Yachting

Chrono-matic Yachting

7661

circa 1968

13XXXXX (v faint)

48mm. diameter steel, screw-back, 22mm. lugs, case back signed BREITLING AUTOMATIC DDE. BR. 11525/67

Serrated tachy bezel

Black with two white subsidiaries the right for yacht-start countdown with red and blue markings, luminous baton hour markers

Red matchstick hands with luminous inserts, calendar aperture at chapter 6

Calibre 12 automatic movement, signed BREITLING CAL 12 AUTOMATIC

Shown wearing a leather by Bulang & Sons, but retains the original steel Breitling bracelet

At the age of only 24 Léon Breitling founded his first workshop at Saint-Imier in the Swiss Jura in 1884, and chose to devote himself to the field of chronographs and timers. These precision instruments were intended for sports, science and industry. Breitling had started with their 765 AVI Co-Pilot series already in 1953, and the brand added a first Yachting version (reference 765-Yachting-CP) in 1966, followed by a second one with a newly designed handset the next year. More versions followed in the years after: the slightly bigger reference 7650 Yachting (1969), later changed to reference 7660 (1970). All these models used a Venus cal. 178 movement. In 1969 Breitling had also started with their ‘big case' Chrono-Matic series with reference 7661, with an even by today's standard huge diameter of 48 mm. Driven by a cal. Breitling 11 & 12 movement (that was developed together with Heuer, Hamilton-Büren and Dubois-Dépraz), one of the first automatic chronograph movements with a date window at 6 o'clock and the crown at 9 o'clock. And later there was also a reference 7652-Yachting version available, which again had the cal. Venus 178 movement. All these Yachting versions have both a 15 minutes sub dial, divided into 3 different coloured segments representing 5 minutes each, as well as a rotating bezel with a coloured 15-minute regatta scale.