Imagen: Breitling, web oficial
The storyWhy this reference matters
In 1964 Breitling put out reference 2005, a Superocean built around a strange idea: the central chronograph hand swept once an hour rather than once a minute. A diver does not care about seconds. What he needs, at a glance, is how many minutes he has been down there. Put the long hand on minutes and the answer arrives instantly. Anybody who picked the watch up without knowing what it was for assumed it was running slow, and the nickname stuck: Slow Motion.
The rest of the watch followed the same logic. A fat block of luminous material on the tip of that hand, so it could be read in murky water, and a running indicator at six to tell you whether the chronograph was actually going — because thirty metres down, nobody remembers whether they pressed the button. The Superocean line dated from 1957 and had already produced the first dive chronograph ever made, reference 807, wearing what was also the first reverse panda dial.
The modern Superocean was redrawn from scratch in 2022, sixteen references running from 36 to 46 mm. Breitling was blunt about the brief when it launched: the codes came from the Slow Motion. Hence the minute hand finished in a square block, the fat solid lume markers, and the high-contrast minute track around the rim of the dial. The A17375 is the 42 mm size, with a ceramic bezel insert matched to the colour of the dial.
SpecificationsThe numbers, in one table
| Brand | Breitling |
|---|---|
| Family | Superocean |
| Reference | A17375 |
| Years made | desde 2022 |
| Calibre | Breitling 17 (sobre base ETA 2824-2) |
| Movement | Automatico |
| Frequency | 28.800 alt/h (4 Hz) |
| Power reserve | Aprox. 38 horas |
| Jewels | 26 |
| Complications | Fecha · Bisel giratorio unidireccional |
| Diameter | 42 mm |
| Thickness | 12.56 mm |
| Lug width | 22 mm |
| Case | Acero inoxidable |
| Crystal | Zafiro abombado con tratamiento antirreflejos en ambas caras |
| Water resistance | 30 bar (300 m) |
IdentificationHow to tell it apart
The hand gives it away before anything else. It is the only one in the range finished in a solid rectangle of lume, and it separates any Superocean from 2022 onwards from everything that came before. The second tell is the bezel: a ceramic insert in the same colour as the dial, unidirectional, ratcheted. The third is the outer minute track, printed in a colour that deliberately fights the centre of the dial.
The 42 measures 42 mm across by 12.56 mm tall, with 22 mm lugs, a screw-down crown running two gaskets, a screwed case back and thirty bar — three hundred metres. It is flatter in the metal than it looks in photographs. The steel bracelet clasp carries a micro-adjustment worth up to fifteen millimetres, designed to get the watch over a wetsuit cuff; it is genuinely useful, and it also confirms you are looking at this generation.
The long suffix pins the combination down: A17375211B1A1 is the black dial, A17375E71C1A1 the blue with the matching bezel, both steel on bracelet. The A17375 stem identifies the 42 mm steel case. There are 36, 44 and 46 mm versions on other stems, so read the number engraved on the watch rather than the card in the window.
CollectingWhat collectors check
The ceramic insert is the part to watch. It shrugs off scratches in a way aluminium never did, but it chips outright, and on a coloured watch a chip is impossible to miss. Run a raking light round the whole perimeter. Then turn the bezel a full circle and listen to the clicks: one direction only, no skipped teeth, no vertical play. On a dive watch that is not fussiness about finish. That is the bezel's entire job.
The Calibre 17 is an ETA 2824-2 underneath, regulated by Breitling and COSC-certified, good for thirty-eight hours. That reserve was the main complaint when the watch launched, and it is a fair one: do not expect what the in-house calibres deliver. The flip side works in your favour. This is one of the best-understood movements ever built, any competent watchmaker can service it, and parts are on the shelf rather than on a waiting list.
On the bracelet, work the micro-adjustment in the clasp. It is the mechanism that gets used most and the first to seize once salt has found its way in and nobody rinsed the watch afterwards. Rinsing a dive watch in fresh water after the sea is not collector fussiness; it is the thing that stops this exact failure. On colour, the brighter dials in the series pull more attention at resale than the black, though the black is the one nobody argues with.
Common questionsWhat people ask us about this reference
Why does the Superocean have a square minute hand?
It is a quotation from the 1964 Superocean known as the Slow Motion, whose chronograph hand counted minutes instead of seconds and carried a square block of lume on the tip so it could be read underwater. Breitling brought that code back in the 2022 redesign.
Which movement is in the Superocean Automatic 42?
Breitling's Calibre 17, built on the ETA 2824-2 base, regulated in-house and COSC-certified. It beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour and gives around thirty-eight hours of reserve.
How deep can it go?
Thirty bar, three hundred metres, with a two-gasket screw-down crown, a screwed case back and a unidirectional bezel. This is a real dive watch, not a sports watch dressed for the beach.
What is the difference between the Superocean and the Superocean Heritage?
The Superocean is the modern line: coloured ceramic bezel, Calibre 17. The Heritage reworks the 1957 Superocean, with triangular hands and, in the B20 version, a Tudor-derived movement good for seventy hours.
Keep readingWhere to go from here
Close relativesThe ones it gets confused with
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