Making Sense of Discontinued Breitling Models
Breitling has done a good job at developing a distinctive design language for their watches, and in recent years they’ve been getting better at pruning and differentiating their lineups. But if you look at Breitling’s past, there are a ton of discontinued model names, and many of them look extremely similar. So if you don’t know the difference between a Breitling Headwind and a Crosswind, or a Chronospace and a Chronoracer, we’ll break it all down for you. Here’s our guide to discontinued Breitling models.
As CEO, Georges Kern cleaned up Breitling’s catalog in several key ways. And, well, there was a lot of cleaning up to do. Even longtime collectors can be blindsided by the sheer number of obscure discontinued Breitling models like Skyracer, Antares, Astromat, etc. Let’s start with the older ones.
Pre-Schneider Discontinued Breitling Models
Breitling was purchased by Ernest Schneider in 1979 in the midst of the quartz crisis, and much of what we think of as Breitling design language originated during the Schneider era (which ended in 2017 when private equity firms took ownership). But several key models have origins from Breitling’s family-owned era.
While Breitling has revived most of their most legendary trademarks in one form or another, there are some discontinued ones worth mentioning.
Discontinued Old Breitling Model Names
| Model / Family | Era (approx.) | Type | Movement / Tech (typical) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unitime | 1950s–1960s | World‑time watch | Felsa / A. Schild‑based automatic calibers | Mid‑century world‑timers with 24‑hour dials and city rings, relatively dressy, re-appeared in modern times as a sub-model (e.g. Aviator 8 Unitime, Galactic Unitime) |
| Co‑Pilot | 1953–1970s | Pilot chronograph | Venus 178 (Manual-wind) | Pilot’s chronographs that inspired the present-day Classic AVI lineup. Later “Co-Pilot” became a term for an additional mini-watch built onto a Breitling bracelet link. |
| Cadette | Late 1940s–1960s | Dress chronograph | Venus 178 (Manual-wind) | Smaller, dress‑leaning chronographs and time‑only pieces often around 34–38 mm, frequently in gold‑plated or steel cases; positioned below the headline aviation/tool lines |
| Sprint | Late 1960s–1970s | Sports chronograph | Valjoux 7733 (Manual-wind) | Entry-level two‑register sports chronographs aimed at athletes and younger buyers, often with bright dials, resin or steel cases, and rotating bezels. It was merged into the Top Time family, and visual hallmarks of the Sprint lineup like bowtie dials and surfboard dials were revisited in the modern-day Top Time catalog. |
| Chrono‑Matic | 1969–mid‑1970s | Automatic chronograph | Calibre 11/12 (Micro-rotor automatic) | One of the first automatic chronographs ever, using the Calibre 11 and later Calibre 12 developed with Heuer‑Léonidas, Hamilton‑Büren, and Dubois‑Depraz, characterized by left‑hand crowns. Technically part of the Superocean family, although just “Chrono-Matic” is on the dial. |
| Pupitre | Early 1970s | Bullhead chronograph | Valjoux 7740 (Manual-wind) | Crown at 12 o’clock |
Discontinued Breitling Windrider Models (~1993-2010)
Today Breitling makes ten “collections,” with Navitimer and Professional being two of them. But from the early 1990s until about 2010, they grouped everything into four collections, and Navitimer and Professional were still two of them. But the rest of the models were either grouped into the Windrider (air-oriented) or Aeromarine (dive-oriented) collections. There were a lot of Windrider models, and they could be rightly understood as Chronomat variants, more or less.
Every single model from the Windrider collection is now discontinued except for the Chronomat, so we’ve made a concise chart of all of them. Note that although Breitling abandoned the Windrider label sometime around 2010, some of these models survived longer in various forms. The Breitling Chronomat, the centerpiece of the Windrider family of the 1990s, was a 39mm automatic chronograph with a 6-9-12 subdial layout.
Discontinued Breitling Windrider Model Chart
| Model name | It’s like a Chronomat except… |
|---|---|
| Blackbird | …with a brushed case and matte dial. Later it was used as a sub-type of Avenger with DLC-coated titanium case. |
| Galactic | …with slightly different bezel and dial styles, and sometimes different complications (e.g. big date, and later worldtimer). |
| Callisto | …smaller at 34–36 mm, manual‑wind as a chrono or quartz for time/date. |
| Callistino / Starliner / B‑Class | …the three-hand ladies’ versions in 28mm, 30mm and 31mm respectively. |
| Shadow Flyback | …with flyback, 3‑6‑9 subdials, and a 4:30 date. |
| Antares / Wings | …the non‑chronograph time‑and‑date version. Antares came first, and it was replaced by Wings. |
| Astromat | …with a tachymeter/compass bezel and no rider tabs. |
| Cockpit | …usually three-hand with big date, or chronograph with no date; last version was an ana‑digi SuperQuartz. |
| Duograph | …with GMT, tachymeter bezel, day/night indicator, dual date, and a 38mm case. Before and after the Windrider era, Duograph refers to any model that is a rattrapante chronograph. |
| Headwind | …with day and date instead of a chronograph. |
| Crosswind | …slightly thinner, with correspondingly lower water resistance. |
| J‑Class | …with a colored bezel insert. Lady J is the ladies’ version. |
| Chronoracer | …a quartz rattrapante chronograph with 3‑6‑9 subdials and a 4:30 date. |
| Réserve de Marche | …with a power‑reserve display and logo/date shifted low on the dial. |
| Jetstream / Sextant | …quartz, about 36 mm, with a 4:30 date. Sextant replaced the Jetstream. |
| Sirius | …SuperQuartz at about 40 mm with high‑set twin upper subdials. |
Recently Discontinued Breitling Models
Although we’ve already covered a lot of discontinued Breitling models, surprisingly, there have been about 15 more in the past decade or so.
