How On Earth Does a Breitling Navitimer Work? | Watchfinder & Co.

In a time of calculators, computers, smart phones and the internet, the answer to any question is never more than a few taps of a screen or clicks of a button away. Remember when you had to just know who was in a movie, or what that song was? Before then, before all of that, there was a time when complex calculations were only achievable by hand or with a slide rule. It’s a skill that’s been lost over generations, but today we’re going to find out how, exactly, this mess of lines and numbers actually works.

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Breitling Navitimer 01 LE Black Rotor

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[KakashiHatake-oump]

My experience with such bezels are limited to It turns!"

[NicholasSpartan]

Being an airline pilot, I must tell you few things... That’s one thing you must learn as a pilot for calculations by an E6B slide rule. Unfortunately getting bloody old you can’t see a damn thing on the bezel...
Cheers chaps.
Ps : excellent review .

[NirmalaDevi-ijcx]

Being able to work this around your friends when you need to split the bill at the restaurant will guarantee you some heightened sense of superiority.

[billandyeng]

Can you imagine at the next dinner party explaining all this to the girls. I hope they'll be impressed.

[SgtHail]

Someone actually knows how this watch works?!? Madness.

[AbdulRahmanNoor]

It's incredible how much knowledge is lost in one generation. My dad was an engineer and I had once opened up his old trunk containing engineering books and yes, a slide rule. Never understood how to use it and it pains me to think I'll never be able to explain it to my kids without resorting to a YouTube video.
Great explanation on the Navitimer; I've newfound respect for traditional timekeeping.

[viriatvsoflvsitania]

Now I see why these are called "Complications"...

[bazzie]

No wonder plane crashes were much more common back then... this is far worse than texting while driving!

[rjy]

Your video's are always compelling.

I'm 51 years old; a little younger than the slide rule generation, but loved the things and learned how to use one when I was young but am rusty now. They give you more of an idea of how numbers work than a calculator because you can see the correlation.

I bought a Citizen Navihawk because it has a slide rule bezel although I've never used it (plus my eyesight is making it more difficult to make out...)

Looking forward to your next release! Thanks!

[kennynordieker]

Exam today: Teachers tells the whole class to put their smartphones on the front desk and take off their smart/apple watches.

Exam in the 1950's/60's: Teacher tells the whole class to all take their Navitimers and chronomats off.

[DeadGlassEyes]

That Breitling is probably the most beautiful watch I have ever seen.

[SleepyHapa]

I'm studying Commercial Aviation at UND and when I heard about this watch, I immediately took out my E6B (aviation's version of a slide ruler) and lo and behold... that watch is pretty much identical.

[pplpilot]

I 'tried' to use one when I was flying regularly, I say tried, i knew how a slide rule works, you had to getting a pilots licence in the 80's it was part of the syllabus, but trying to use one of these in a cramped cockpit, with no autopilot and a lot of turbulence is near on impossible. in the last 30 years the only time i have ever rotated the bezel is when when OCD gets the better of me and i've re-aligned the 60 back to 12' o'clock after its rotated due to putting on a snug sleeved coat or reaching into a bag etc...

[SuperSnakePlissken]

A friend of mine is a pilot for a major airline and they had total instrument failure last week in the plane he was flying. His father bought him one of these Breitling Navitimer watches for Christmas because his Dad felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to get him one. If he had not had this watch he would not have been able to land the plane and save himself as wellas the 168 passengers.

He told this story at church today and it just floored me how incredible the story was. When I came home from church today I went right to Breitlings website, looked at the watch he has, and then came to this video because I had no clue how it worked.

Thanks for explaining the details, and I now understand why pilots wear this watch. This watch literally can mean life or death.

[thecommenter]

This guy: takes an hour to explain all this stuff
The other guy: bro, I all wanted was to know the time

[vicg]

As a submarine navigator I can appreciate the demo. We used a weems and Plath slide rule to perform many of these calculations. It was quicker than using a hp scientific at the time and far quicker once you got the hang of it. The navitimer is a time saving manual computational device. Very cool indeed.

[gentensworld]

I must say. As someone working towards a career in aviation, a horology enthusiast, and a person who likes more "old school" instruments, this is absolutely amazing <3. I really took away quite a lot from this video.

[Gettothechoppaaa]

I must be weird, the very complexity of this thing has suddenly made me want a Navitimer when, previously, I had zero interest in Breitling as a brand! I have vague memories from the 1970’s of a cousin who used a slide rule regularly....I was very impressed then and would like one of my own!

[jasonh]

Love the video but may be a dive watch Is more suited to my intellect

[ninumedia]

Thank you for this most instructional video! There are people who try to explain the Navitimer 01 functionality and fail miserably because they don't show a detailed enough example with a zoomed lens as you've demonstrated. Also I appreciated the different examples. +1