Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute

Continuing in its tradition of excellence, the Breitling Watch Company introduced its Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute wrist watch series when American space flight was still in its infancy. When you look back at Breitling evolution (considering the company’s niches were the military and civilian aviation), it was only natural that this phase of the evolution would eventually occur. As each Breitling watch has its own unique aspect, the Navitimer Cosmonaute also has a unique feature that is different from the rest of the Breitling wrist watches.

The Navitimer Cosmonaute main focus is on being a space (versus aviation-oriented) wrist watch. To accomplish this functionality, the Breitling Company implemented 24 hour dial divisions to discern between day and night. Obviously, in space, it would be impossible to determine if it was 10:00 in the morning or 10:00 in the evening, so this functionality was vitally important in making this watch useful for a space environment.

As with most theoretical solutions, until a solution is tested in a realistic environment, it cannot be relied upon. Luckily, the Navitimer Cosmonaute has been proven. Back in May of 1962, astronaut Scott Carpenter wore the Cosmonaute on his Aurora 7 space flight (Lt Cmdr Carpenter requested Breitling make a special version of its watches for space flight). As you can imagine, his wrist watch worked almost like a charm (as his version was not water tight, a little damage did occur to his watch).

Another interesting aspect of the Navitimer Cosmonaute is its flyback mechanism. Very simply, if you are conducting successive timing operations, you do not need to stop the watch, return it to zero, and then restart the watch. You can simply continue with your timing operations from where you currently are.

There are three primary Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute wrist watch versions. The first version is the steel case. This version comes with a silver dial and black subdials. Additionally, this Cosmonaute version has a leather strap and a tang type buckle.

The second version of the Navitimer Cosmonaute is the steel and 18 karat rose gold case version. This model comes with a silver dial and gold subdials. Similar to the steel case version, this model comes with a leather strap and a tang type buckle.

The third primary version is the Limited Edition Red Gold self winding wrist watch. In this version, the chronograph comes with an 18 karat red gold watch case with a black dial and silver subdials. Furthermore, the watch comes with a Croco strap and an 18 karat red gold tang type buckle.

As for the Navitimer Cosmonaute’s technical specifications, it is a self winding watch that uses a Breitling 22 Caliber mechanical movement. Additionally, the Cosmonaute uses 38 jewels, which operates at 28,800 vibrations per hour.

Similar to the other Navitimer chronographs, the Cosmonaute is able to operate under 100 feet underwater. Additionally, the Navitimer Cosmonaute comes with the bidirectional rotating sliding bezel. This tool, which is basically an analog mechanical computer, can be used to complete trigonometry and logarithms calculations. By using the rotating slide bezel, you can calculate your speed (preferably while in an airplane) to determine your position.

The Navitimer Cosmonaute also comes with a glare proofed, sapphire crystal which allows its owner to view the time. Additionally, this Navitimer version uses a dial aperture for its calendar functionality. Lastly, the Cosmonaute comes with a 42 hour power reserve and has a screwed in case back.

If you have any other questions about the Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute or any of the Breitling Navitimer wrist watches, please feel free to look around the Breitling Navitimer Watch Guide.