of this instrument indicating the daily 24 hours in a single sweep of the dial. Given the relative nature of day and night in space, this configuration prevents possible confusion between midday and midnight. On May 24 1962, the astronaut Scott Carpenter tested this instrument under real-life conditions during his orbital flight aboard the Aurora 7 capsule. For its 125th anniversary, Breitling has chosen to issue a limited series of the model that became the first wrist chronograph to experience space travel. Only 1,000 of these Cosmonaute watches will be produced all equipped for the occasion with an original version of the intriguing 24-hour dial. Further accentuating its distinctive character and in tribute to a modern design icon from the 1960s, the Cosmonaute Limited Edition is fitted exclusively with the rigid perforated Air Racer bracelet. Movement: Breitling Caliber 22, officially chronometer-certified by the COSC, self-winding, high-frequency (28,800 vph), 38 jewels, 1/5th of a second chronograph, 30-minute and 12-hour totalizes. Fly back function. Calendar. Case: Steel and limited series of 1,000; black dial. Resistant to three bars. Rotating bezel with circular slide rule. Cambered sapphire crystal, glare proofed on both sides. Diameter: 41.50 mm.

---