Sold!!!! Vintage Serviced 1967 Breitling 809 AOPA Navitimer Cosmonaut Watch CPO

1967 Breitling 809 Cosmonaute ref. 809, 24 hour dial. AOPA 

In 1959, the astronaut Scott Carpenter suggested to Breitling that they develop a Navitimer that incorporated a 24-hour dial instead of the normal 12-hour dial. The reason is that there’s no day and night like we have on Earth, so its really complicated for the human body to adapt itself to this new situation. The 24-hour dial could help the astronaut to have a time measure. In 1962, Carpenter orbited the Earth three times wearing his Breitling Cosmonaute.

The iconic Navitimer remains near the top of virtually every vintage watch collector wish list. The internal rotating bezel is a slide-rule navigation computer which makes complex mathematical calculations useful to pilots. Jerry Seinfeld, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Miles Davis all wear (or wore) a Breitling Navitimer 806 with black & white dial.

The Navitimer was chosen as the official timepiece of AOPA, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, something which Breitling has traded on ever since. A 24-hour dial version, the Cosmonaute, was also produced in the early 60s.

The first generation Navitimer came in the early 50s, they had Arabic numerals, black dials and sub-dials. The second generation shows silver sub-dials and index instead of numbers. Many early Navitimers didn’t have the Breitling logo but the AOPA wing on the dial. Some rare dials show the AOPA wings and the letter B instead of the Breitling logo. Per my understanding the double jet is the more common of them all.

Breitling has been a leading innovator in high quality stopwatches and chronographs and helped define how chronographs look and function until today. Breitling launched the first wrist chronograph with a pusher at 2:00 in 1915, presented the first dual pusher wrist chronograph with pushers at 2:00 and 4:00 in 1933 and was one of the first manufacturers to recognize the need of early aviators for wrist watches incorporating such devices.

In 1942 Breitling introduced the Chronomat, the worlds first Smart Watch, a chronograph with a rotating logarithmic slide rule that allowed complex calculations with the turn of your fingers.

Throughout the 1930s to 50s, Breitling continued creating chronographs with different scales to suit different professions, such as tachymeters for production engineers and drivers, and pulsometers for doctors.

This Breitling Cosmonaute is a perfect size at 41mm, and somehow the busy dial configuration with just the right patina create a serene vintage appearance.

Malcom Scott Carpenter (May 1, 1925 – October 10, 2013), is the reason why we have the Breitling Cosmonaute as we know it today. He was one of the original astronauts selected to be part of NASA’s Project Mercury in April of 1959, after wearing his 12-hour Navitimer during his time as a combat pilot in the Korean War, he suggested that Breitling produce a Navitimer with a 24-hour dial. Breitling registered the name "Cosmonaute" in 1961, and in 1962, a modified Navitimer with a 24-hour dial was the first Breitling to go to space. The Cosmonaute was manufactured in the early to mid-1960s with various dial configurations, bezel combinations, logos, and metals, and all were powered by the Venus 178 movement. Among the numerous variations that were produced, this example has the rarer AOPA logo with the name “Navitimer” in gilt color, which adds to the charm of the overall look.

This is a beauty and a very rare Breitling Navitimer 809 with AOPA dial. Defiantly a collector watch. Please look at all the pictures, as they are part of the description. The watch is working, fully Serviced, keeps great time and is part of our new Certified Pre-Owned CPO Program. This is a highly collectible watch. Very few left with this rare movement. Sure, to increase in value overtime, and a great addition to your collection. The condition of the watch is the same as it appears in the photos.  The watch is working.  Contact me if you have any questions first.