Colt
The Colt acted as the entry-level Breitling family from the 1980s until about 2020. Many, but not all, were given quartz movements. Breitling didn’t do a very good job differentiating it from their other lineups, and I’m not really sure it served much of a purpose. The watches are fine, but it seems like they could’ve just called them Chronomats.
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Skyracer
The Skyracer is like a two-register Chronomat, basically. The first generation was called the “Colt Skyracer” but the second generation dropped the “Colt” part.
B-2
The B-2 is like a Navitimer with a crown guard and a different bezel. Usually the bezel has smaller ridges than the Navitimer, and some B-2’s even have dive bezels.
Confusingly, there was also a military-only Breitling with “B-2 Stealth” on the dial but it’s actually a B-1 watch.
Aviator 8
The Aviator 8, originally called the Navitimer 8 when it debuted in 2018, is like a Navitimer without the slide rule bezel. It was discontinued after only a few years, effectively superseded by the Breitling Classic AVI collection.
Transocean
The Transocean was the predecessor to today’s Premier line, including day+date models, chronographs, GMT’s, worldtimers and more.
Spatiographe
Technically the Spatiographe might not belong in this list, as Breitling considered it a sub-type of Navitimer, but the dials do just say “Spatiographe.” And it’s too cool not to mention. Instead of a typical chronograph minutes subdial, Spatiographes have a unique numerical jump-minutes display that counts to 10. The 3-hour subdial at the bottom of the dial has clear 10-minute markings for easy reading.
In my opinion, reading the minutes counter is one of the biggest struggles when it comes to analog chronographs, so I think it’s a brilliant complication, and the Spatiographe is likely the most underrated discontinued Breitling of all.
Breitling for Bentley
There were lots of braided-cable-style bezels and enormous cases in the “Breitling for Bentley” lineup. It ran from the early 2000s until about 2021. I like the bezels, although the many prominent “Bentley” engravings on the sides were a dealbreaker for me.
There were also some later loosely Bentley-inspired models like the Premier B01 Chronograph 42 Bentley Mulliner, but the Bentley models used to be their own top-level family. They even used to make rectangular jump-hour Bentley Breitlings.
Neptune
The rare Breitling Neptune is a black PVD-coated quartz dive watch from the 1980s, ref. 80210. The “New Neptune” ref. 80210‑2N replaced it in the early 1990s, but very few were made. These sometimes get grouped in with Colt models, but I don’t think they were ever officially part of the Colt hierarchy.
Pluton
The Pluton was originally an alternate name for the Navitimer 2100, a 41mm quartz 1980s analog-digital chronograph with a single LCD screen. Its replacement, the Navitimer 3100 (worn by Patrick Swayze in Point Break), was sometimes branded New Pluton. The similar 3300 model is known as the “Jupiter” although it always says Navitimer on the dial.
Breitling’s Discontinued Alarm Watch: Intruder
The Breitling Intruder Reveil ref. A51035 is like a Pluton with an alarm function, made only for a brief time (roughly 1998-1999).
Chronospace/B-1/Airwolf
The Chronospace, then B-1, and then Airwolf were basically ana-digi Navitimers with two LCD screens from the 1990s and 2000s, succeeding the one-screen Pluton and Jupiter.
Breitling’s Discontinued Bluetooth Watch: Exospace
The discontinued Breitling Exospace is basically just a Bluetooth-enabled Aerospace, made from about 2015-2023.
The Aerospace and Endurance Pro are the only ana-digi models that Breitling hasn’t discontinued. The Chronospace, B-1, Airwolf, and Pluton were always pretty obscure.
Emergency
The legendary Breitling Emergency features a built-in emergency beacon for explorers (most often pilots). If you unscrew its giant Frankenstein-neck-bolt crown at 4 o’clock, you can pull out an antenna that will immediately start broadcasting a distress signal. More than 20 Breitling Emergency wearers have actually been located and rescued since it debuted in the 1990s.
The later version, the apparently recently-discontinued Emergency II, contains a massive rechargeable proprietary battery strong enough to broadcast on the more modern (and accurate) digital 406 MHz emergency spectrum.
There are some other discontinued trademarks that you may have noticed I didn’t mention, and in some cases, that’s because they’re not proper model names per se. “Steelfish” is just a name for some Superoceans with steel bezels, and “Datora” is a descriptor for any triple‑calendar chronograph model, for instance. “Raven” basically means a black bezel insert option, “Montbrillant” was a subset of the Navitimer family, and “Skyland” was a subset of the Avenger line. “Aeromarine” and “Windrider” are abandoned catalog groupings as I mentioned earlier.
While it would be cool if Breitling made a slimmed-down new Emergency model, their lineup is more coherent than it used to be, and the other dozens of discontinued Breitling model names are probably best left that way. Except for the Spatiographe. They should bring that back.
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