The third Breitling Summit took place on September 24 in Los Angeles, and the headlining announcement was the relaunch, and revamp, of the sporty, aviation-inspired Avenger collection, a series of models that had been mostly dormant for the past few years of the new Breitling era. Here is a brief rundown of what the new Avenger has to offer.
The Breitling Avenger — like the more iconic Navitimer tracing its design DNA to that of the venerable Breitling Chronomat, the Swiss brand’s trailblazing chronograph for pilots — has been given a facelift that incorporates design elements of another aerial-sporty model, the now (presumably) discontinued Colt. The collection has also, as per CEO Georges Kern’s ethos of “too many choices means no choices,” been slimmed down and streamlined. A total of 14 new references are now offered, in three sizes and a relative handful of colorways, case materials, and strap options. The case sizes range from 43 mm to 45 mm to 48 mm, and the functions encompass a simple three-hand time display with date, a chronograph, and a GMT. Two subtly distinct dial executions are available, one with simple indices, the other with military-style stencil-type Arabic numerals.
The biggest, boldest members of the new family are the 48-mm Super Avenger models, both containing self-winding COSC-certified chronograph calibers. The Breitling Super Avenger Chronograph 48 has a stainless steel case; a three-register dial with subdials at 12, 6, and 9 o’clock, a date window at 3 o’clock, and luminous-coated hands and numerals. The Night Mission version offers the same dial layout in a tough-but-lightweight DLC-coated titanium case. Both are equipped with the ETA 7750-based Caliber 13, with a 48-hour power reserve. The Chronograph 48 is mounted on an anthracite-colored leather strap or a steel bracelet, while the Night Mission comes on a blue leather military strap to match its blue dial.
One size down are the Avenger 45 models, which include two chronographs well as two new timepieces in the Avenger Sea Wolf sub-family targeted at divers. The Avenger Chronograph 45 has a steel case, fronted by the unidirectional rotating bezel with Breitling’s emblematic rider tabs at the cardinal points, It’s offered with a black or blue dial with the same dial architecture (and the same movement, Caliber 13) as its “Super” big brothers. The “Night Mission” version of that model, in the black DLC-coated titanium case, hosts either a blue or military green dial, the latter reference coming on a khaki-green military strap. Also weighing in at 45 mm in diameter are the Automatic 45 Sea Wolf editions, equipped with Breitling Caliber 17 (ETA 2824-2 base) and sporting a 3,000-meter water resistant case and a three-hand dial display with 3 o’clock date window. Dial options are bright yellow in the steel-cased version and a black dial in the DLC-coated titanium “Night Mission” model. Finally, the Avenger 45 lineup offers two models equipped with a GMT function, and powered by the self-winding Breitling Caliber 32 (based on an ETA 2893-2) with a 42-hour power reserve. The stainless steel model, on bracelet or leather strap, has a blue dial; the “Night Mission” model features a black dial and sand-colored leather military strap.
At a more versatile but still substantial 43 mm are the Avenger Chronograph 43 and Automatic 43, the former outfitted with Caliber 13, the latter with Caliber 17. Both watches come with either a blue or black dial, on either a blue or anthracite leather strap, with either a pin or folding buckle closure, or on a steel bracelet with a folding clasp. Prices for the new Avenger collection were not available at press time, but a Breitling representative told that the range would be from approximately $3,000 to just over $5,000. Check out WatchTime.com in the coming weeks for more news and new watches from the 2019 Breitling Summit.