[F]Zurich’s Breitling Pop-Up Museum Chapter 3: Land

On February 1st, Fratello published a second chapter dedicated to the then pop-up museum in Breitling, Zurich. Today we come to the final chapter and feature Breitling’s third universe, Landborne Watches. As mentioned in the previous chapter, under the guidance of Georges Cahn, Breitling returned to the three air, land and sea universe, and under Schneiders, he was clearly dominated by air-related clocks.

To use the phrase Georges Kern, “In the Schneider era, Breitling resembles a shark in a pool.” Under the new leadership since 2017, essentially, this shark seems to have returned to its natural habitat and become very comfortable there. The brand’s new commitment to Willie Breitling’s vision of “Breitling Time in the Aerial, Earth, Under the Sea, and at Sea” has proven to be extremely successful.

Products of the era

Like most (if not all) successful watch companies that have managed to survive economic disasters, currency challenges and the quartz crisis, Breitling has always been a product of the times. When there was demand for cockpit instruments during the war, you must have had breitling on it. When the trend leaned against the diving watch, Breitling was innovated and developed in this direction. In the 1970s there was a tendency to change the industry towards racing chronographs. It was all about being a race car driver, or, more importantly, looking like a race car driver of the time.

Alongside this, the sport of racing gained great traction as Hollywood had gone through the stages of releasing countless films featuring stars such as Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. As a result, under the founder’s grandson Willie, Breitling’s lace-themed chronograph became popular and became a huge hit in the catalogue of the brand at the time. Today, and in the last two chapters, we explore three highlights of this category. Stick to the last one! It is unique and represents a comfortable high watch.

Breitling Sprint ref. 2013, 1972

There is always controversy when mid-range or high-end watch companies release something using resin. Seeing the stubbornness of constantly throwing words like “cheap,” “money grab,” and “quality compromise.” Although resin allows for a lower price range, if the material in this case takes a little time to consider the benefits it offers compared to the more common ones, the concept of “money grab” falls apart. Breitling Sprint ref. 2013 represents exactly that. It debuted in the early 70s, when loud aesthetics created a spectacular entrance into the general design of the time. The watch was about functionality beyond form, but still had style.

Athlete’s tools

The sprint, designed for athletes, emphasized its lightness. This watch was also an inspiration for Breitling’s more recent durability. This is something that athletes can wear without measuring them and without compromising durability.

Unconventional, noisy, out of the box

The watch, which stays in sports veins, uses a pulsation scale instead of using the more common tachymeter bezel, allowing users to click on the pusher to check the pulse. Like the dial, the case of this sprint is equally unconventional. It is the latest 40.2mm diameter, with a diameter of 40.2mm, and has lines and angles that are very reminiscent of the early 1970s.

Sprint Ref. 2013 stands proudly as Breitling’s newly released book, cover art for 140 years of 140 stories. The book celebrates last year’s Breitling round anniversaries, like The Sot & Now Popup Museum.

Breitling Duagraph Ref. 764, 1970

If you can go out with your clock from this museum, it’s hard to choose anything other than this incredibly beautiful Braitling Duraggraf ref. 764. It represents everything I love in watchmaking – (obviously subjective) enthusiasm with innovation, balance, golden proportions, high complications, and its beautiful monochrome aesthetic.

So take a look at this. As I mentioned before, manual wind, two registrations, and no date chronographs are the dreams of many watch enthusiasts, including me. Adding the then 38.2mm stainless steel case leaves you with this incredibly proportional Panda Diaggraph.

“Uber-Chronograph”

Moving from the aesthetics, this abandoned Lugraph is accompanied by a high complication: a chronograph of seconds. This means that the chronograph has two middle-second hands loaded, one of which can pause and then press the crown later to catch up with the other. For this reason, you will notice a slight gap between the crown and the case. In other words, this oversized crown has three functions: setting, timing split seconds, and winding. This combination of abandoned crown and lack of crown guards should be mentioned that it is an absolute joy to turn it into the wind.

From father to son

This particular example was a gift from Willie Breitling to his son Gregory for his 20th birthday. When he received it, Gregory was told it was a very complicated piece, so he needs to handle it with extra care. Since Breitling has long been well known for creating chronographs, what would the brand president give his son more than his son in such high-end executions?

Breitling Datora Duagraph Ref. Gold 800 in 1944 – Only known example that exists

Like chapter 2 of this series of articles, we end the trio of clocks presented at undeniable peaks. This is a lot to unpack, but this is the better you get, so it’s definitely worth sticking! This yellow gold Breitling Detra ref. 800 is considered the only example that exists. It is believed that there was a batch of 20 stainless steel examples released in 1951, but we have not seen the famous collector and brand historian Fred Mandelbaum. Interestingly, the watch listed two reference numbers (800 and 766) from the reference 766, which was released in 1944 in the 18K gold case. Upon release, this Breitling Datora Duagraph was one of the most complicated wristwatches ever created.

Manufacturing like the top of the top

A closer look at this case, the architecture is reminiscent of a mid-century case by a high-end sector brand, featuring step lags, step bezels and, of course, precious metals. These offer little functional advantage, but instead they are features that give birth to a brilliant design that has proven that Breitling can compete with the industry’s top. In line with this exquisite case, exercise does not fail to impress. Like the previous entry, it’s a split second chronograph, but this time there’s also a calendar function.

Busy with balance and deliberations

To close out the split second chronograph and pointer date, the watch features moon phase complications at the top of the dial. Nowadays, despite the complex dial with conservative case diameters and tachymeter scales, it doesn’t look messy. 4 Registered layout creates a balance and numbers of hours are cropped to prevent overlapping into subdials.

Set the record straight

In 2021, Breitling launched its premier Datora with the B25 movement. Some people were screaming for bloody murder, saying that Breitling borrowed a design that had no historical connection. But Breitling’s & Now Museum serves as the perfect way to counter such statements. Just because brands have not indulged in watches in these movements and designs over the past few decades, it doesn’t mean they didn’t exist. This is why the museum was such an important effort for Breitling. The idea was not to push sales today, but to educate visitors beyond what they knew about the brand from a young age. Breitling has been around for a long time than we all have, so it’s important that brand storytelling express itself with the utmost historical accuracy and integrity.

Curtain call for Breitling’s Then & Now Pop-up Museum

Come to think of it, the museum will remain open until mid-May this year. Rather than keeping it open on a continuous basis, it was important for Breitling to finish the museum with high notes. Scott Carpenter’s 100th birthday will be May 1st, 2025, so something very special will come up close to this date. What better place to celebrate Scott’s Centennial than the Zurich Museum?

As we did in the previous chapter, once again we recommend visiting the museum before closing if you get the chance. In the same context, it is unlikely that you will ever have the opportunity to enjoy this assortment of Breitling’s back catalogue again. The next big anniversary marks the 150th anniversary of 2034, so we can’t wait to see what Breitling has at the time! For now, however, you can enjoy the museum for at least another month.