Classic AVI

The line traces its roots back to 1953, when Breitling presents the Ref. 765 "AVI Co-Pilot", one of the manufacture's first wristwatches designed specifically for military pilots: a robust case, a bidirectional 12-hour bezel for tracking a second time zone in flight, a crown positioned at 9 o'clock so as not to interfere with onboard controls, and an extremely legible dial designed for cockpit use. It is a project that precedes the celebrated Navitimer by a year and that, while remaining less well known than the latter, represents one of the founding chapters of the relationship between Breitling and military aviation.

The model remains for a long time a minor chapter of the brand's history, until in 2016 Breitling decides to recover it, launching the "Aviator 8" collection (the name recalls the VIII Aviation Division founded by Breitling in 1937), which reinterprets its 1950s military aesthetic in a contemporary key, with larger cases and modern automatic movements. In 2023 the line is renamed "Classic AVI", explicitly returning to the historic name of its 1953 forebear and structuring itself around a flagship model, the Classic AVI Chronograph 42, available in various executions each dedicated to a legendary Second World War aircraft.

Every execution of the current range carries on its case back the engraved silhouette of a historic aircraft — including the P-51 Mustang, the Vought F4U Corsair, the Curtiss Warhawk and the de Havilland Mosquito — while a more faithful reissue of the original, the 41 mm "AVI Ref. 765 1953 Re-Edition", takes up almost literally the proportions and dial of the starting model, offering the most direct possible link to the 1953 watch.