Famed as an incredible pilot’s watch ever since it was first released, the Breitling Navitimer has existed as one of the best chronograph timepieces on the market for decades. So established was its dominance that when NASA were performing tests to see which watchmaker would supply timepieces for the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission, the Navitimer came out on top. After winning the bid, astronaut Scott Carpenter asked Breitling if they could fit a 24-hour dial to the Navitimer so he could more easily track AM and PM while in space. Breitling happily obliged and created what would go on to become its own collection, the Navitimer Cosmonaute, which became commercially available to the public soon after Carpenter’s mission ended. While Carpenter’s original Cosmonaute was water damaged due to its lack of water resistance due to its slide-rule bezel and replaced by Breitling and never seen again, it has lived on in Breitling’s arsenal in some form or another for years. As such, Breitling had produced historically accurate reinterpretations of it over the years like the ref. A12322 we have here, with its 41mm stainless steel case and black 24-hour dial.

Watch is in overall very good condition. The case has surface wear evident, but all the engravings on the casebook are fully visible. Strap is heavily worn as shown.

While the Navitimer is already an iconic watch in and of itself, the Cosmonaute is imbued with a unique history that allows it to stand alone amongst history's most important timepieces.