“Can be easily used wearing gloves,” is not a selling point you hear every day, particularly in the luxury goods business. Unless it’s for a really nice oven. But for Breitling’s new watch, the Avenger Automatic 45 Seawolf UK Special Edition, it represents an important strand of its DNA.
Billed as the brand’s “ultimate pilot’s watch” it is an unapologetically robust and red-blooded model, measuring an authoritative 45mm in diameter and 18mm in thickness, with a screw-locked crown and two gaskets. The stainless steel self-winder comes with a unidirectional and ratcheted rotating bezel, a 38-hour power reserve and 3,000 meters of water resistance. (Presumably those aforementioned gloves may be flying or scuba – the choice is yours.)
Breitling is a brand closest associated with aviation watches, having provided onboard clocks and other key pieces of equipment for airplanes in the 1930s and 1940s.
Pilot watches represent its most iconic models to this day, chief among them the Navitimer which received an attractive 70th anniversary reboot this spring. It has also collaborated with the Red Arrows, launched a line inspired by historical pioneering aircraft and even blasted off into space.
The Avenger first appeared in 2001, and has become an increasing focus for the brand in recent years – replacing a similar model called the Colt, and being completely revamped with 16 new models in 2019.
The Seawolf is its largest and beefiest version – as the name suggests, intended to bridge the gap between land and sea. Its high contrast black dial comes with Super-Luminova luminescent numerals, indexes and hands, the better for navigating through the clouds or the waves.
It can also withstand insane amounts of pressure whilst looking unapologetically badass.
This new version is a UK-only release, is limited to 350 watches and comes on either a steel or a rubber strap.
£3,550; breitling.com
