In 1943, about five years after Breitling became the official supplier of aviation chronographs to the British military, Willy Breitling had a Eureka moment: why not create a chronograph that was not only a tool watch but also a style statement, and make it available to the wider public? He went about designing an elegant chronograph that would sit comfortably on the wrist. He called the collection Premier, and it was a game changer.
Reintroduced by Breitling in 2021, the Premier Heritage chronograph collection revived Willy’s dream of seeing the functional chronograph made elegant and wrist-friendly. Today, Breitling adds six new references to the Premier B01 Chronograph 42 collection, all of them newly powered by the self-winding Breitling Manufacture Caliber 01. They include new dial shades in salmon, blue, green, black, and cream. and a choice of alligator leather straps or seven-row metal bracelets. They contain the automatic Breitling Manufacture Caliber 01, with a 70-hour power reserve, and come with a five-year warranty. Breitling preserved distinctive vintage-Premier design details, including the smooth fixed bezel, twin-register dial, streamlined rectangular pushers, and applied Arabic numerals. The watch is priced from $9,100 in steel on a strap to $39,700 in gold on a bracelet.
"We are committed to preserving Willy Breitling's bold vision of combining the precision of a professional tool watch with the sophistication of a modern dress watch," says Breitling CEO Georges Kern. "The Premier embodied the hopeful energy that emerged in the postwar era, and we are proud to continue that tradition with a modern-retro version for our times."
The launch of the new Premier B01 Chronograph 42 coincides with the publication of "Premier Story," an illustrated history of the Premier watch. Author Fred Mandelbaum, Breitling’s official brand historian and the world’s foremost Premier collector, guides readers through Willy Breitling's challenging and ultimately successful quest to take the chronograph out of the cockpit and onto the wrist. The book is illustrated with vintage watch photographs and archival documents outlining the history and key identifying factors of Breitling Premiers, with tips on how to authenticate and date vintage models. It's a fascinating dive into one of the world's most legendary watches.
"As Breitling’s historian, I’m living the wildest dreams of any passionate collector," says Mandelbaum. "For this book, I was granted unprecedented access to relevant sources, both in the Breitling corporate archives and through Gregory Breitling, son of founding-father Willy Breitling, who has granted me access to the family collection of watches, archives, documents, photographs and a wealth of personal memories."
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