Navitimer review

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Jean-Michel Review : Breitling Old Navitimer II vs Citizen Navihawk

How to compare 2 watches which are not comparable (part II) ! ….

Note about the pictures : you can click on all the pictures to have a larger size image

I’ll try to compare in this review two pilot watches , after my review comparing a Navitimer 806 with a Navitimer 50th Anniversary (click here), this new review compare two watches of the same age, both have been manufactured in 1994.

Comparing a quartz watch to a mechanical watch is very difficult , comparing a Myth such as the Navitimer to any quartz watch is … more than chalenging ! again it might be considered as a "crime" to Breitling lovers of the famous Navitimer.

As a reminder this review is hosted by the unofficial Navitimer website , you can get more informations on Navitimers by clicking here

Both watches have a stainless steel case, measuring 41 mm in diameter : the crystal of the Breitling Navitimer is by far bigger, it covers the sliderule and have a diameter of 39 mm which is not the case of the Citizen Navihawk with a crystal of 30 mm .


Old Navitimer II	vs.	Navihawk

The Navitimer case is mirror polished , the Navihawk is satin/mirror finish , the type of stainless steel might be different : Breitling use one of the best stainless steel grade the 316L, I could not find which steel use Citizen but my guess would be for a 303 easier to machine but less resistant

The bezels of the two watches are turning both sides, in order to use the sliderule, but it must be noticed here that the bezel of the Navihawk turns very easely, because it is outside of the crystal and do not need any waterproofing and the one of the Old Navitimer needs quite an effort due to the O rings for waterproofing.

Even if the size of the two watches are very comparable , the Navitimer seems to be bigger on wrist, particulary due to its very large crystal, thickness of the two watches are very comparable : 13 mm for the Navihawk and 14 mm for the Navitimer.

Side view of the two watches

Note that there is not a "crown side" on the Navihawk ! , it have NO crown : the adjustment of the hands are done with the pushers (but we will study that later speaking of the functions)


Crown side of the Navitimer		side of the Navihawk

Looking at the two watches on the side brings the attention to the movements :

The Navitimer is equipped with the famous Valjoux 7750 , an integrated chronograph movement : crown and pushers are on the same level : I will not expose in detail the Valjoux 7750 in this review but try breifly to describe it : the Valjoux 7750 is concidered as a fabulous workhorse in the automatic chronograph familly, it have been develloped in the 70’s in order to decrase the price of mechanical chronographs. It do not use a crown wheel but a cam / pushers mechanism, easier to manufacture

The Navihawk is equipped with the Citizen C300 movement : displays the time and date for 30 major cities around the world. With just the touch of a button, the time on the main analog display will correspond to any of the world times displayed digitally. When the watch hands conceal the digital display, a one-touch process moves them to the 12 o’clock position and back to the correct time – a world first. Another world first is the digital display of instructions explaining the watch’s functions.

The functions of the C300 module are complex you can have a look to the instruction manual here (official instruction manual by Citizen in PDF format) .

Both watches have a srewed-on back in stainless steel, the Navitimer back need a special Breitling tool to be opened, the Navihawk back can be opened with a standard tool


Back of the Navitimer		Back of the Navihawk

The Navitimer offers a special feature on the back : a scale to convert Celcius degrees in Farenheit degrees and have the following engravings : "Breitling Navitimer" , The Breitling Logo, the Reference number : A13020 , serial number 1XXX, and the waterproof rate "Etanche 30 mètres"

The Navihawk of this review is a limited edition to the color of the famous US Navy team "Blue angels" , the back is fitted with the Blue angel patch (it is a plastic sticker but very robust) , and the following engravings : "Citizen Watch Co. Waterresist 10 Bar" , "Stainless C300-Q00B42 TA GN-4-S Japan" and the serial number 111XXXX

The Navitimer offers a 3 bar waterproof case (30 meters), thus allowing the user to take a bath or swim with his Navitimer (but not diving or snorkeling), the Navihawk offers a 10 bar waterproof case (100 meters) thus allowing a real water use including snorkeling.

Looking back now to the dials : both are what we can call "busy" ! but the Citizen one is probably the most busy ever produced ! counting the numbers and informations on it would be a fastidious task , if you want to do it have a look to the pictures !!!


