Squad Goals: Check Out Breitling’s Six Nations Chronomat
After the launch of the 1984 Chronomat, a completely new variant, last year, Breitling has now put forth a limited-edition collection of the Chronomat, dedicated to the unions and federations that make up Six Nations Rugby. The teams that take part in the annual international men’s rugby championship include those of England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, France and Italy. The timepiece maker has dedicated only 150 pieces to each of the playing national teams.
Inspired by the Frecce Tricolori watch that the brand created for the Italian Air Force's aerobatic fleet in 1983, the Chronomat has become one of the most significant collections over the years.
Breitling has also announced a new squad, who will sport these timepieces and represent the Chronomat in respective home countries. For Wales, it will be top scorer George North; from Ireland, three-time champion Conor Murray will be part of the squad; from England, it will be powerhouse prop Kyle Sinckler; from Italy, star fly-half Paolo Garbisi will be representing the Chronomat; from France, it will be Gaël Fickou, a 2022 Grand Slam winner; and from Scotland, Hamish Watson, the 2021 Player of the Championship, and Stuart Hogg, twice named the Championship’s top performer, will be taking part in the squad.
The highlights of the watches are on the dial. England is represented by a white dial with white chronograph counters while Wales gets a deep burgundy dial with black contrasting counters, representing the red dragon on the Welsh flag. Ireland has a green dial with white contrast, due to its landscape, as it is rightly called the ‘Emerald Isle’.
The new Breitling collection also gets three new variations for its blue-colour dials. Scotland is represented by a blue fumé dial with white contrasts; Italy gets a light blue dial with white chronograph counters; and France also gets a blue dial with white chronograph counters.
The Chronomat is one of Breitling’s most iconic and versatile collections. The latest collection comes with unidirectional ratcheted bezels, rider tabs, Arabic numerals and dots at 12 o’clock. The outer periphery of each watch gets a tachymeter scale. Coming to the dial again, the collection comes with bar-shaped hour markers, sword-shaped hour, minute hands, and ‘Breitling’ logo-engraved central hands with Super-Luminova®.
The 42 mm stainless steel chronographs have stainless steel crowns at 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock and screw-locked, two-gasket crowns at 3 o’clock. Each dial has a 30-minute subdial at 3 o’clock, a 12-hour subdial at 6 o’clock and a 60-second or 1/4th second subdial at 9 o’clock. This 9 o’clock counter is unique as it also sports the engraving of the national flag of the country it represents.
Turning the watch over showcases the sapphire, glass skeleton caseback with the engraving of each union’s logo, as it occupies the maximum view of the stainless steel oscillating weight. The outer periphery of the caseback also sports the engraving of individual watch numbers out of 150. The Breitling Chronomat Six Nations is powered by an in-house self-winding Breitling Manufacture Calibre 01, bidirectional movement with 70 hours of power reserve.
The collection is finished on the signature stainless-steel rouleaux bracelets with butterfly clasps and comes with a 200-metre water resistance.
The eclectic timepiece can indeed be a collector’s item.
Image Credits: Breitling
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