Breitling Avenger Automatic 42 Blue Watch Review

Breitling have a habit of releasing a lot of new watches at the same time – usually because Breitling are overhauling or re-releasing an entire collection. There was the Navitimer B01 Chronograph with 14 watches, the AVI Chronograph with 7 watches. And now Breitling have released 11 new Avenger watches. However, of the 11 new releases, I only have one of them on the desk in front of me. Don’t worry, I’ll talk about the other 10 watches in a separate article but for now, let’s get hands-on with the Breitling Avenger Automatic 42.

Putting it on and buckling up the leather-backed fabric strap, I immediately like how it feels on the wrist. At 42mm it’s certainly chunky, sitting flat to the wrist with a height of 12.15mm but that’s in keeping with its character as a pilot’s watch.

Pilot’s watches have always been on the large side so that they’re nice and legible and pilots can read them at a glance – something that’s of vital importance in navigation. It’s even more important for the Avenger because it’s Breitling’s high performance jet plane model. By which I mean it was originally designed for use by jet pilots over 20 years ago.

The steel case with 300m water resistance and the prominent rotating bezel are designed to withstand the stresses of life in the cockpit of a air acrobatics or military jet. Aesthetically, it doesn’t feel like too much has changed with the case. It’s slightly smaller than the 43mm versions that used to be standard but as mentioned, it certainly doesn’t feel like a shrinking violet on the wrist.

The bezel itself is equipped with screws around the circumference to act as chunky points of grip alongside the built-up markers at the cardinal points that make it easy to use while wearing gloves – they also give it a strong industrial aesthetic like the rivets on a plane. It’s one of the most satisfying bezels to use I’ve come across, although the action is perhaps on the looser side. For the same reasons the crown also has a bold grip pattern.

Focussing in on the dial and personally I think this is where the new Avenger Automatic 42 really shines in comparison to previous iterations. It’s much more modern and clean. The Breitling logo at 12 o’clock is a cursive B instead of the convoluted wing logo of the past and the minute track has been pushed outwards onto the flange instead of the main dial, making the dial (available in blue, black or green) itself much less cluttered.

At the same time, the characteristic elements of the display are all still present, such as the triangular hour marker at 12 o’clock and the bar indexes with lumed strips down their centres.

Taking the watch off and flipping it over reveals a solid steel caseback, behind which is housed the Breitling Calibre 17. The Calibre 17 is well known to be based on the ETA 2824-2 with 38-hour power reserve. It’s COSC chronometer certified, which is great, but it is a little eclipsed by the movements available in the rest of the new Avenger collection.

It’s priced at £3,550 on the military style fabric-leather strap and £3,800 on three-link steel bracelet. I really like this update to the Avenger. It manages to maintain a robust, rugged pilot’s watch design while being a little less intense and a little more refined. Now, when Breitling inevitably produce a collaboration model in partnership with an air acrobatics squadron like the Red Arrows, the watch will be as stylish as the planes they fly.

More details at Breitling.

​Oracle Time 

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