Historically speaking, quartz innovations have long enjoyed a key role in Breitling‘s range of modern offerings – particularly as a cornerstone of the brand’s Professional line of aviation-themed watches. Now joining that collection is a brand first: the Chronospace EVO B60, fitted with Breitling’s very first in-house manufactured SuperQuartz chronograph movement – a flyback characterized with a 24-hour register, a center-minute counter, and a few neat features exclusive to the Grenchen manufactory.
Despite typically functioning as a more approachable price point for most Swiss brands, quartz movements have remained a realm of innovation for Breitling. Sometimes as a compelling, lower cost-of-entry alternative like the “Breitlight” Colt Skyracer, and sometimes not – like the more sophisticated Exospace B55 Connected, which marries a thermo-compensated SuperQuartz movement with a Bluetooth module to bring call, text, and calendar notifications to the LCD fields on the dial.
The new Breitling Chronospace EVO B60 sits somewhere between the aforementioned – chiefly as an ultra-accurate quartz chronograph with a few Breitling-exclusive features designed to best serve its core user base: professional pilots, and watch enthusiasts looking for a reliable tool watch that does a little more than its quartz competition.
On paper, the new Breitling B60 movement behaves similarly to the ETA-manufactured 251.292, which is essentially a flyback quartz chronograph – and we’ve seen this before, in the Breitling Chronospace EVO Night Mission introduced late last year. It’s a chronometer-certified, thermocompensated “SuperQuartz” movement, which is rated to +/- 10 seconds a year, compared to standard quartz movements which tend to drift up to 15 seconds in a month. However, while the B60 maintains that accuracy along with the flyback chronograph functionality, it also introduces a center-stop minute counter, in addition to a handy 24-hour counter at 9:00. Furthermore, the movement carries a lap function, which stops the chronograph hands to measure split times, then jumps the hands ahead to resume measuring the total elapsed flight or lap time.
From a visual aesthetic standpoint, the new Chronospace has a fair bit in common with the Chronospace EVO Night Mission mentioned previously – both are housed in nicely finished, 43mm titanium cases, which measure just under 12mm thick each. However, on the new B60, the three contrasting registers are now clustered more closely to the center of the dial, which brings a little more balance to an otherwise busy presentation, toeing that fine line in a way that only Breitling can. Positioned just above the Chronospace EVO Night Mission, the Breitling Chronospace Evo B60 has a retail price of $4,830 USD. breitling.com
