Before tool watches became fashion statements, Miles Davis wore a Breitling Navitimer ref. 806 Mk5 — turning a pilot’s instrument into an expression of style. For the centennial of the jazz legend’s birth, Breitling has unveiled the Navitimer B09 Chronograph 41 Tribute to Miles Davis, limited to 500 pieces.
Davis, whom Bob Dylan once called his “definition of cool”, never separated style from self-expression — sharp Italian suits, exotic sports cars, and on his wrist, a Navitimer. “His Navitimer wasn’t a prop,” says the Miles Davis Estate. “It was something he chose because it spoke to him.”
The tribute faithfully captures the mid-1960s reference he wore: a 41 mm case, monochrome reverse-panda dial, vintage-inspired cream Super-LumiNova and the era-appropriate “Twin Jet” logo — the emblem that distinguished civilian Navitimers from the AOPA pilot editions, first paired with a reverse-panda dial on Davis’ very reference. Inside beats the hand-wound Breitling Manufacture Caliber B09, honouring an era before automatic chronographs, visible through the sapphire caseback engraved “One of 500” and “Miles Davis Centennial”. It comes on a hand-coloured gradient brown calf strap or the newly revived Air Racer bracelet — the vented rally-style design of the 1960s, updated with hinged links for comfort.
For the most devoted, a “Lifetime Club Member Set” of 50 numbered editions gathers three 806 Mk5 tributes in steel, yellow gold and platinum inside a presentation case styled after a trumpet case, lined in blue as a nod to Kind of Blue, complete with a mounted “Miles Davis Edition” record and a miniature red trumpet. Set owners receive lifetime membership of the first Breitling Social Club, opening in Williamsburg, New York in late 2027; each of the 500 tribute owners gets two years.
A watch and an artist, both originals — and both still setting the tempo a century on.