Dial of the Navitimer		Dial of the Navihawk

Navitimer dial get the classic Valjoux 7750 layout (subdials at 6,9 and 12) displaying subseconds (at 6) minute register (at 12) and hour register (at 9) , equipped with the famous sliderule and a telemeter scale and with the date display at 3.

Citizen dial have : 3 LCD displays (both with 3 lines of text !), 3 subdials with the same confugutation compared to the Navitimer (subdials at 6,9 and 12) : UTC display on 24 hours on top subdial , hour hand on 9′ subdial and function display on the last subdial. both small LCD display are dedicated to explaining functions of pushers and the large LCD display is used for the multple functions of the watch. We should not forget the sliderule with the same operations as the Navitimer.

Slide rule offer the same functionnality on both watches (see the Slide rule part of the site here)

Luminous material is tritium for the Navitimer and Luminova for the Navihawk. Tritium offers a good luminescence all night long Luminova of the Navihawk offers a strong luminescence in the first part of the night, but decreases rapidly with time.

Hands are painted in white for the Navihawk, giving to the watch a good readability under any lights which might be surprising for such a busy dial ! another surprising feature of the hands are the possibility to temporaly drive them to a 12 O’clock position in order to offer a better visibility of the LCD display.

Hands of the Navitimer are satin metal giving to the watch a good readability except when the hour hand is over a white subdial. small hands of the subdials are blued metal giving an excellent contrast on the white.

Both watches are fitted with a leather strap for this review, the Navitimer have 22 mm wide interlugs and the Navihawk have 20 mm.

The easy comparaison just stop here ! we are now obliged to discribe functions of both watches , and we are comparing two different worlds !

The Navitimer offers the very classic function of a mechanical chronograph : display of the hour plus small second and chronograph function with date plus the slide rule : that’s it !

The Navihawk offers ….display of the hour + World Time + Local time and date for 30 major cities +UTC + Chronograph : 24 hours, 1/100 second with split time + Quick Interchangeable Time : One-touch interchangeable analog and digital display + Hand-Retracting System + Help Function (LCD) + Three City Alarms
+ Timer on 60 minutes and finally sliderule !!! sorry could not make the coffee but perhaps in a later version 😉

The Navitimer offers a very good accuracy for a mechanical watch , mine is still in the COSC specs with a + 4 seconds … a day , The Navihawk offers an incredible accuracy of + 3 seconds … a month !!!

On a pure rational fact the Navihawk do all what the Navitimer do , do it better with a greater accuracy … and offers MANY more functions the only facts at the advantage of the Navitimer are a better night readability, a better sliderule (due to the black / white rule) a sapphire crystal with AR coating and of course NO need for batteries (note that the last model of Citizen do not require batteries with the ecodrive system)

On the emotional side everything is reversed !!! the Navitimer is THE Breitling classic , a very desirable watch fitting both classy or sporty look : a real icon in the watch history, the Navihawk is too complicated with an incredibly busy dial and will probably not remain in the watch history.

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It was definitly not possible to compare theses two watches their only common point is that they might be both concidered as Pilot watches and both marketed as that.

-The Navitimer in this Old Navitimer II version is a classic offering prestige , distinctive look , history, a fantastic quality, and modern functionnality.

– The Navihawk is now outfashion but offers a lot of nice features for a quartz watch specially for frequent flyers jumping from one timezone to another.

In 1994 the price of the Navitimer in France was about 1600 US$ and the price of the Navihawk for the US market was 675 US$ (not imported in France) , the Citizen was 2,4 times cheaper compared to the Navitimer …

In 2004 it is difficult to find a used Navitimer of 1994 for less than 2000$ … and you can find Navihawk for less than 100$ ! the Citizen is now 20 times cheaper ! it also mean that you can afford a descent Navihawk for the price of … a Navitimer strap !

On the second market both are excellent buys ! The Navitimer can be concidered at THE Breitling, will never outfashion, it will also keep an excellent resell value. The Navihawk is now down to a price where it is a very interesting buy if you are looking for a complex quatz watch with many functions : I wear it in the occasions I do not want to risk a costly watch and it does it task very well