While Breitling is known for large, bold luxury sports watches, they’ve also released some subtle, classy luxury watches in recent years.
Breitling History Timeline
| 1884 | Léon Breitling founds his company, focusing on precision pocket chronographs. |
| 1915 | Breitling makes wristwatch history by releasing a chronograph with two separate pushers, a significant innovation at the time. |
| 1941 | Breitling buys a patent for a chronograph watch with a slide-rule bezel, then releases the Chronomat the following year. |
| 1952 | The Navitimer, a pilot’s watch with a slide rule specifically for navigation, is introduced. |
| 1962 | Scott Carpenter orbits the earth with a custom 24-hour-dial Navitimer on his wrist. |
| 1969 | Along with Hamilton-Büren, Dubois Dépraz and Heuer-Leonidas, Breitling helps create the self-winding chronograph movement. |
| 1979 | Ernest Schneider acquires Breitling at the height of the quartz crisis. |
| 1984 | Breitling introduces a new Chronomat as the face of their relaunched brand. |
| 1995 | The Emergency watch, equipped with a micro-transmitter for remote location signaling, is introduced. |
| 2017 | The Schneider family sells 80% of their share in Breitling to CVC Capital Partners, and the remaining 20% the following year. |
| 2017 | Georges Kern is appointed as the CEO of Breitling, setting the stage for some more subtle Breitling releases as well as their e-boutique. |
| 2022 | Partners Group acquires a majority stake in Breitling. CVC retains a minority stake. |
| 2023 | Breitling acquires Universal Genève. |
In terms of sales, Breitling consistently ranks as one of the world’s top 10 luxury watch brands.