In 1884, Leon Breitling opened a watchmaking workshop in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. He started out specializing in stopwatches, and in 1915, he released a wristwatch-type chronograph. Breitling, which developed the current common chronograph model, is said to be the pioneer of aviation chronographs. The Navitimer, released in 1952, became popular among pilots as the world's first chronograph equipped with an aviation slide rule. With its motto of "not a watch, but an (aviation) instrument," Breitling supplies watches to aircraft manufacturers such as Douglas and Lockheed, and has strong ties with the aviation industry, forming its own flight team. As a watch brand trusted by pilots, the movements of all its models are officially certified chronometers.
In 1884, Léon Breitling opened a watchmaking workshop in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. He started out specializing in stopwatches, and released the wristwatch chronograph in 1915. Breitling, which developed today's standard chronograph models, is said to be the pioneer of aviation chronographs.