Hit List: Breitling Exospace B55 Yachting

Are connected chronographs the next big thing in competitive sailing?

Breitling thinks so. The 46 mm Yachting offers the same features as the other Bluetooth-enabled Exospace watches (text and call notifications, a dedicated smartphone app, digital/analog quartz movement, rapid USB charging). But there are now regatta-ready features, including split timing and a dedicated countdown system, allowing multiple resets to synchronize with the judge’s timer.

$7,170; breitling.com

Hit List: Breitling Navitimer

The notable, the collectible, the just plain cool…

 

While the name begs for nostalgia—“eight” translates to huit in French, an allusion to Breitling’s Huit Aviation Department from WWI—the execution here is unsentimental. The latest Navitimer has no slide rule, no winged “B” logo, both breaks from long-standing tradition. (It was also unveiled on Instagram and launched in Shanghai, a decidedly progressive approach for one of Switzerland’s oldest marques.) The familiar in-house automatic chronometer movement does carry over. But consider the B01, the first new watch under Georges Kern, who departed IWC to take over Breitling last year, a harbinger of change for the brand.

$7,710; breitling.com