Breitling is by far one of our favourite watchmakers and the Breitling Sprint Steel Vintage Chronograph is one of our favourite Breitlings!

This vintage Breitling is a reference 2212 and is engraved with the serial number 1349255 to the caseback. This makes its year of production, 1970.

The striking “surfboard” dial really gets this watch noticed. The black dial has faceted mirror finish baton hour markers with luminous tips bordered by an outer minute track and UPH tachymeter scale. There is also a “Base Pulsations” scale between 12 and 3 o’clock for all the Doctors in the house! This is complimented by the elliptical subsidiary dials for running seconds and 45 minute recording. So much information, but so clearly presented.

The black and orange hour and minute hands with luminous Tritium inserts, accompanied by the orange chronograph seconds hand complete the face perfectly. The tritium has decayed with parts missing from the hands, which would suggest they are original. We believe something can be restored many times over, but it can only be original once. We prefer the life of a watch to shine through and so we have left them as they are.

“The bi-directional 12 hour (black over silver) bezel is there to remind the wearer of a particular time – arrival or departure, for instance. The revolving bezel also makes it possible to totalise hours or minutes and to read the time simultaneously in two time zones”. So says the 1969 Breitling Catalogue, which also shows the retail price of this watch was $120.00.

The machine contained within, is the venerable 17-jewel Valjoux Cal.7733 manual wind chronograph movement. Essentially this is a development of the Venus 188 movement, but with a mobile stud carrier. This movement was produced between 1969 and 1978, with approx. two million manufactured. It has good power reserve and keeps time very well.

The brushed and un-polished 38mm tonneau shaped case, with screw on caseback, is just fabulous. It has the beautiful patina that can only be achieved through years of use. Like the bezel, the case is more worn at 1 and 7 o’clock, the natural positions that you take hold of the bezel with your forefinger and thumb. Sherlock Holmes will deduce that the watch was worn on the left wrist, and used by a right handed person. Overall the case is in superb, worn, condition with no signs of any major accident damage. It just looks right!

Our particular Breitling Sprint has an unsigned winding crown flanked by twin round chronograph pushers. The screw down caseback shows the reference number 2212. It is fitted with a good quality Hirsch black leather strap with orange stitching and Hirsch steel buckle.

The case, dial and movement are signed, Breitling.

A Brief History of Breitling.

A brand long associated with aviation, Breitling was founded in Jura Switzerland in 1884 by Leon Breitling. The son of a farmer who made clock parts in his spare time, Leon start watchmaking at the age of 6, achieving the level of Certified Watchmaker at the age of 19. Leon’s first factory produced precision instruments for industry as well as chronographs (stopwatches) and gained a reputation in the coming years for the quality of his work.

The aviation connection started around this time, with the German aviator Otto Lilienthal. He used a Breitling wind counter to aid in his 165ft glider flight, a full 11 years before the Wright brothers. In 19o9 Lois Bleriot used a Breitling chronograph on the first flight across the English Channel. In 1915, Breitling invented the first independent chronograph push-piece. In 1923, Breitling further enhanced their abilities by perfecting and splitting the system of the stop/start functions, from that of the resetting mechanism. This was extremely valuable for the timing of sporting events and calculation of flight times.

Breitling introduced a range of specialty onboard aviation chronographs for use in aircraft cockpits in the 1930’s, which were immediately indispensable for pilots and were employed by the British Royal Air Force in World War II in fighter planes. Breitling designed the second independent reset push-piece in 1934, another decisive breakthrough in watchmaking history.

Breitling solidified its aviation reputation in 1952, with the introduction of the legendary Navitimer chronograph. A mechanical timepiece which featured a slide-rule bezel to perform navigational functions. The Breitling Navitimer immediately became a favorite of pilots and is one of oldest mechanical chronographs still being produced today. It also remains the first timepiece choice for professional pilots around the globe.

Breitling today holds the distinction of being an independent, family-owned watchmaker for over 132 years, a feat unparalleled in the watchmaking industry. Each and every timepiece produced by Breitling is manufactured at their plant in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Breitling is also one of the only watch brands to submit all of its timepieces, both automatic and quartz to the Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute for official Chronometer certification.

Ref: Breitling.com, David Dupuy, Bonhams