Léon Breitling was a skilled watchmaker who crafted both timepieces and intelligent measuring tools in his St. Imier workshop. Within a short time, the innovative features that he developed for his pocket watches earned Léon’s company a formidable reputation.
In 1965’s Thunderball, James Bond as played by Sean Connery received a very special Top Time watch from Q. The film version of the watch is equipped with a Geiger counter, which 007 uses to avoid a nuclear disaster by locating stolen missiles that have been hidden underwater, all with the help of the Top Time on his wrist.
The final chapter in the Breitling family saga was one of the most important. In 1965, Willy Breitling participated in the development of the world’s first micro-rotor automatic chronograph in cooperation with Jack W. Heuer, the Büren-based movement manufacturer, and Dubois-Dépraz, a specialist in chronograph control wheels. The 1969 launch of the Chrono-Matic, with its winding crown on the left side, caused a sensation on the international watch scene. This true original has since been optimized several times and manufactured in different versions.