The vintage Breitling Navitimer is a collector's paradise. Between its launch in 1954 and 1970, the Navitimer saw immense evolution and development. The bezel, hands, slide-rule and sub-dial sizes all saw incremental changes. One of the most interesting refinements was the logo or emblems on the dial.

There are 12 main Navitimer emblems made between 1954 and 1970. They range from the original winged shield of AOPA (the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association), to a cursive letter B, combinations of Breitling's own livery and AOPA's, signed wings, un-signed wings, and the famous twin planes. There were details in gold, in silver, and in white.

Here, for the first time in one place, Watch Club presents just the emblems – every main Navitimer logo from 1954 to 1970.*

The designs are numbered in the sequence that they make their first appearance. Many of these designs ran concurrently or overlapped. Look out for the mini-timeline on each, showing its years of production.

This information is based on the Navitimer Timeline, published in 2012 by Watch Club's Justin Koullapis with precious help from "The Great Dane", Kurt Brøndum – the world's most respected voice in the Navitimer world and whose watches form the basis for the photos here.

Some collectors have tried to find one of each of these 12 dials. Not an easy challenge!

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*As with most watches, there are unicorns and rarities – examples that don't fit tidily into the story. We list some of those at the end. We also make the caveat that by "dials" we are really looking in detail at the brand logos on those dials. The dials have their own subtle differences not relevant to this.

Logo I: The Foundation AOPA Dial

Launch Day in July 1954. The first Breitling Navitimer makes its appearance.

It has a golden winged shield, with a heraldic "bend" or diagonal banner bearing the word "AOPA" – the livery of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. AOPA had commissioned Breitling to make this watch as a flight instrument for members of their society, and initially was only available through them.

Made from 1954 until around mid-1964. This is the "Foundation" AOPA dial. Winged shield, with AOPA signature across it.

There are actually a number of subtly different wing shapes with different feather tips – to keep it simple, we are not showing these here – the main pattern is always the same.

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Logo II: Golden B

This is an exceptionally rare dial. The Golden B has only ever been seen a handful of times, and was made for less than 12 months, spanning July 1954 to some time in mid-1955.

The dial does not bear any markings of AOPA. Watches with this dial are thought to have been only sold outside the USA – within the USA the Navitimer at that time was the exclusive licensed product of AOPA.

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Logo III: First Co-Branded Navitimer

The original Co-Branded dial was made for a brief time, starting in 1955, with just a few known examples in 1956. This has the full, signed golden AOPA shield, surmounted by "Breitling" with a cursive letter B, in white printing.

The winged shields in this era, all the way to late 1964, were in metal appliqué – a raised emblem in mirror-polished gold.

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Logo IV: White Cursive B

Made in 1956, for one year only. No AOPA markings, just a simple, clean, Breitling livery including the iconic cursive B, emblazoned in white.

Why is it that all the Breitling-only (no wings) dials with cursive B are so impossibly rare?

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Logo V: The "All-In" Dial

This Navitimer layout was made for just over 6 years, from 1956 into mid-1961. Breitling thoroughly co-brands the signed AOPA wings with their own livery (a lot like Logo III), but they also manage to include the origin: "Geneve".

Going all-in, this dial therefore includes every classical Navitimer graphical element (pre-Twin Planes):

Cursive B
Breitling
Geneve
AOPA-Signed Gilt Appliqué Wings

This appears in the same timespan as Logo VI. Watches with this, Logo V, are seen mostly in the early part of that run, while those with Logo VI are mostly seen toward the end of the run.

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Logo VI: "All-In" with Open Shield

Nearly identical to Logo V, this dial has all the graphical elements (cursive B, Breitling, Geneve, and gilt wings), but it has an open shield – it omits the AOPA signature.

Made for the same roughly 6-year timeframe as the "All-In" Logo V (1956–1961), BUT, this Logo VI is mostly seen toward the end of this period, while Logo V is seen mostly in the early part.

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Logo VII: Un-Signed Shield – Source of the Re-Edition

Made between 1959 and 1965. This simplified arrangement has the classical golden appliqué AOPA wings, but has an open shield (without the AOPA signature), surmounted by a clear block-letter "Breitling".

Breitling revisited this exact emblem in 2019 with the Navitimer Re-Edition, a homage to the early-pattern beaded-bezel originals. Logo 7 is the source of the Re-Edition.

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Logo VIII: Twin Planes

Sometimes people call Logo 8 the Twin Jets. Made from 1964 well beyond 1970. Silver metallic ink. The Twin Planes did not directly replace the other logos still being used post-1964 – it was made concurrently with other emblems for many years.

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Logo IX: Gold Print AOPA

The first printed AOPA wings, in metallic gold ink. No Breitling livery, and made only in 1964 and 1965.

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Logo X:  Silver Print AOPA

With no overlap, Logo X follows Logo IX: silver ink rather than gold. Less rich, maybe, but brighter and more vivid. No Breitling livery anywhere on this dial. Dials with Logo 10 started production in 1966 and were made all the way to well post-1970.

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Logo XI: Co-Branded Silver Print

Made for a short time between 1967 and 1969, here Breitling includes their livery in block capitals below the AOPA-signed wings. The ink seems of a different type to that of the particulate silvery printing on Logo X.

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Logo XII: Late Period Printed Cursive B

Extremely rare, made for less than a year in 1967, this characterful little emblem has the classical cursive B atop "Breitling Genéve".

Most peculiar: the accent in Genève is the wong way round on these watches. It should be a grave accent (pointing backward `) but is actually an acute accent, pointing forward. The French would not stand for this!

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Navitimer Unicorns and Rarities

In conclusion, a few notes. This summary of the 12 Navitimer logos excludes Breitling Cosmonaute watches – they have roughly another dozen different variations of their own.

It also excludes certain unique or nearly unique watches, whose logos are difficult to classify, such as some very artistically-drawn wings, or co-branding with retailers like "Kronometer Stockholm" or the French manufacturer-retailer LIP.

To explore more about the rich and interesting story of the Navitimer, visit the original resource, Kurt Broendum's site: http://kurt-b.com/sample-page.