Finally, a Navitimer my size
By Hannah Lindqvist, Stockholm ยท
...and then Breitling went and made it in 35 mm. For decades the Navitimer was a big busy dial for big busy men, and I was told to admire it from a respectful distance. This one I could actually wear.
10.4 mm thick, 17 mm lugs narrowing into a leather strap, and a case small enough that the bezel and dial sit on my wrist instead of in the air around it. The white dial keeps it airy. There's a lot going on with the bezel and the slide rule scale, but at this size it reads as texture rather than chaos.
Now the problems. 30 m of water resistance. That's a splash rating. I swim in the archipelago from June until my toes go numb, and this would stay on the jetty in a sock. The B17 is a solid movement with 38 hours, but at around five thousand dollars I want more than that when Longines will sell you a Conquest with 72 hours for less than half.
Who should buy it: anyone with a small wrist who has always wanted a Navitimer and wants it to look like it was made for them, not shrunk for them. Keep it away from lakes.