In 1938, Willy Breitling founded the Huit Aviation Department to build precision onboard instruments and cockpit clocks for aviation. Nearly a century later, that heritage lives on in bold, highly capable pilot’s chronographs built to keep accurate time across the globe. The Chronomat 44 GMT carries it forward with an in-house Breitling Caliber 04: a column-wheel chronograph paired with an independent second time zone, making it one of the most genuinely useful pilot’s watches of its era.

Presents itself in mint condition with little to no signs of wear. The Onyx black dial, purpose-built for legibility, carries silvered azurage subdials and sits beneath a polished and brushed stainless steel case and bezel, with a red-tipped 24-hour hand marking the second time zone. The bidirectional rotating bezel carries a 24-hour scale that can be set to track a third time zone reference. The black rubber strap has a woven-inspired texture that stays flexible and comfortable on the wrist.

Functions include hours, minutes, small seconds, date, a 24-hour second time zone (GMT), and the chronograph. To set it, unscrew the screw-down crown and pull it to the outer position to set the minutes and the red 24-hour hand for your home or reference time. In the middle position, the crown jumps the local hour hand forward or back in one-hour steps as you change zones, with the date following automatically as that hand passes midnight, while the 24-hour bidirectional bezel can be aligned to follow a third time zone. The top-right pusher starts and stops the chronograph, and the bottom-right pusher resets it. Screw the crown back down to keep the watch water-resistant.

For some, a watch is simply a tool to keep time; for others, it says something about the person wearing it. The truth is, itcan be both, and I can’t think of a better example then this Breitling Chronomat, definitely not a watch for everyone, but for those who know.