Breitling Reveals Super Chronomat U.S.-Exclusive Editions with Mother-of-Pearl Dials

Breitling has shown the U.S.A. markets a lot of love in recent months, first representing every NFL team on the dials of 32 special-edition Chronomats, and now with a pair of limited-edition Chronomats in unique configurations available exclusively to North American consumers. The revitalized Chronomat collection hosts a myriad of sizes, complications, and materials all within the familiar design language that dates back to the 1940s model’s first major revamp in the 1980s. These new limited editions, both hailing from the robustly sporty Super Chronomat series, present a unique dial, made of mother-of-pearl, that runs against expectations and assumptions thanks to the manner in which it’s been executed.

There are two new additions being made to the Super Chronomat collection (well, three if you want to get technical), and they each cover opposite ends of the spectrum. The first is a Super Chronomat B01 44 Chronograph rendered in red gold that is available with either a full red-gold Rouleaux bracelet, or a Rouleaux-style rubber strap. These are two separate references. The third is a Super Chronomat Automatic 38, which is a time-and-date reference with a steel case and diamond- set bezel piece. 

Steel and red gold are two materials familiar to the collection, but these new watches offer something unique that you won’t find elsewhere, and that is the material used for the base of their dial, namely a black mother-of-pearl that sets them apart from anything else in the line. This is a material we typically associate with a milky white, translucent quality, but these dials push against that tradition, with a far more subtle but just as beautiful quality set in pure blackness. The result is a dial that can play to the formal strengths of the material but still look perfectly suited in its sportier guise, within the chronographs models. 

The aesthetic differences here account for a notable shift in personality without losing the plot of the collection as a whole, and these are most definitely still Super Chronomat watches. The Super Chronomat B01 44 utilizes Breitling’s manufacture B01 automatic chronograph movement, while the Super Chronomat Automatic 38 uses the Breitling Caliber 17, which is based on the Sellita SW200. Their respective sizes are right in their names, at 44mm and 38mm, and the unmistakable bezel design is identifiable from across the room. If you like the Super Chronomat, there’s a good chance you’ll like what’s going on here.

These are limited-edition watches, with Breitling planning to produce 150 pieces of the Super Chronomat B01 44, priced at $26,800 on the Rouleaux-style rubber strap and $44,900 on the full red-gold Rouleaux bracelet. Conversely, just 75 pieces of the Super Chronomat Automatic 38 are planned for production, priced at $11,250. These are both “big personality” watches, with an exceptionally interesting dial execution with the black mother of pearl, a material I’d love to see used more in unexpected genres as we have here. 

The new Super Chronomat watches are available now directly from Breitling.