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Breitling Navitimer 806 'Box 10' Full Set, 1968 — view 1 of 6
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Breitling Navitimer 806 'Box 10' Full Set, 1968

DocumentedDocumented from a dealer's listing; attribution and date as stated by the dealer.
Maker / attribution
Breitling (maker)
Date
1968
Country of origin
Switzerland
Object type
Wristwatch
Dimensions
Case 42 mm
Stock no.
Product 1960860483671
Credit line
Dealer listing, S.Song Watches (product 1960860483671)
Catalogue title (original)
Breitling Navitimer 806 'Box 10' Full Set (English)

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Record summary

Catalogued by S.Song Watches (dealer), Seattle (stock number Product 1960860483671), this is a wristwatch by Breitling, made in Switzerland, dated 1968. The Atlas places it in the Modern Mechanical Horology period (1945 – 1969) of its Wristwatches collection. Recorded dimensions: Case 42 mm. The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.

Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.

Catalogue description

Dealer description — S.Song Watches

The Breitling Navitimer, without a doubt, is one of the most iconic watch models of all time. With Breitling still producing it today with minor variances, it is also one of the most recognizable, partly thanks to its imposing size and distinctive inner rotating bezel. The Navitimer has its roots in aviation, as Breitling collaborate with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) to make a tool watch that offered maximum functionality for a pilot. Using their iconic slide rule inner rotating bezel, this allowed a pilot to record all the information he needed for aviation and its large 42mm size made legibility very easy.

Historical context

Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)

Tool watches for divers, pilots and astronauts; electric watches anticipate the electronic age.

The classic era of the mechanical wristwatch: dive watches, chronographs for motor racing and space flight, GMT watches for jet travel, slim dress watches, automatic calendars, and the rise of Japanese manufacturers alongside Swiss, American, German and Soviet industries.

Read the period in the timelineMore wristwatches from this periodEarlier: Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking

Atlas type guide

Wristwatches

Bracelet watches were worn by women from the early nineteenth century — Breguet made one for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, in 1810–12 — but the wristwatch only became a man's instrument with military use and aviation in the early twentieth century. Between the World Wars it overtook the pocket watch; the 1920s and 1930s brought rectangular Art Deco cases, water-resistant cases and the first automatic winding systems.

After 1945 the wristwatch became a carrier of identity — dress watches, sports and dive watches, chronographs, calendars — produced by Swiss, American, Japanese, German, Soviet and Chinese industries. The quartz revolution after 1969 and the mechanical renaissance since the 1990s, including the rise of independent watchmakers, complete the story.

What to look for

  • The reference number (between the lugs or inside the case back) and serial number, the starting point for dating.
  • The calibre: its maker and number are often stamped under the dial or on the bridge.
  • Originality of dial, hands and crown — refinished ('redial') dials are common.
  • Case material marks: 18K/750, 14K/585, stainless steel, gold-filled, plated.

Dating clues

  • Wire-lug cases: before c. 1925.
  • Water-resistant screw-down cases: from 1926.
  • Quartz movements: from 1969; sapphire crystals widespread after c. 1980.

General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.

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