Authenticate Breitling Navitimer
The pilot's chronograph with the working circular slide rule.
Introduced 1952Grenchen
The Navitimer's slide rule is the model's whole idea. The outer bezel rotates against a fixed inner scale, and together they perform multiplication, division and unit conversion — the calculations a pilot needed before electronic instruments. On a genuine watch the scales align precisely and the graduations are correct; on a counterfeit the bezel usually turns and means nothing.
The dial is extremely dense: three subdials, two scales of fine graduations, and a quantity of small text. Every element must be sharp at ten-power magnification with even spacing. This is the hardest dial in the category to fake and the fastest to read.
The chronograph's hands reset to exactly zero and the pushers have a defined action. Modern references carry chronometer certification marked on the dial.
What a Navitimer does on the secondary market
Steady, with vintage references from the 1960s and 1970s carrying real collector interest. Original dials and correct bezels set the top of the market.
An orientation for honest, unrestored condition — never an appraisal, and never a quotation.
Questions we are asked
- Does the Navitimer slide rule actually work?
- Yes. It is a functional circular slide rule for multiplication, division and unit conversion. A bezel that rotates without the scales aligning correctly is a counterfeit indicator.
Lovenhall WatchRead the watch itself
The checks tell you how it was made. The instrument tells you what it appears to be, and roughly what its kind fetches.