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EVOLUTION OF THE BREITLING COSMONAUTE 809 DIALS (1962-1973)

The Breitling Cosmonaute is an atypical watch with its 24-hour indication on the main dial, making it quite difficult to read the time, as we are accustomed to reading time in 12-hour intervals. Nevertheless, this particularity was really useful for specific uses, such as for astronauts in orbit, who are in fact the origin of this model, particularly Scott Carpenter who requested it for his Mercury-Atlas 7 mission.

The first dial was produced in 1962, based on that of the Navitimer, but with the following modifications:

  • Modification of the hour markers with alternating indexes (odd hours) and numerals (even hours, except 6, 12, 18, and 24).
  • Carpenter requested the removal of the hour scale (H:MM) from the slide rule, deeming it unnecessary. In contrast, the minute scale was retained, as it provides an indication of minutes (or seconds when the chronograph is running). This modification freed up some space, which was welcome given the larger number of hour indications.

On the dial of the Cosmonaute model (right), some modifications have been made: the hours scale of the slide rule has been removed in order to free up space, enabling a display of odd-number hour-markers. This feature was not retained for the second generation “panda” dials.

This dial was installed in the prototype “Navitimer 24 Hours” made for Carpenter, so it is normal that it does not yet bear the name Cosmonaute. On the other hand, it bore the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) logo but not the Breitling name, which is not necessarily logical at first glance.

Indeed, while the first Navitimer models in 1954 were developed and sold exclusively to the AOPA (a non-profit American organization that supported aviation in general), the model was commercialized for the general public the following year, with the Breitling name. So, why use the AOPA dial? This first Cosmonaute dial is extremely rare.

Typical design for AOPA Navitimer models (left) and those sold to standard customers worldwide (right).

Subsequently, when Breitling decided to market the “Cosmonaute”, they needed to find a distinctive name. Since “astronaut” was already trademarked by Bulova, Breitling used the term “cosmonaute”. For this new version of the dial, which remained entirely black, the names “COSMONAUTE” and “BREITLING” were added, sometimes accompanied by the word “GENÈVE”. The AOPA logo remained, but without the initials.

In 1963, in order to increase the contrast with the rest of the dial and thus facilitate reading, the counters were now silver-white with black inscriptions. This configuration of clear counters on a black dial is called “panda” ore more precisely “reverse panda” by collectors. The graduation of the counters was also simplified.

For the Navitimer, the dial numerals indicating the hours, except for the “12”, were replaced by hour-markers, which made the dial less visually cluttered and thus also contributed to improved legibility. Due to its particularity, this replacement was not justified for the Cosmonaute. Furthermore, the hour scale of the slide rule was added.

To improve readability, a contrasting dial with silver-white counters and new hands were introduced in 1963 (right). In the counters, the graduation was simplified and in the counter at 3 o’clock the long hour-markers for calculating long-distance telephone charges were removed.

In 1964, it was probably deemed necessary by Breitling management the Navitimer to have its own logo, rather than the modified AOPA logo. The twin-jet or twinplane logo was thus used on the Navitimer dial in replacing the “unsigned” AOPA logo. This logo is composed of the stylized silhouette of two slightly superimposed aircraft. It appeared on the dial of the Navitimer until 1979 and even beyond, on certain commemorative series. The models with AOPA wings, intended for the members of this association, lingered on the dial of certain Navitimer models until at least 1969, but to facilitate production, it was printed instead of an applied metal logo. Usually golden in color, the logo was sometimes printed in silver.

At the end of 1964, the applied AOPA logo (left), which required holes to be drilled into the dial to fix it, was replaced by a printed version (right).

Two Cosmonaute models from 1965 and 1966 respectively, with an AOPA logo printed in gold (left) and silver (right).

At the beginning of 1965, Breitling began using a twin-jet (aka twin-plane) logo specific to the brand. The logo was printed in silver-white for the stainless steel models (bottom left), while the gold-plated or solid gold models featured gold script (bottom right). Note the difference in writing style, which can be observed throughout the production process and was independent of the case material.

This solid gold Cosmonaute 809 was delivered to King Hussein of Jordan circa 1966. It is one of only four known examples. The back is engraved with the crown of the Hashemite Kingdom, the name of King Hussein bin Talal and the 18K gold hallmark.

An extremely rare, possibly unique Cosmonaute with a dial lacking the name “Cosmonaute” or “Navitimer” and therefore nicknamed “no name”.

The slide rules

The first slide rule is made up of two parts: the fixed part is on the dial and has silver prints on a black background, while the moving part is on the bezel and has black prints on a white background; it concerns all models until 1967, when red touches were added: the seconds marking (number 36) on the white disk; the kilometer (KM), statute mile (STAT) and nautical mile (NAUT) markings on the black disk; and the unit mark (number 10) on both disks is surrounded by a red rectangle, which earned it its nickname “box 10”.

From 1968 onwards, the “box 10” design was replaced by a new version where the “10” on both disks and the “60” on the white disk were changed to red. Moreover, a red seconds marking (36) was added on the black disk. These colorful accents were intended to make the markings and key numbers easier to read for calculations. Concurrently, the counters on the Navitimer and Cosmonaute models were enlarged by 1 millimeter, increasing their diameter from 8 mm to about 9 mm, to enhan readability. This change gave the Navitimer and Cosmonaute a more commanding appearance, earning this version the nickname “Big Eyes” or “Big Subs”, a term referring to chronographs with large counters. These dials remained in use until the end of production of the reference 809.

On the left: slide rule with the famous “box 10” feature. Note that this feature is found on the bezel (white background) and on the dial (black background).

On the right: Slide rule of a Cosmonaute “Big Red” characterized by the red “10” and “60” numerals.


Text variations observed on the Cosmonaute dials from 1962 to 1973

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