Breitling: The epitome of perfection
The Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph 42 swiss replica watches combines impeccable style with purpose and substance.
The origins of the Breitling Premier
Breitling is a brand built on solid, practical tool watches, at least in the modern era, made for professionals. But as a brand with nearly 140 years of history, Breitling has more than just fan-favorites like the Navitimer and Superocean. You’ll find plenty of elegant models in its archives. In fact, look no further than the elegant Breitling Premier. Launched earlier this year as a beautiful set of six, the watch features a 42mm case and is powered by the impressive Breitling Manufacture Caliber 01.
The Premier collection dates back 80 years to 1943. But before we get into the illustrious past and future of this most prestigious of chronographs, we need to understand why Breitling swiss replica watches has such a strong connection with the chronograph.
The Early History of the Breitling Premier
While the Breitling brand has a range of distinctive, high-quality watches, if there is one word that sums up the essence of this manufacturer, it is – the chronograph. From the beginning, Breitling has focused on one thing. In 1884, Léon Breitling opened his first workshop in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, and within a decade he had transformed it into a full-fledged watchmaking factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the heart of the Swiss watch industry. Even at this time, Breitling had already excelled in the production of stopwatches and chronographs, and developed patented innovations that set the tone for the brand's future. In 1914, Léon's son Gaston took the helm of the family business and, with an eye on the world's changing relationship with the chronograph, created one of the first chronographs to be worn on the wrist, complete with a separate pusher at two o'clock. This feature made the way to interact with a complication more practical, while minimizing the risk of accidental activation. Heavier-than-air flight was the impetus for this innovation at the time, marking Breitling’s first foray into aviation. replica Breitling Premier
Gaston Breitling’s tenure at the company was relatively short, however – he died in 1927, leaving his young son Willy Breitling as sole heir to the family business. Willy, by contrast, managed the company for more than 50 years, leading it to continued success. In 1933, one of the early innovations Willy oversaw was the addition of a second pusher at four o’clock, separating the start/stop function (at two o’clock) from this new dedicated reset function. This layout was groundbreaking for the modern chronograph in both form and function, and is one of the reasons that Willy Breitling and the brand he led became synonymous with this unique complication.
Willy Breitling, the King of Chronographs
A central figure in Breitling’s history – and a key figure in the origins of the Premier collection – is Willy Breitling. As the third generation of the Breitling best replica watches family to run the company, Willy’s story is as compelling as the man himself. He took over the reins of the family company at the age of 19. Fred Mandelbaum, Breitling’s official brand historian and author of Premier Story, the definitive history of the series, explains: “Willie Breitling was only 13 when his father died. He was still a student. From the family history, we can see that he knew exactly what he would do. There was no doubt that he would lead Breitling.
Breitling: The Chronograph Company
“Soon after, we saw in an Austrian magazine that he was presenting a chronograph – you have to understand that the core positioning of Breitling has always been the chronograph – and that’s where the patents and innovations came from. This was a chronograph company. At the time, the chronograph, like the watch in general, was a niche product. Men didn’t wear watches; men wore vests, and men laughed at watches from the beginning. Willy thought that the watch had to win, and you see him working on strategies for why everyone needed a chronograph.
How to make the chronograph desirable again? replica Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
However, by the 1950s, the watch industry was heading in a different direction. “In the 1950s, Jacques Cousteau started a diving craze, which led to a boom in dive watches. So the same people who ‘wanted’ a chronograph in the 1940s now ‘wanted’ a dive watch. Chronograph sales dropped dramatically,” Mandelbaum explains. But Willy had plans of his own. “Willie was the head of the Chronograph Manufacturers Association in the 1950s, and they put together hundreds of pages of strategy, market research, etc., on how to reposition the chronograph and make it sexy again. That’s what happened in the early 1960s, all the sports chronographs we know and cherish today, like the Breitling Top Time. They actually came out of that strategy document, where they defined a new approach to marketing the chronograph. We saw watch sales increase tenfold in the 1960s, when everyone was desperate for a sports chronograph. It’s all documented – his influence was huge.”
Sports Chronograph, from Purpose to Style
The seeds of the success of the sports chronograph were sown decades earlier, in the 1940s, while the world of the 1940s was of course at war, and Breitling’s chronographs and aviation chronographs played a vital role, used by the RAF and others. Surprisingly, during this period of conflict and chaos, Breitling looked ahead and saw a bright future. Willy Breitling sensed that the war was coming to an end, and while the company supported the war effort, he was also planning for peace. Mandelbaum describes how Willy’s sophisticated marketing sense laid the foundation for the decades to come. replica Richard Mille RM 032
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