Best Breitling Watches of 2024 for Men Who Love Chronographs
By Nicholas Hegel McClelland,
6 hours ago
A perennial favorite among pilots and racers, Breitling is one of the most notable players in the luxury watch space—and one of the most prestigious Swiss brands among Omega , Rolex , and TAG Heuer . Breitling offers sought-after pieces that blend rugged capabilities with stylish swagger. Over 140 years, it's become synonymous with chronographs—an extra complication that acts as a stopwatch—essential to automotive timing.
Breitling even made a foray into the aerospace industry. In 1952, Willy Breitling was asked to create a watch for the U.S. Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and its members. Thus, Breitling Navitimer was born (the current version is our pick for best overall Breitling watch, as part of our 2024 Watch Guide ). It was the first watch to incorporate a logarithmic slide rule on the dial so pilots could calculate average speed, distance traveled, fuel consumption, rate of climb or descent, and even convert miles to kilometers or nautical miles.
Whether you’re looking for an epic pilot watch, a solid gold bit of horological bling, or a sport watch that could actually save your life, there's one that meets your budget and needs. Shop the best Breitling watches of 2024.
Best Breitling Watch Overall: Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43
Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43 Watch
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Navitimer is easily Breitling’s most iconic timepiece. More than 70 years ago, Willy Breitling coupled a chronograph with a circular-designed slide rule, so mid-century pilots could make calculations mid-flight. In short order, the "navigation timer" became a go-to for flyboys. Today’s version offers the wearer an automatic, COSC certified 1/4th second, 30 minutes, 12 hours chronograph movement with a 70hr power reserve as well as the hallmark bidirectional slide rule. It’s a classic that looks great on the wrist whether you're hopping in the cockpit or comfortably seated in the exit row.
CASE: Stainless steel
MOVEMENT: Breitling 01 automatic
DIAL: Silver
SIZE: 43mm
STRAP: Leather
Best Breitling Watch for Serious Adventurers: Emergency
Breitling Emergency Watch
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We hope you never have to use it, but the Breitling Emergency features a dual-frequency distress beacon. Once switched on, the system emits a signal to guide rescuers to your location anywhere on the globe. So if you’re an explorer who takes risks, this watch could provide extra safety redundancy on your next adventure. Of course it also tells the time. A COSC certified SuperQuartz movement powers a 1/100th second chronograph. The digital, day and date only needs to be set every 4 years. The case is good for 50 meters of water resistance and even though it’s made from titanium, the watch measures 51mm in diameter and 21.6mm thick. So it’s a chunky piece. But it was designed for emergencies and not to slide under a shirt cuff.
CASE: Titanium
MOVEMENT: Breitling 76 SuperQuartz
DIAL: Black
SIZE: 51mm
STRAP: Rubber strap
Best Breitling Watch for Large Wrists: Super AVI B04 Chronograph GMT 46 Mosquito Night Fighter
Breitling Super AVI B04 Chronograph GMT 46 Mosquito Night Fighter Watch
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Not everyone was meant to wear a 40mm watch. Smaller pieces can get lost on bigger wrists. Enter the 46mm Super AVI B04 . It’s a large piece better suited for those of us with thicker appendages. But since the case is made from black ceramic, it is less hefty on the wrist than it would be in steel. Stealthy, the white Arabic numerals pop off the black on black case and dial combinations. The gray sub-dials display the 30 minutes, 12 hours chronograph functionality while a fourth GMT hand ticks around a gray 24 inner ring. The external, bi-directional pilot style bezel is knurled for better grip. But why is it called the “Mosquito?” The watch get’s its name from the de Havilland Mosquito, a.k.a. the “Wooden Wonder,” which was faster than many aluminum airplanes produced between 1940 and 1950.
CASE: Ceramic
MOVEMENT: Breitling B04 automatic
DIAL: Black
SIZE: 46mm
STRAP: Leather strap
Best Gold Breitling Watch: Premier B01 Chronograph 42
Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph 42 Watch
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We are suckers for a full gold watch, but they aren’t for everyone. A giant, aurelian wrist wrapper makes a statement that can be seen and heard from across the room. So, choose one that speaks in a sotto voce… or at least a sophisticated one like the Premier B01 Chronograph . The polished and brushed finishing gives the 18 karat red gold a stunning visual texture as does the comfortable seven-row metal bracelet and smooth fixed bezel. The COSC-certified Breitling Manufacture Caliber 01 powers this chronograph and can be viewed, along with its gold rotor, through a display caseback. The twin-register dial is highly legible as are the applied Arabic numerals. It’s a piece that will remind you every day, that time is more precious than the watch on your wrist.
