Breitling’s New Navitimer Is the Perfect Blend of Modern and Retro Watchmaking

I’m feelin’ supersonic.

Close-up of a Breitling watch with a blue dial, silver subdial, and dark blue leather strap against a blue background.

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By Brad Lanphear

Published March 19, 2026

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Commercial airline travel just isn’t what it used to be, to put it gently.

October 24, 2003, marks the end of the last golden age of public aeronautical travel. On that day, the Concorde was retired, and supersonic transatlantic commercial travel died with it.

Breitling Navitimer wristwatch with blue dial, three silver subdials, stainless steel case, and blue leather strap. — The Tribute to Concorde has a navy blue and silver dial with no Concorde branding.

Breitling’s newest addition to the Navitimer collection reminisces about the glamorous and expedient age of the Concorde. It is a Navitimer B01 Chronograph with a navy blue and silver panda dial, matching the colors of the defunct jet plane.

The Concorde was a joint venture between British Airways and Air France, featuring 20 planes, each capable of whisking 100 passengers across the Atlantic Ocean in 3.5 hours. Naturally, it was also the most expensive way to cross “The Pond,” and became a symbol of luxury.

Breitling Navitimer watch with blue dial, three silver subdials, stainless steel case, and blue leather strap with white stitching. — The Tribute to Concorde has a 43mm stainless steel case.

Dubbed the Tribute to Concorde, Breitling’s iconic pilot’s watch serves as the perfect template for capturing the spirit of the airliner that proved too opulent and ambitious for its industry.

The design is tactfully simple, presenting a blue panda motif with silver subdials and a matching inner slide-rule bezel ring. It comes on a matching blue cushioned alligator strap with a steel deployant clasp.

A Franco-British venture

There is a coveted niche for double-signed dials, but instances like this, when one brand is doing all the work, it is best to leave the other party off the dial. Thankfully, Breitling only mentions the Concorde by name on the caseback ring.

Back of a Breitling Jetliner Mach 2 watch showing intricate mechanical movement through a transparent case back. — The inscription “Tribute to Concorde” on the caseback ring is the only mention of the defunct airliner.

Since the Concorde was actually a type of plane operated by both British Airways and Air France, it didn’t have any commercial logos. The only real iconography was the distinctive outline of the plane itself, affectionately known as  L’Oiseau Blanc, or “The White Bird.”

Since both airlines that flew the Concorde, with the exception of a couple of instances where it was leased out to other companies, used red and navy blue as their primary colors, the bright white exterior always featured that combination.

Breitling Navitimer watch with blue dial, three silver subdials, stainless steel case, and blue leather strap. — The navy blue and red dial detailing matches the color scheme of the Concorde.

The bright silver of the sunken, snailed subdials and inner slide rule track, along with the rhodium-plated hands and applied hour markers, represent the brilliant white exterior of the Concorde. The blue dial and outer slide rule bezel track with red detailing, along with a red chronograph seconds hand, match the plane’s various decals.

The navy blue alligator leather strap matches the navy blue leather seats in the Concorde planes operated by British Airways.

Other than the color scheme and etching on the caseback, this is a standard-issue Navitimer B01 Chronograph. It has a 43mm stainless steel case, a slide-rule bezel and the chronograph features a 30-minute totalizer at 3:00 along with a 12-hour totalizer at 6:00.

Breitling Navitimer chronograph watch with black dial, three silver subdials, luminous hands, and black leather strap. — Like most Navitimer B01 Chronographs, the Tribute to Concorde has Super-LumiNova on the hour hand, minute hand and hour markers.

The Tribute to Concorde is powered by a COSC-certified Breitling Caliber B01 automatic chronograph movement, featuring a vertical clutch and a column wheel. It ticks at 4Hz and offers a 70-hour power reserve.

The modestly decorated movement is visible through a sapphire crystal exhibition caseback. Due to the traditional pushers, the watch is only water resistant to 30m.

Availability and pricing

Tribute is a fitting title for this Breitling Navitimer because it is merely inspired by the colors of the glorious, but ultimately doomed airliner.

The Concorde was expensive to travel on and even more costly to operate. It only experienced a single crash, an Air France flight in July 2000, which took the lives of everyone onboard. But this was enough to ground the entire fleet for over a year.

The post-9/11 lull in air travel that followed was the final nail in the coffin for the supersonic passenger plane.

Breitling’s Navitimer B01 Chronograph Ode to Concorde keeps the memory alive for $10,600. It is a limited edition of 593 pieces, a nod to the Olympus 593 turbojet engines that powered the plane.

Breitling Navitimer chronograph watch with blue dial, silver subdials, stainless steel case, and blue leather strap.

Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph Tribute to Concorde

Specs

Case Size	43mm
Movement	Breitling Caliber B01 automatic
Water Resistance	30m

$10,600 at Breitling

About the Author: Brad Lanphear is an associate editor at Gear Patrol covering watches and style. Before joining the publication, he previously wrote for Heddels and Men’s Health. Now, he’s on a never-ending quest to find the perfect pair of Japanese denim.

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