Pre-Owned Breitling Galactic 36 Two-Tone 40940014/AS04925

Why We Love It

Breitling has long been purveyor of chronographs to pilots, but in the 1950's, the popularity of dive watches like the Rolex Submariner and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms pushed Breitling to enter that race.

In 1957, Breitling released both a time-only dive watch, the SuperOcean Reference 1004, and a chronograph in the form of the Reference 807. These watches would be the start of a long lasting and ever evolving line of nautical watches loved by many.

Today, Breitling offers a full-line of dive watches with different shapes, sizes, metals, and movements - and for a wide variety of tastes and wrist sizes.

While not technically a 'dive watch' on paper, this Galactic does offer many features that gives diving watches their iconic character and appeal. With a 36mm two-tone 18K yellow gold and steel case housing a luminous black dial and handset, a sapphire crystal, a unidirectional rotating dive timing bezel, 100M water resistance, and crown guards, it not only looks the part, but the specs are definitely up to snuff! Additionally, this watch come with a leather watch roll, books, papers, and warranty card.

This is a very fun, daily-wearable watch that can suit a wide range of wrist sizes and stands out from the normal black/steel divers on the market - and for that, we dig it.

The Breitling Story

Breitling was founded in 1892, and while still around today, the company is no longer in the hands of the Breitling family.

The late 1970s was a turbulent time for the Swiss watch industry, and many storied houses were swept away by the Quartz Crisis. By 1978, Breitling was in trouble due to the illness of its leader, Willy Breitling, and the steep decline in sales that had cut through the entire industry. Unable to keep operations going, the Breitling company was liquidated, and parts, toolings and naming rights were sold off. One of the best aviation watch companies was no more, but they left behind a large range of incredible watches.

Breitling has been surprisingly slow to catch fire with vintage collectors, especially since the history of the brand and their ties to aviation are unimpeachable. Sure, many of their watches have polarizing designs and complicated dial aesthetics (hell, we don't know how to use the slide rule feature on the Navitimer 806 any better than you do), but their cleaner designs embody the best of 1960s and 1970s chronograph design and shouldn’t be overlooked.

If we had our druthers, Breitling would be one of the top dogs in the world of vintage watches, and given a strong new direction for the company today, we’re confident that in time, they will be.