I've been a Breitling watch fan since 2002 and have in that time had various models from Emergency's to Superocean, from Colt to Chrono Avenger but up until June 2008 I wasn't a truly dedicated fan and had moved them all on. I restarted my passion last year when I was given an Avenger Skyland Black Steel as a Birthday present from my Wife. Sadly the watch developed a fault and even after return to Breitling I still wasn't 100% happy with it. It was exchanged for a Navitimer World, and I also found myself to be in a lucky position where I was able to add an Avenger Seawolf and a Super Avenger to my collection before the end of 2008.
In January 2009 I started to thumb through the Chronolog looking for a more classic style Navitimer, it had to have a black dial with the obligatory silver sub dials. My eyes were drawn to the Cosmonaute, yes it had that classic look but even more attractively it had that fantastic 24 hour dial.
I then started to consider the bracelet/strap options and narrowed it down to a black croc on the deployant clasp, a combination I did not have on any of my other Breitlings.
I went to my local AD and tried on a Navitimer they had in stock with a black dial on the black croco deployant to get a feel for the size and look. The Navitmer was 41.8 mm Vs the Cosmonaute's 41.5 mm so it was an ideal comparison. I immediately fell in love with the watch and was tempted to take the Navitimer there and then, but a). it had the baton markers and I wanted the arabics and b). of course it wasn't the Cosmonaute!
I thrashed out a good discount and placed my order and was told it would arrive within 10 days. I spent a few days wondering if I'd made the right choice, how hard would it be to read the dial? Did it count the minutes like a standard watch (doh!)?
From the moment I opened that Bakelite box I knew I'd made the right choice! The size was just right, granted the smallest of my current Breitlings, but it wore just fine. The croco strap and deployant whilst initially felt a little uncomfortable soon broke in and was a comfortable fit.
The finish on the watch was as good as my previous Breitlings, crisp dial and wonderfully raised arabics created by the lume. It was surprisingly easy to read and after only a couple of days it became as easy to read as any other dial, even after swapping between watches. You simply remember that the 5 minute markers are the hours themselves, easy to confuse with the addition of the odd hour markers as well.
The lume is also very very good!
The Breitling 23 calibre movement has proved to be very accurate, gaining only 2 seconds per day straight out of the box, this has further bedded down now and is somewhere between +1 and +2 per day.
It has very rapidly become my favourite Breitling and my initial worries as to whether it would be too small have proved unfounded, one of the original reasons I went for the Navitimer World over a standard Navitimer. In this picture you can see that size wise it doesn't actually look much smaller than the other three!
My Cosmonaute is as classic in design as the original 1962 model and it is a real joy to own a watch that you know was designed for such a specific purpose! I don't have a single regret in choosing this model over others in the Breitling range and believe me I was tempted by a few others such as a Breitling for Bentley Motors T and the new brushed finish Blackbird! I'll look forward to many happy years with this as one of my horological companions!!
Stef
