Details

Brand

Breitling

Model

Chronomat

Reference

808

Movement

Manually Wound - Venus cal. 175

Case

37 mm

Metal

Stainless Steel

Circa

1960's

Dial

Patinated White/Silver (Pale Yellow)

Bezel

Steel (Inner Rotating Slide Rule)

Condition

Very Good

Box/Papers

Watch Only

About this watch

Band: Light Brown Calf Leather (Unworn Hirsch) Clasp: Steel Pin Buckle (Hirsch) Glass: Plexi glass Water Resistant: None Breitling is well known for its Navitimer watch that features a slide rule, a little wrist-powered manual calculator that can be used to determine currency exchanges, unit conversions, multiplication tables, and more. However, the Navitimer was not the first watch to include this complication. Predating it by around a decade was the Chronomat, a portmanteau of chronograph and mathematics. It was designed for civilians: engineers, financial professionals, and scientists, rather than pilots. This example, a ref. 808 from the 1960s, is a slim and handsome ‘conversation starter’ of a watch. It measures 37 mm across, has a lug-to-lug of 44 mm, a lug width of 18 mm, and a depth of just 12 mm. The watch is wearable on a variety of wrist sizes; however, like many other pressed-caseback chronographs, it offers no water resistance. The bi-compax dial has patinated to a pale yellow, featuring applied, boat-shaped, polished hour markers and an applied 'B' logo (sans wings). Chronograph (stopwatch) functions are highlighted with red hands, with the steel dauphine hands marking the time. Protecting the dial is a plexiglass crystal that can be buffed to remove surface imperfections. Surrounding the crystal is a knurled, bi-directional rotating bezel that controls the rotation of the inner bezel to make calculations. The crown is a standard push-pull style flanked by piston-style chronograph pushers. The watch is presented on a new, easy-change, light brown calf-leather strap from Hirsch that secures to the wrist with a steel pin buckle. Set behind the steel caseback is the Venus Calibre 175.…