CASE: Red Gold
MOVEMENT: Breitling 01 automatic
DIAL: Cream
SIZE: 42mm
STRAP: Gold bracelet
Best Weekend Breitling Watch: SuperOcean Automatic 42
Breitling SuperOcean Automatic 42 Watch
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Weekends are the time to embrace fun, so why not have a little on the wrist. This version of the SuperOcean comes in a variety of dials to choose from, but our favorite is the black with rainbow indexes on a blue rubber strap. The time-only diver is water resistant to 300 meters and the folding clasp is micro-adjustable up to 15 mm. So the Super Ocean can slide over a rash guard or wetsuit, making it perfect for a weekend riding waves or a kids pool party. If rainbow isn’t your thing, check it out in Kelly Slater orange.
CASE: Stainless steel
MOVEMENT: Breitling 17 automatic
DIAL: Black
SIZE: 42mm
STRAP: Rubber
Best Breitling Watch for the Office: Premier B25 Datora 42
Breitling Premier B25 Datora 42 Watch
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The Datora is perhaps the most cultivated wristwatch in the current Breitling catalog. An example of the brand’s highest level of watchmaking, the piece offers, not just time and date, but chronograph, annual calendar and moon phase complications. You could get this piece in red gold, and that would be a fine choice. But the salmon dial is straight fire and a very demure, very mindful choice.
CASE: Stainless steel
MOVEMENT: Breitling B25 automatic
DIAL: Salmon
SIZE: 42mm
STRAP: Leather
Best Breitling Watch for Small Wrists: SuperOcean Heritage '57 Highlands
Breitling SuperOcean Heritage '57 Highlands Watch
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The 38mm SuperOcean Heritage ’57 is a retro reboot done right. It’s also one of the coolest watches Breitling makes and the 38mm profile looks killer on small-to-medium-sized wrists. The time-only, diver-inspired, automatic watch is good for 100 meters water resistance and the concave ceramic bezel, oversized indexes, and arrow-shaped hour hand are all throwbacks to the late ‘50s OG version. This piece is part of their Highlands Capsule Collection, so it comes not just on a steel mesh bracelet but with a tweed strap as well.
CASE: Stainless steel
MOVEMENT: Breitling 10 automatic
DIAL: Brown
SIZE: 38mm
STRAP: Stainless-steel bracelet and textile
Best Breitling Watch for Speed Demons: Top Time B01 Shelby Cobra
Breitling Top Time B01 Shelby Cobra Watch
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For car nuts, the Shelby Cobra needs no introduction. It’s one of the most iconic sports car designs of all time. With the Top Time B01 Shelby Cobra , Breitling offers a bit of tribute to the legend.
A blue dial and Cobra emblem celebrate Carroll Shelby’s near-mythical brand. The “squircle” subdials offer a 1/4 second, 30 minutes chronograph and a tachymeter features a “red line” for speeds over 240 mph. The piece comes on a perforated leather racing strap with high contrast stitching. It’s a watch that looks great on the wrist, whether you’re lucky enough to own one of the 998 original AC Cobras, or are just hoping to catch a glimpse of one at the next concours.
CASE: Stainless steel
MOVEMENT: Breitling 01 automatic
DIAL: Blue
SIZE: 41 mm
STRAP: Leather
Why You Should Buy a Breitling Watch
This year Breitling celebrates its 140th anniversary as a watchmaker. Back in 1884, Léon Breitling opened his first workshop in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. Less than a decade later he would go on to establish a factory in Chaux-de-Fonds, the capital of Swiss watchmaking, where Breitling developed a movement with an eight-day power reserve, a pulsograph, for measuring a patient's pulse, and a chronograph with two-fifths of a second accuracy.
By the early 1900s, the brand was building a reputation for its masterful stop watches and chronographs and in 1905, Breitling innovated a pocket-watch tachymeter, an easy-to-read speed scale, before cars came equipped with a speedometer (a year later police issued the first speeding ticket in Switzerland using it…Thanks, Léon!).
Today, Breitling’s designs typically blend elegance and performance. The brand is, of course, still revered for their chronographs reliability and innovation. Many of their in-house movements are COSC (Contrôle officiel suisse des Chronomètres) certified, so they are accurate to -4/+6 seconds a day. So, if you’re in the market for a new watch, give the storied Swiss maker a thorough look.
Why You Should Trust Me
I’ve been collecting watches for nearly as long as I’ve been able to tell time. Around the age of 10, I started disassembling pocket watches to see what makes them tick. Today, I feel naked if I accidentally leave the house without a watch on my wrist—and, yes, I’ll go back and get one. (Horology or OCD? Only my shrink knows for sure.) Currently, my cache includes a variety of vintage and contemporary pieces from microbrands to G-Shock. Most days, I wear an Explorer II (Ref. 226570), but my grandmother’s Mickey Mouse watch will always be my favorite.
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