1965 Breitling Navitimer “Cosmonaute” AOPA

History & Description

In 1952, Breitling designed for the influential US AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) a revolutionary watch combining a chronograph and an E6B type flight computer of that would allow its members to perform all kinds of calculations necessary in flight: average speed, fuel consumption, distance, conversion kilometers in miles. These challenging requirements were made possible by a logarithmic slide rule integrated into a rotating bezel. The Navitimer was born, with presumably the first examples produced in 1954. 

In 1962, astronaut Scott Carpenter, after seeing a Navitimer on a pilot’s wrist, contacted Breitling to ask if they could modify one for his upcoming flight. In particular, he asked to replace the usual 12-hour function by a 24-hour function, the only way to know the real time in space. Breitling agreed and Carpenter received his Cosmonaute a few days before making three orbits around the Earth aboard Aurora 7.

The "First Swiss wristwatch in space," manufactured according to astronaut Scott Carpenter's specifications. Breitling delivered the "astronaut-designed" prototype to Carpenter on May 18th, 1962. He then wore it as part of the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission on May 24th, 1962. As part of that mission aboard the Aurora 7 spacecraft, Carpenter and his Cosmonaute orbited the earth three times before returning to Earth and splashing down safely in the Atlantic.

Per Scott Carpenter's request, the dial was given a 24-hour display to help tell day from night in space. The Hour:Minutes track on the dials was also removed to enhance legibility. The hands set is unique to Mk1 and Mk2 Navtimer Cosmonaute with a lumed teardrop tip chrono sweep hand and a wide lumed syringe minute hand.  The bezel of the Navitimer Cosmonaute Mk1 is much wider than on other executions to allow for easy operation in space gloves.

Dials are glossy black with lumed 24h arabics and indexes, several logo variations were available, including applied golden wings both in "AOPA" and Breitling-branding, some without "Cosmonaute" on the dials.

According to recently released reference book “Navitimer Story” this particular watch was released in 1965 and is classified as the “COSMO Mk 6” and is characterized by a printed AOPA logo, replacing the applied logo which required holes in to be drilled into the dial to fix it.

Condition:

Case: The case is in very good, unpolished condition with light surface wear throughout. There are some scratches to the case, specifically around the bottom of the lugs.

Dial: The dial is in overall excellent condition for its age, retaining its lovely black gloss finish. The luminous material is lacking on the indices, however they all have a lovely clear golden hue with no visible defects.  The hands are original and correct for this model.   It is likely that the lume has been restored at some point in time.

Movement: The movement has been fully disassembled and cleaned by our watchmaker.  The chronograph function works correctly. For it's age it's running very strongly and accurately with an amplitude of 276 and running 0 to +1 seconds per day!

This is lovely, nearly 60 year old, example of a historic chronograph, specifically designed for space travel and is in overall beautiful vintage condition.

Specifications:

 Dial: black

Caliber: cal. 178 mechanical, 17 jewels, modified.

Case: stainless steel, snap-on case back, tapered lugs

Case number: 102XXXX

Size: 42 mm diameter

Signed: case, dial and movement 

Box: no

Papers: no. 

An extract from the archives has been requested from Breitling.

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR BUYERS:
1. For shipping purpose: we will mark lower values at the Buyer’s request. We ship with discrete packaging.
2. We use DHL Express for international shipping. Shipping to most destinations is normally 2-3 days.
3. Preferred payment method is via bank transfer/wire.