Flying between the trees? The new Breitling Endurance Pro

Carsandcalibres

4 years ago

The new Breitling Endurance Pro

Is the new Breitling Endurance Pro more for athletes than aviators?

The Endurance Pro Collection with its colorful rubber straps

The friendly and always quote-worthy Georges Kern, CEO of Breitling, has made it clear that there is a treasure trove of inspiration in the archives of the watch company. He has been releasing homages of models many have never heard of in modern watchmaking. He has also been very clear that he wants to remind everyone about all the things we don’t know or don’t remember about the ”aviation-centric” watch company.

Endurance Pro with a blue inner bezel and rubber strap, probably what would be my own choice

The new Breitling Endurance Pro is a great example. They took inspiration from a 1970’s era watch called the Breitling Sprint. The watch back then was lightweight and with a case of resin. It had a pulsometer with which to quickly calculate, and it was rather colorful. This was, after all, the 70s.

Though I could take a walk on the wild side. An Endurance Pro with an orange inner bezel and rubber strap

The new Endurance Pro takes that same spirit, as well as the spirit of more modern Breitlings and definitely their technology breakthroughs. The new watch is lightweight, but it uses the Breitlight material that the company introduced in 2016, which is way lighter than titanium (by 3.3 times) is nonmagnetic, hypoallergenic and thermally stable. The watch also uses a COSC-certified Breitling Calibre 82 SuperQuartz movement, which is basically ten times more accurate than your regular quartz. So, modern tools for a modern…athlete, not aviator.

It is also tempting to mix and match with their optional straps. Here is an Endurance Pro with a yellow inner bezel and green Outerknown ECONYL yarn NATO strap

The watch has traditional Breitling details, big iconic indices for 3, 6 and 9 and the wings at 12 o’clock. Easily-grasped bezel with compass points engraved. An all-black (of sorts) look but with flashes of color on the inner bezel, which contains the pulsograph. It is supposedly to make it more readable, but it really just looks pretty cool. That colorway also shows up on the tactile molded crown, and on the Diver Pro strap. The calmest color is the deep blue, the loudest is the orange. Or the yellow. Or the red. Or the white. And if that’s not enough color for you, you can go for the even more vibrant Outerknown ECONYL yarn NATO strap.

This might be the way to go. Second from the right, the white color way with a grey NATO. or the more sedate blue (yes, again) with a conservative Blue NATO

Just to be clear where Breitling is going with this, head over to www.breitling.com/endurancepro if you’re adventurous. You can sign up to take part in the Breitling Endurance Pro Strava Challenge. Competitors will have to compete 500 minutes (about the time it takes a world-class triathlete to complete a full IRONMAN event) in the physical activity of their choice. Unlike the actual IRONMAN though, you have two weeks. The connection here? Breitling CEO Georges Kern points to Jan Frodeno, a member of their Triathlon squad. Frozen asked what type of watch he should wear, The end result of that conversation? The Endurance Pro.