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The storyWhy this reference matters
Until 1943 Breitling made instruments. Chronographs for pilots, chronographs for doctors, chronographs bolted to aircraft dashboards. Then Willy Breitling, third generation in charge, did something the firm had never done: he built a chronograph to wear with a suit. He wanted, in his own phrasing, a watch carrying the unmistakable stamp of good taste. He called it the Premier and launched it at the worst possible moment, with Europe at war and Switzerland ringed on every border.
The thinking was commercial as much as aesthetic. The two-pusher chronograph had been filed away as a tool, and Willy saw the opening: sell it as a smart everyday watch to people who were never going to time a flight leg or a pulse rate. So the case was slimmed, the bezel left plain, the pushers made rectangular and quiet, and applied Arabic numerals took the space that technical scales occupied on everything else in the range.
Breitling brought the name back in 2018 with this AB0118 — the first Premier with an in-house movement inside it: the B01, column wheel, vertical clutch, seventy hours of reserve, COSC certificate. In the range it fills the dress-chronograph slot, sitting between the aviation Navitimer and the sporting Chronomat. In 2023, for the model's eightieth birthday, the line was rebuilt with dials pulled from the archive and a different reference stem.
SpecificationsThe numbers, in one table
| Brand | Breitling |
|---|---|
| Family | Premier |
| Reference | AB0118 |
| Years made | desde 2018 |
| Calibre | Breitling 01 (manufactura) |
| Movement | Automatico |
| Frequency | 28.800 alt/h (4 Hz) |
| Power reserve | Aprox. 70 horas |
| Jewels | 41 |
| Complications | Cronógrafo (1/4 s, 30 min) · Fecha |
| Diameter | 42 mm |
| Thickness | 13.65 mm |
| Lug to lug | 50 mm |
| Lug width | 22 mm |
| Case | Acero inoxidable |
| Crystal | Zafiro abombado con tratamiento antirreflejos en ambas caras |
| Water resistance | 10 bar (100 m) |
IdentificationHow to tell it apart
The dial is bicompax, and that is the first filter: two registers — running seconds and a thirty-minute counter — and no hour totaliser. Breitling's own spec sheet lists the chronograph as 1/4 second and 30 minutes, and the movement runs forty-one jewels rather than the forty-seven of the full version. Date at six. Plain fixed bezel, rectangular pushers, screwed sapphire case back.
The one number that clears up most of the confusion is the reference. AB0118 is the 2018 generation. The eightieth-anniversary collection, shown in 2023, runs on the AB0145 stem and measures 13.6 mm instead of 13.65, with fresh dials in salmon, green, cream, black and blue. In profile they are near-twins; the base number settles it without argument. Red gold versions swap the AB prefix for RB.
The figures: 42 mm across, 13.65 mm tall, fifty millimetres lug to lug, and a 22 mm strap tapering to 20. Ten bar, a hundred metres — generous for a dress chronograph. The curved seven-row bracelet is one of the catalogue options; alligator with a deployant is the other. Special editions were built on the same base too, the Norton among them, and they say so on the dial.
CollectingWhat collectors check
This is a finely finished watch with a lot of polished surface, so the case is what decides the price. Look at the edge where the flank meets the lug. That crease is the first thing a cheap high-street polish eats, and once it has gone the profile turns soft and the watch loses its character. Pull up a factory photograph from the same angle before you accept that an example is as new.
On the movement, the usual B01 checks: a clean start with no jump in the hand, a crisp stop, and an exact return to zero on both counters. Seventy hours means seventy hours — if it dies on the second day, something is wrong. This is an expensive calibre to look after, so service history counts for more here than it would on an ETA-based watch. If the watch is five or six years old, ask for the invoice from its last visit.
On variants, the panda and reverse panda dials are the ones this generation gets chased for, and the seven-row bracelet carries a premium over the strap simply because you cannot easily buy one on its own. Check the deployant is signed and not a generic replacement somebody fitted. And when you are comparing listings, do not let AB0118 and AB0145 blur together: they are separate collections that happen to share a name, and the market treats them separately too.
Common questionsWhat people ask us about this reference
How many registers does the Premier B01 Chronograph 42 have?
Two. Running seconds and a thirty-minute counter, in a bicompax layout. There is no twelve-hour totaliser, which is why the movement carries forty-one jewels rather than the forty-seven of the full version.
What is the difference between the AB0118 and AB0145 references?
AB0118 is the generation launched in 2018; AB0145 is the model's eightieth-anniversary collection from 2023, with archive-inspired dials and a tenth of a millimetre shaved off the thickness. They look very alike from outside, so the base number is the only reliable way to tell them apart.
Can you swim with the Premier B01?
It is rated at ten bar, a hundred metres. Rain, splashes and the odd swim are fine, but it is not a dive watch and you should keep your fingers off the pushers underwater. For a dress chronograph the figure is generous.
Who created the Breitling Premier?
Willy Breitling, third generation of the family, in 1943. It was the first watch the firm designed for style rather than function, at a point when the business lived on technical chronographs for pilots and doctors.
Keep readingWhere to go from here
Close relativesThe ones it gets confused with
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