REVIEW: Hands On With The Breitling Super Chronomat Perpetual Calendar 140th Anniversary

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With major wrist presence and even more cool factor, we’ve gone hands-on with the 140th Anniversary Breitling Super Chronomat Perpetual Calendar!

As you may well have heard, this year marks the 140th Anniversary of Breitling. It’s a big birthday for the brand, now headed up by Georges Kern, who in recent years has gone back through the history of Breitling and helped to re-define the brand. With new models that harken back to its past, and the vision that Leon Breitling had all the way back in 1884, through to when his son, Gaston took over the business and launched their patented chronograph in 1932, to the days of the icons under Willy Breitling, it’s no wonder there is such a large and illustrious back catalogue to take inspiration from! So celebrate its 140th Anniversary, Breitling released three perpetual calendars, at Geneva Watch Days 2024 – A Premier, Navitimer and Super Chronomat. According to Georges Kern, they couldn’t do justice to the 140 years of history with just one watch, so they went with three models that exemplified the brand. Having spent considerable time with each, I can say (in the words of the old knight guarding the grail in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade) they chose wisely!

What made these releases special is the fact that Breilting created and developed an in-house perpetual calendar movement for the occasion – the Calibre B19. An automatic chronograph perpetual calendar with 96 hours of power reserve and a first for the brand. Now, while I do love the Navitimer, and think the Premier is an elegant piece, when I thought about which one would be great to review, I had to choose the Super Chronomat as this one had that little extra appeal of the skeleton dial – again, another first for Breitling!

RELATED READING: Introducing Breitling’s 140th Anniversary Collection

First Impressions

I won’t sugar-coat it, my first impression of this is, that it’s a large watch! But stay with me here. It is large, but it is designed for those who want something with a major wrist presence and want to make a statement. For me, this is how I see this piece – it’s a statement piece, and one you probably won’t wear every day, but when you do wear it, you’ll enjoy the (insert expletive here) out of it! Put it on your wrist, and you’ll see what I mean here.

Outside of this, the Super Chronomat 140th edition is very much Breitling and very much a modern Chronomat. The rubber strap is great and helps to balance out the gold, and because of this, it’s not as imposing as it would be if it were on a full rose gold bracelet, not to mention less weight. So, first look over, I was keen to strap it on the wrist and take it for a test!

The Design

The Super Chronomat has been around now for a little while, and offers people something a little more robust, and who like a larger watch. For the 140th Anniversary Super Chronomat, Breitling has kept the same case design as you would find in the standard Super Chronomat, albeit 0.9mm thicker to allow for the new Calibre B19 Perpetual Calendar movement. That aside, (I’ll talk more about this in the next section) the Super Chronomat 140th Edition has all the design elements you would expect – the Onion crown, ceramic pushers and easy-to-grip bezel.

Where this piece shines (other than the 18k Rose Gold that is), is the dial and perpetual calendar. For this, Breitling has chosen to skeletonise the dial allowing for the B19 movement to show though. In order to do this, Breitling has stuck with a standard cross formation for the sub-dials, and cut out the surrounds to give the dial the depth.

The sudials, while busy, once you familiarise yourself with the layout and functions, isn’t too overwhelming. With the moonshpase at 12 o’clock, the date indicator at 3 o’clock on the outer, and on the inner of the dial, the 30-minute chronograph register. At 6, you have the month and leap year indicator, and at 9 o’clock, the day is on the outer track, and the small seconds are on the inner. Each sub-dial is done in black sapphire which really elevates the watch, and as you can see in the photo below, these are translucent so you can see the movement coming through.

RELATED READING: Breitling Celebrates Their 140 Years & Heritage Exhibition In Melbourne

As mentioned, the crown and pushers are made of polished black ceramic, and the crown is topped in 18k rose gold with the Breitling ‘B’. The Chrono pushers are also screwed down which adds to the security of the watch when in water, or general life. They also add a more vintage style look to the piece, a throwback to the ’60s and ’70s.

How It Wears

I touched on it a little earlier, the size and dimensions of this watch are not for the slight of wrist, but again, it’s not designed to be either. This sits in the realm of being a statement piece through and through. And for this reason, I love it! At 44mm in diameter, 15.3mm thick and a touch over 53mm lug-to-lug, and being solid 18k rose gold, it’s hefty at 220.2gms, but again, gold watches are heavy, and in my humble opinion, one of the cool things about gold watches – the way the weight feels on the wrist! I’ve 17.5cm wrists, and if your wrists are smaller, then this piece may not suit you if you have anything less than about 16.5cm.

Talking about the weight, the only small downside is the rubber strap on this piece doesn’t allow for a lot of balance with the case of the watch, meaning, you do need to wear this pretty snug on the wrist to avoid any unwanted movement of the case. It’s a small criticism, and one that isn’t specific to this piece as I’ve encountered this on other solid gold watches with leather or rubber straps where the weight distribution isn’t even with the watch itself. To counteract this, you just need to make sure the strap is fitted and tighter on the wrist. if so, you won’t have an issue.

