Breitling
venus-170 pilote aeronavale - Pilot USN

Vintage pilot chronograph Breitling B-170 from World War II, dated 1941. This two-register chronograph features a light-colored dial, a telemeter scale, and hands built to military standards used by American armed forces. Notably, the case is fitted with round pushers, which entirely ruled out civilian production at the time.

Powered by a Venus B-170 caliber movement with vertical registers at twelve and six o’clock, the upper register is calibrated over 45 minutes and marked three times in three-minute segments to align with heading-change maneuvers during landing. The lower subdial tracks up to 60 minutes for hour-by-hour navigation. This chronograph was a basic instrument issued to American military pilots at the dawn of the U.S. involvement in World War II. Deployed in naval aviation and on Navy vessels, these watches were generally issued to senior officers or pilots and considered a high-precision cockpit tool with significant cost at the time.

The Venus C-170 column-wheel movement was regarded as one of the finest of its generation, and very few were issued. It is a manual-wind movement with 17 jewels, operating at 18,000 vibrations per hour, and provides a power reserve of 40 hours after winding. This movement later evolved into the Venus 188 in 1948, which became automatic and was renamed the Valjoux 7750 after Venus was acquired by Valjoux in 1966—a movement that Breitling used in 1993 under the name B13 to power the 1993 Navitimer edition dedicated to the Swiss military aerobatics team).

This collector’s watch is exceptional due to its rarity and size—significantly larger than standard-issue U.S. military pilot watches of the time, which typically measured around 28mm in diameter, such as the Longines A-11 issued to the US Army Air Corps. Its historical value makes it a remarkable piece for any aviation collection. This model also foreshadowed the future success of Breitling watches, which eventually convinced AOPA to recognize the brand as ideally suited for aircraft pilots, especially with the Navitimer. It also served as inspiration for Ernest Schneider in the 1980s, following Breitling’s acquisition by Sicura, to create the first in a line of chronographs designed for military aerobatics teams (Breitling Chronomat Frecce Tricolori from 1984).

This Breitling B-170 on offer is in remarkable condition, with all original parts and engraved markings on the caseback. The screw-down back features service notches typical of military-issued timepieces and is engraved with assignment and identification numbers indicating naval aviation use.

For more stories about Breitling and its heritage, visit our "Watch History" page here, and find more about watch brands and their iconic models here.