The Breitling Navitimer has one seriously good-looking dial. The contrasting colours are excellent and work really well with the case. Speaking of, the polished bracelet sparkles in any lighting conditions and can easily catch shoppers’ eyes as they walk past. So a point to the Breitling for being the most reflective object in a pitch black room. However, the dial does glow in the dark but how you can expect to operate the chronograph is beyond me. But in all fairness, Breitling made the dial easier to understand by making the central seconds hands red, which admittedly could still be lost in that sea of information, so they stuck on a Breitling branded shiny counterweight in case you somehow forgot you’re wearing the sparkliest object this side of the Breguet Crazy Flower. It’s also water-resistant to 30m of water which really means it can survive the washing up. This is because it’s not designed to withstand the constant pressure of water at 30m and the chronograph won’t work under water anyway. Really, you should have a dive watch for that.

It’s the same story for the Speedmaster, the 50m water resistance really means washing your hands after using the facilities is really the watery limit. You could swim, but remember not to use the chronograph!

So there you have it. Two amazing watches, but only one winner. The Breitling Navitimer 01 will set you back around £5800 for it on a leather strap or near enough £6800 for that gorgeous scratch magnet bracelet. The Omega, on the other hand, is no longer available to buy new which means that all you’ll see in the used markets for a month is this watch.

 

The winner overall in this head to head is the Omega Speedmaster. Why? Availability aside, it’s more of a legend in the watch world than the Navitimer and is way more subtle. It’s the difference between turning up to the pub in a de-badged Mercedes C-class or an enormously modified Porsche. Stupid analogy really but there you go.

Going for the Omega is the history, the open case back and the under the radar factor. The Breitling takes it with the dial, overall features and bracelet design. However, either of the two are sure to satisfy your horological needs.

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Stay tuned as there’s a load more watches still floating around waiting to compete.

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Harlan Chapman-Green – Contributing Writer

First introduced to horology with the Patek Philippe Calibre 89 by his father two years ago, Harlan enjoys his passion for fine horology. He prefers to spend his time in the boutiques of upmarket brands, trying out new pieces constantly. His preferred 3 brands are A. Lange & Söhne, Breguet and Vacheron Constantin. Although not much for the smaller brands, he still finds the complications intriguing and wishes to own one watch from each of his three favourites. Read his articles here.