The Breitling Chronomat

Some information about the Breitling Chronomat sports chronograph

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Introduction

The Breitling Chronomat is a sports chronograph, powered by an automatic movement. Originally designed in the 1980s in collaboration with the Frecce Tricolori, it sports several distinctive design elements—especially the four rider tabs around the bezel—which make the Chronomat a signature of the Breitling brand.

The following pages aim to form a comprehensive review of the model, with its characteristics and a personal owner's experience.


A nice pair of Breitling Chronomats

The Chronomat was produced from 1984 to 2004, so longer than many other Breitling models. It used to belong in Breitling's “Chronoliner” lineup, which was renamed to “Windrider”. The Chronomat was replaced by the bigger Chronomat Evolution in 2004 (which was renamed to simply “Chronomat” in late 2007), and also, to some extent, by the Chrono Cockpit (RN x13357), which shares approximately the same dimensions. Thanks to its resistance to 10 atm and 20 g, it is a sports watch and a perfect multi-purpose timepiece.

Please note that Chronomat is also the name of an older hand-wound model. This review only deals with the modern, automatic model. After Ernest Schneider bought the Breitling brand, he did not wish to register another name for his new watch, so he used the name of an older, discontinued model.

Chronomat model history

The different models of Chronomat
NameDatesSpecifics
Chronomat1941–1978Manual winding (except RN 1808 which is automatic), slide rule, chronograph. (Not covered in this article.)
Chronomat1984–2004Automatic, chonograph.
Chronomat Evolution2004–2007Larger than previous model; same movement. See below. (Not covered in this article.)
Chronomat2007–2012Same watch as previous row, shortened name.

Note: Breitling is known to renew its model catalog frequently—at a pace the author of this web page does not intend to catch up with. Please accept my apologies in the unavoidable event that these pages about the Chronomat become permanently outdated!

Differences with the Chronomat Evolution

Here are the main updates which led the design of the Evolution:

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