Breitling SA
| Breitling SA
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1884 |
| Seat | Grenchen , Switzerland |
| management | Georges Kern ( CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors ) |
| Branch | Watch manufacture |
| Website | www.breitling.com |
The Breitling SA is a company headquartered in Grenchen ( Switzerland ), the wrist produces the upscale to luxury price segment.
History of the Breitling company
The company was founded in 1884 by Léon Breitling (1860–1914) in Saint-Imier in the Bernese Jura . In 1892 it was moved to La Chaux-de-Fonds . In 1914, Gaston Breitling succeeded his father as head of the company. In 1915 the Revue Internationale d'Horlogerie reported on a " Chronograph -Bracelet" made by Breitling with a central chronograph hand and a counter for 30 minutes; the development of the chronograph later became a focus of Breitling. The first independent chronograph pusher was introduced in 1923, followed by the second independent chronograph pusher in 1934, which enabled resetting to zero.
From 1936 Breitling supplied the Royal Air Force with on-board clocks for their aircraft. They had an eight-day power reserve; the wristwatches developed for pilots were characterized by black dials with striking luminous numbers. In 1942 Breitling launched the Chronomat , a chronograph with slide rule and manual winding that the American armed forces officially introduced into the US Army Air Force .
Another development by Breitling's designers was the Navitimer in 1952. As a further development of the Chronomat, this pilot's chronograph has an even more complex bezel , which allows more complicated calculations such as fuel consumption, climb or descent rates, average speeds, etc. Ä. Enables. The company's first diving watch was launched in 1958 under the name Superocean .
Shortly before his death in 1979, Willy Breitling sold the name and trademark rights to the pilot and entrepreneur Ernest Schneider . Schneider was not a newcomer to the watch market and had been producing watches under the Sicura brand name as early as the 1960s . After moving production to Grenchen , Breitling Montres SA opened its production there in 1982 . In 1984 Breitling launched the new Chronomat - the Italian aerobatic team Frecce Tricolori had a decisive influence on its development in 1984 - which is today Breitling's main product. Partly based on the Aerospace created in 1985 , Breitling launched the pilot's watch Emergency in 1995 . In addition to a multifunctional chronograph, this watch integrates an emergency call transmitter which , if required, sends an emergency call signal that can be located from afar on the frequency of 121.5 MHz for international air traffic. Depending on the national legal situation, this watch could only be sold to customers with a valid pilot license. From then on, Breitling managed the balancing act between producing high-quality mechanical watches and implementing functions that resulted from quartz technology. Since 1999, all Breitling mechanical movements have been subjected to the COSC chronometer test .
In 2001 Breitling decided to also subject all electronic movements to the COSC test. This means that only chronometers from the plants in La Chaux-de-Fonds and Grenchen are basically sold. In 2002 the manufacture of mechanical watches was outsourced to La Chaux-de-Fonds, the place where the company was already located in 1892. Also in 2002, Breitling was the first manufacturer to produce a mechanical diving watch that was waterproof up to 3000 meters .
For the 125th anniversary in 2009, Breitling presented a self-constructed ("in-house") chronograph movement under the name "B01" at Baselworld . This plant was also COSC certified.
At the end of April 2017, the British financial investor CVC Capital Partners took over 80 percent of the shares in Breitling; The owner family around Theodore Schneider kept 20 percent. In July 2017, the former watch boss at Richemont , Georges Kern, became the new boss of Breitling. In November 2018, the remaining 20 percent of the shares were also sold to CVC. Georges Kern is also involved in the company.
Sponsorship
Aeronautics
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Breitling has a number of historical ties to aviation, for example through equipping the British Air Force with on-board clocks or through the recommendation of the Navitimer as a pilot's watch by the AOPA in 1952. Another example was the astronaut Scott Carpenter , who was on board the Aurora 7 capsule in the May 1962 flew around the earth wearing a Breitling Cosmonaute. The specialty of this clock is a 24-hour display on the central dial. Since Carpenter flew once around the earth every 45 minutes, he could determine whether it was day or night for him at the moment.
Breitling entertained, as u. a. also Fortis and Tutima , close contacts with military squadrons and well-known aerobatic squadrons. After many decades of dependence of the pilots on precise mechanical watches, this liaison served mainly to cultivate the image. High-quality mechanical aviator chronographs nowadays have a more decorative character and serve the pilots to illustrate their traditions as well as the professional self-image. In fact, only around 5% of all Breitling watches were bought by pilots around 2001.
Breitling also sponsored the first successful circumnavigation of the earth in a balloon , the Breitling Orbiter 3 , by Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard . They successfully circumnavigated the earth from March 1, 1999 (take-off in Switzerland) to March 21, 1999 (landing in Egypt) without stopping in less than 20 days. In addition, Breitling sponsored the world's last Super Constellation still approved for passenger flights even before enrollment in Switzerland from 2007 to 2017, which is why this aircraft flew almost continuously with the Breitling Super Constellation label .
Triathlon
With the "Breitling Triathlon Squad", Breitling founded an athlete team at the beginning of 2018 consisting of three people who are among the best in the world in their field - with Daniela Ryf from Switzerland , Jan Frodeno from Germany and Chris McCormack from Australia . Breitling's advertising campaign also included a "Cinema Squad" with Brad Pitt , Charlize Theron and Adam Driver . Serge Gainsbourg was a brand ambassador in the 1970s and 1980s .
literature
- Gisbert L. Brunner : Breitling - History of a Watch Brand. In: Old clocks. Volume 3, 1987, p. 7 f.
- Benno Richter: Breitling. The history of a great watch brand, 1884 to the present day. 2nd Edition. Callwey, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-7667-1135-0 .
- Peter Braun: Classic wristwatches. Heel, Königswinter 2000, ISBN 3-89365-854-8 . Pages 32-39
- Mark A. Cooper: A Movement in Time With Breitling & Rolex: An Unauthorized History . Infinity Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7414-4168-3
Web links
Individual evidence
- Jump from Richemont to Breitling. In: UJS (Uhren Juwelen Schmuck), No. 8/17, p. 9.
- ↑ Kahlert / Mühe / Brunner, wrist watches, 5th edition, Munich 1996, p. 80.
- ↑ C. Elflein / M. Krischer: Nobody needs a clock just to read the time . In: FOCUS . No. 49/18 , December 1, 2018, p. 130 .
- ^ Roger Ruegger: History of the diving watch . Dive (into) watches. December 1, 2003. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
- ↑ Breitling to British financial investor orf.at, April 29, 2017, accessed April 29, 2017.
- ↑ George Kern moves from Richemont to Breitling. In: Handelszeitung from July 14, 2017.
- ↑ Marcel Speiser: Breitling is now wholly owned by CVC and Georges Kern. In: handelszeitung.ch. November 7, 2018, accessed November 7, 2018 .
- ^ Peter Braun (ed.): Wristwatches Catalog 2002 . Königswinter 2001, p. 66.
- ↑ The Breitling Triathlon Squad (May 15, 2018)
- ↑ Brad Pitt Celebrates Launch of Breitling's New Pilot's Watches , Hollywood Reporter , September 25, 2019
Coordinates: 47 ° 11 '16.8 " N , 7 ° 23' 48.1" E ; CH1903: 596822 / 226340