The strap on the 140th Anniversary Super Chronomat is the rouleaux style, and if you haven’t tried one on before, you really should as they are quite comfortable. Due to the style, the small segments of the strap act to make it a lot more flexible and soft, without detracting from the sturdiness of the strap, so it hugs the wrist well. I first tried one on when Breitling introduced them to the Chronomat collection, and at first, I was a little dubious about it. However, that trepidation was laid to rest once on the wrist, as it instantly fits. The strap is also equipped with an 18k rose gold deployant clasp with a pin buckle for extra security. The added benefit of this system is, you can quickly adjust the strap size like a normal pin buckle, but undoing the watch and taking it on and off is easy using the push button clasp. Best of both worlds!

In terms of style, black and rose gold always go together, at least in my eyes! You can dress it up, or dress it down easily, although with the Super Chronomat, it’s more a piece you would wear more casually than dressed up in a suit and tie, but that’s just me. But as a piece you can wear it out to dinner, having a nice lunch with friends or whatever the occasion calls for. For me, wearing what I am in these photos works perfectly.

RELATED READING: Breitling & Watch Advice Takes To The Gold Coast With Their Gold & Diamond Works Showcase

The Movement

For this piece, as well as the Premier and Navitimer 140th Anniversary pieces, Breitling has developed a whole new calibre for these in the B19 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph. The Perpetual Calendar is equipped with the full calendar and moonphase, and adjusts for the individual months with 28, 30 and 31 days, 29 days for February when it’s a leap year, as indicated by the small inner disc at 6 o’clock.

Breitling has decorated the movement in a manner befitting the occasion, with a special gold rotor and on this, a motif that depicts Montbrilliant, the historic Breitling Manufacture which was located at 3 rue de Montbrillant in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. This is where Leon Breitling back in 1892 moved his operations, starting up Breilting’s first watchmaking factory, and as was customary at the time, also his residence with the west wing home to him and then three generations of the Breitling family for the next 80 years!

The B19 Calibre has a 96-hour power reserve or 5 days which is exceptional when it comes to perpetual calendar movements. Comprising of 374 components and beating at 4Hz or 28,800 VpH, the B19 has a column wheel and vertical clutch mechanism allowing smooth operation and less wear and tear on the movement. As with all Breitlings, the movement is COSC so it ensures the accuracy. The onion crown allows you to adjust the time, with pushers on the sides to adjust the perpetual calendar. I will say, while the movement is a great movement, the crown can be a little bit fiddly to unscrew and screw back in due to the shape. Perhaps it’s just my fingers and I wasn’t able to grip the crown all that well compared to other crowns, but either way, it’s a small gripe with something that you shouldn’t have to worry about all that often.

Final Thoughts

I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Breitling, given that my first properly expensive watch purchase was a Super Avenger 48mm. I love that watch, and while it got too large for me as my tastes changed over the years, for the better part of a decade, that watch never let me down and was still running perfectly like the day I bought it. So yes, Breitlings do last and as the saying goes, you look after them, and they will look after you!

The Super Chronomat does give me similar vibes to that Super Avenger I had. Big, bold, and beautiful. It’s a piece that draws your eye to the wrist, and when out and about, makes people look twice at what you’re wearing. At the same time, it has an elegance to it with the rose gold and black ceramic on the case, and the rubber rouleaux strap helps to not make this too over the top and keeps the sporty nature of the watch alive.

At A$82,290 this piece doesn’t come with a small price tag, but, when compared to other Perpetual Calendars in precious metal on the market, it’s pretty well bang on price. Add skeletonisation to the dial and you’re getting good value for money given the limited nature of this piece. As a comparison, other well-known established brands will charge in excess of A$100,000 for a precious metal perpetual calendar with a skeletonised dial, or even without a skeletonised dial.

With 140 pieces of each of the 140th Anniversary pieces available, you won’t see them every day, and here in Australia, with around 5 pieces of each being delivered, even less so. I do know that there are several already sold to astute collectors, so if you are interested in this piece, or the Navitimer or Premier, it’s best to head to your local Breitling boutique to enquire about them, as I have a strong feeling they won’t last!

Reference: Super Chronomat B19 44 Perpetual Calendar  – RB19301A1G1S1

Specification:

• Dimensions: 44mm diameter x 15.35mm thick and 53.5mm lug-to-lug
• Case Material: Brushed and polished 18k red gold
• Dial: Grey skeletonsied dial with black sapphire sub-dials and Super-LumiNova filled hands and indices
• Movement: In-house Calibre B19 perpetual calendar chronograph movement beating at 28,800 VpH (4hZ) with 22k rose gold Montbrilliant motif rotor and COSC certified
• Power reserve: 96hrs
• Water resistance: 100m (10 ATM)
• Crystal: Cambered sapphire, glare-proofed on both sides
• Case back: Screwed 18k red gold, cambered sapphire crystal
• Bracelet/Strap: Black Rouleaux rubber strap with 18k red gold folding clasp and pin buckle system

Australian RRP: A$82,290

Availability: Limited to 140 pieces. For availability, contact your local Breitling boutique or head to Breitling.com

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