The Cathay touch

This year marks our own 76 years of history – a legacy of aviation and of connecting people to meaningful people, places and experiences. This collaboration is the next step in that legacy, and an encapsulation our evolution from a world-leading airline into a premium lifestyle brand.

With a limited run of just 200 individually numbered pieces for this timepiece, we wanted to create something special. We chose an approach that’s subtle and refined – one which complements the classic design vision of the Navitimer.

On the face of the 43mm Navitimer B01 Cathay Pacific Limited Edition, the iconic Cathay Jade hue presents an elegant contrast to the white sub-dials – both offset by a rich brown leather strap. It’s like the Navitimer itself: elegant but chic, retro but modern. On the back, you’ll find engraved our iconic brushwing, the words “Cathay Pacific Edition” and its individual number out of 200. Kern himself is a big fan. “The Cathay Jade green is beautiful. It’s a very cool retro touch which works even better with the Navitimer.”

This isn’t a timepiece for a tuxedo, but the modern age. “I would qualify it as casual-chic,” says Kern. “One of the big post-COVID trends is the casualisation of luxury,” he notes, pointing out that casual, inclusive, and sustainable luxury lie at the core of Breitling’s values – while drawing parallels to aviation itself: “I know that airlines are working now with sustainable and synthetic fuels, and that will be the future.” (You can read more about Cathay Pacific’s landmark Corporate Sustainable Aviation Fuel programme here.)

Cathay and Breitling coming together is a design match and a philosophical alignment alike. “For us, it is very important that we are a local brand,” says Kern. “We want to have an attachment to local communities. Hongkongers fly with Cathay Pacific: flying and partnering with the airline of Hong Kong gives us that local connection.”

And, naturally, it gives us a very interesting watch to add to the collection.