When Léon Breitling founded his brand in 1884 he planned to build watches and chronographs for professional use and who came after him perfected them by turning them into real instruments for pilots.
Thanks also to the media push exerted in the 1960s by Jacques Costeau’s adventurous underwater exploits, diving went through its golden age. The Swiss Maison, one of the first to offer professional diving replica watches, presented the Breitling SuperOcean.
Today we will take a 360 ° look at the Superocean including the new collection launched these days.
History
The SuperOcean was created in 1957 when divers, starting in order with the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms and the Rolex Submariner, were the most popular watches.
For the first Superocean,Replica Breitling‘s designers thought of eliminating all features
superfluous that did not meet the needs of those who dived.
A contrasting dial rise was introduced to instantly identify the fundamental
minute scale. The thin indexes were replaced with thicker light sticks for one
more readability easier.
Breitling’s most courageous intervention at the time was to eliminate the second hand, which was decidedly of little use for divers.
This was replaced by a revolutionary minute-based chronograph, renamed “Slow Motion” as it required an entire hour to complete a complete rotation of the dial. Here she is immediately following in the SuperOceans of the time.
Not only was it one of the first, but the Superocean instantly became one of the favorite divers of that era.
SuperOcean 2005 Execution 1
Seven years later in 1964 (but the numbers of the first cases identify it as early as 1961), the reference 2005 appears, a truly special underwater chronograph. This came with a very unique “slow motion function”. In practice, the central hand that can be started with the usual button at 2 o’clock instead of making a full turn of the dial in 60 seconds takes 60 minutes.
Moved by a Venus 188 movement, this SuperOcean features a mysterious circle just above 6 o’clock: it serves to signal when the chronograph is running. When the mechanism is off, a black dot appears while when the one-hour counter is active it displays a bright spot that is clearly visible during the dive. As a third option when it shows a smaller point it means that the chrono is active but stopped. Brilliant. It is a feature taken up by many brands including Jaeger-LeCoultre. Water resistance was certified up to 600 feet, 182.88 meters to be precise.
SuperOcean 2005 Execution 2
The second version of the 2005 model was officially launched in 1971, although in this case too the first examples indicate the year 1965.
The small seconds at 9 o’clock appear on the dial. To increase visibility, the intermediate buckshot indices are replaced by pseudo-square baton ones, all of which are oversized. The hour and minute spheres are also of the same shape and very large. They are all elements coated with tritium. The rotating bezel remains unchanged.
A couple of references were also created – like the one in the photo – with the rings designed to detect the starting times of the regattas. The Venus 188 is replaced by a Valjoux 7731 also with Breitling modified cam chronograph sorting.
SuperOcean Heritage
In 2007 Breitling commemorated the 40th anniversary of the line with the SuperOcean Heritage collection. It is a tribute to the first model and is characterized by a beautiful steel bracelet with Milanese mesh.
For the occasion, Breitling has even brought the original 1950s logo back to life. To keep up with modern tastes, the SuperOcean Heritage is available in two 38 mm and 46 mm diameter cases with different colored dials and in three straps / bracelets: rubber, leather and steel mesh.
SuperOcean Heritage II
In 2017 for the 50th anniversary, the SuperOcean underwent a complete restyling but without straying too far from the original design.
The metal ring surrounding the minutes has been removed so that the bezel of the new SuperOcean remains attached to the dial. With the current fashion of vintage watches in recent years, it is no surprise that the Breitling SuperOcean Heritage II has been a great success.
The original SuperOcean logo and the unusual shape of the hands, together with the wedge-shaped indexes, recall the original 1957 model and the modern SuperLuminova coatings ensure good readability in the dark as well as at high depths.
The SuperOcean Heritage II also features the addition of a ceramic bezel. However, the most important difference is represented by the replacement of the Breitling caliber 17 (an ETA 2824-2 modified by the brand that will always remain among the most used) with the B20 caliber created by Tudor reference MT5612, a cutting-edge automatic mechanical movement.
This partnership has generated a quid pro quo agreement: Breitling supplies Tudor with the Ebauche of the caliber B01 to power the Heritage Black Bay Chrono chronograph and in exchange receives the basic three-hand movement found in the Black Bay time-only range.