Breitling has a long history of creating various watches, such as the SuperOcean, Navitimer, and the Chronomat. Most people will associate the brand with timepieces relating to aviation. Arguably, their most famous watch is the Navitimer, with its slide rule bezel is possibly the most famous aviation watch ever made. Introduced back in 1952, it’s been Breitling's best-selling watch even up to the current day.
Not as well known is that Breitling was an early pioneer of diver's 'tool' watches. The SuperOcean (Ref. 1004) was Breitling's answer to dive watches other companies were producing in the 1950s, such as the Rolex Submariner, Blancpain Fifty Fathoms and the Omega Seamaster 300m. Introduces in 1957, it was a bit of an underdog against the competition, with poor sales backing this up, and today this makes it a much harder watch to find. It’s considered that not many of these watches remain today, with some saying that fewer than a dozen examples have survived.
The Breitling SuperOcean
What set the first Breitling SuperOcean apart from the competition was its design, which was radical for the 1950s and still eye-catching today. It can be seen today that this design was one of the reasons why the watch had such poor sales. The dial, compared with the competition at that time, was so avant-garde, with the luminous circles behind the arrow hand markers at three, six, nine and twelve. As well as that, the watch has an interesting concave bezel, which gives it an interesting, unique profile. Such is the eye-catching dial, Breitling today has a range of watches that hark back to this design. It was certainly a watch that was ahead of its time.
However, the concave bezel is one of the reasons why there are so few survivors today. Once it was used for its indented purpose, diving, seawater would collect between the bezel and the glass. This water would corrode the case, get under the crystal and, slowly, destroy the bezel. Over time it would slowly destroy the watch, one of the main reasons why so few survive today.
SuperOcean at Auction
The Breitling SuperOcean Reference 1004 we had in The Luxury Watch Sale on 23rd November is one of these rare survivors. It's in a lovely original condition and features the iconic dial that has aged over time. It is Lot 21 and has an estimate of £7,000-£10,000.
As well as the first generation, Breitling SuperOcean, Reference 1004, we also have the second generation in The Luxury Watch Sale, the Reference 2005, the 'Slow-Motion' that was launched in 1964.
The Ref. 2005 has a totally different ascetic to the earlier SuperOcan. It's much chunkier with a wider case at 42mm. It also features a circular window at 6 o'clock to let the user know if the chronograph function is active. This SuperOcean has more of the form of a true 'tool' watch. The 'Slow-Motion. enables the chronograph hand to make a revolution per hour instead of one minute.
This is another design Breitling have looked to the past and added to their current range, their current SuperOcean has a dial design very similar to the 1960's Reference 2005, be in a wider range of colours and options.
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