In The Shop - Shop Spotlight: The Breitling Chronographs Best Fit For Summer's Bright Lights

The slow dawn of the summer months coincides with a gradual change in what watches we tend to gravitate toward in our personal watch box. Leather straps give way to bracelets, NATOs, and rubber straps, and slim dress watches lose their appeal in favor of bold, eye-catching dive watches and chronographs. It's the latter category that Breitling has long excelled in. And today in the HODINKEE Shop, we're building out our selection of Breitling watches with 10 chronographs from the Superocean and Premier families, plus the eye-catching, colorful Aviator 8 B01 Chronograph 43 "Mosquito" and the 18k red gold variant of the AVI Ref. 765 1953 Re-Edition Limited Edition. All 10 watches use an in-house Breitling chronograph movement and are certified chronometers by COSC. You can check 'em out for yourself right here , or stay tuned as we break down each watch and collection below. Breitling Aviator 8 B01 Chronograph 43 'Mosquito' First up, we'll take a look at the Aviator 8 "Mosquito," the lone chronograph from Breitling's Aviator 8 series to make its way into the HODINKEE Shop so far. The Mosquito naming convention references the brand's close ties with aviation. It pays tribute to the De Havilland Mosquito, a British aircraft with an exceptionally lightweight wooden construction that made it one of the fastest planes in the skies during World War II. In fact, the De Havilland Mosquito is considered to be faster than even the famous Supermarine Spitfire. The watch's specific inspiration is a noteworthy detail for sure, but in application, it doesn't feel on the nose or over-the-top. There's no mention of the Mosquito anywhere on the watch itself; instead, the theme is transferred via a few visual cues, including the bright orange-red accents on the dial that reflect markings on the plane's fuselage and the sub-dial design that evokes a similarity to the Royal Air Force's emblem. In addition to the black dial, orange-red accents, and silver sub-dials, the Aviator 8 Mosquito features a blacked-out bidirectional bezel that's been coated in an ADLC (amorphous diamond-like carbon) coating. In contrast with the rest of the 43mm stainless steel case, the all-black bezel and colorful dial accents give this chronograph a vibrant personality on the wrist that feels both playful and purposeful. If you're familiar with vintage Breitling chronographs, you might notice that the Aviator 8 Mosquito bears a direct resemblance to the famous Co-Pilot AVI ref. 765, a watch that's further brought to life by the next chronograph on our list. Breitling AVI Ref. 765 1953 Re-Edition Limited Edition In 18k Red Gold When we officially launched Breitling in the HODINKEE Shop last month, we highlighted a number of the company's latest releases in addition to a small selection of classics. One of the latter was the stainless steel variant of the AVI Ref. 765 1953 Re-Edition, a limited-edition chronograph released in 2020 that faithfully brought the original Co-Pilot AVI ref. 765 back to life. Joining its steel sibling in the HODINKEE Shop today is an even more exclusive release cased in 18k red gold. Limited to just 253 examples worldwide, Breitling saved a single example of this watch for us to share with you today. Other than its precious metal construction, the manual-wind, vintage-inspired chronograph is practically identical to the steel example, with a 41mm case, a matte black dial with no-date display, and 15-minute and 12-hour counters, and a 12-hour bezel. Breitling Superocean Heritage B01 Chronograph 44 Here's a fun fact. Did you know that when Georges Kern became CEO of Breitling in 2017, the Swiss brand's best-selling watch collection wasn't the Navitimer, the Chronomat, or the Avenger? It was the Superocean. That means nothing negative toward the company's classic pilots' chronograph, but instead reinforces just how strong a design language the Superocean has. And in 2018, Breitling released the latest and greatest version of its dive watch, now equipped with the company's in-house B01 automatic chronograph movement. What I like most about the Superocean Heritage lineup is that, despite its vintage inspiration, the watch feels resolutely modern. There's of course a large scratch-proof ceramic bezel as well as the high-tech in-house movement inside. But then there's the dueling arrow-shaped hour hand and sword-shaped minute hand, which feel anything but dated despite their historic connection to Breitling's vintage dive-watch catalog. Although it's a horribly overused statement, there's a definite "best of both worlds" feeling at play here. You have a bona fide chronograph/dive watch hybrid (that's even ISO-6425 compliant!) from a premium Swiss brand, outfitted with a true vintage-inspired design and a contemporary in-house automatic movement. What more could you ask for? Four different executions are available in the HODINKEE Shop today. The "panda" dial is a surefire winner, but I have my eyes on the blue dial and black bezel combination seen above. Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph 42 Finally, we have the Premier. Most recently, we saw this series as the home for Breitling's 2021 heritage-inspired riffs, which included bringing the split-seconds Duograph and triple-calendar chrono Datora back to life, in addition to a just-for-fun manually wound, pistachio-colored experiment . Those watches (covered in detail here ) join the mainline Premier collection, which has been in production since Kern revived it from the brand's archive in 2018. There's a lot to like in this dress chronograph series, which notably features twin chronograph sub-dials and a six o'clock date window, compared to the B01 caliber's typical triple-register orientation and 4:30 date window placement. For fans of dial symmetry, that's an undeniable win. The applied hour markers, the cushion-shaped chronograph pushers, and the tight, downward-sloping lugs all add to a pleasant visual and tactile experience on the wrist. Again, the "panda" and "reverse panda" dial options in steel will be the headline grabbers in today's selection of four Premiers, but the anthracite grey variant in steel and silver dial in 18k red gold are no slouches either in the aesthetics department. Count Your Chronographs In The HODINKEE Shop We've said it plenty of times before, but potentially no watch brand is more identified with the chronograph than Breitling. And now in the HODINKEE Shop, we're proud to offer a selection of over 20 different chronographs from the brand in all sorts of different styles. Whether you prefer the classic pilots' design found in the Navitimer and Chronomat models, the summer-ready Superocean, or the vintage-inspired Heritage Premier and AVI 953 Re-Edition Limited Editions, we've got something for you. You can explore our full assortment of Breitling chronographs right here .Ten more class-leading, COSC-certified chronographs from Breitling land in the HODINKEE Shop.