Miles Davis Had His Own Kind of Cool, and His Own Breitling Navitimer
For the jazz icon’s 100th birth anniversary, Breitling brings back the Navitimer that Miles Davis made unmistakably his own.
by Alvin Uy
Published on Sep 8, 2026
Miles Davis did not follow trends. He followed instinct. That was true of his music, his clothes, his cars, and, apparently, his watch.
To celebrate what would have been Davis' 100th birthday, Breitling has unveiled the Navitimer B09 Chronograph 41 Tribute to Miles Davis, a limited edition of just 500 pieces inspired by the Breitling Navitimer ref. 806 Mk5 the legendary trumpeter wore in the mid-1960s.
It is an appropriate tribute to a man who spent his life doing something remarkably similar to what the Navitimer represented, taking an established set of rules and knowing exactly when to break them.
Born on May 25, 1926, Davis was far more than one of jazz's greatest trumpeters. He was one of the genre's great architects of change. Over a career spanning more than four decades, he helped shape cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, and the electrified jazz of the late 1960s and 1970s. Few musicians reinvented themselves so often—and fewer did so while remaining unmistakably themselves.
The Breitling Miles Davis Navitimer
Miles Davis
His influence extended well beyond jazz. Landmark recordings such as Birth of the Cool, Kind of Blue, and Bitches Brew became reference points for generations of musicians and artists.
Davis understood something about creativity that would become central to modern culture: you could respect tradition without being imprisoned by it.
Long before the luxury-watch world turned tool watches into objects of desire, the Navitimer was exactly what its name suggested: a serious instrument for aviation. Breitling developed the Navitimer in 1952 for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, incorporating its now-famous circular slide rule that allowed pilots to perform calculations relating to speed, distance and fuel consumption.
The Navitimer carried the distinctive Twin Jet Breitling logo and a reverse-panda dial
The watch was designed for the cockpit. Miles Davis wore it elsewhere.
His Navitimer ref. 806 Mk5, dating from the mid-1960s, carried the distinctive Twin Jet Breitling logo and a reverse-panda dial. More importantly, it became part of Davis' unmistakable personal style at a time when wearing a complicated pilot's chronograph simply because it looked good was hardly conventional.
While there was no definitive account that explains his decision to buy the Breitling. What we do know is that the choice fits the man. Davis was famously individualistic. He was known for sharply tailored Italian suits, exotic sports cars, and an attitude that made conventional definitions of style seem rather irrelevant.
In a 1985 Spin interview, Bob Dylan called Davis his "definition of cool." That may be as good an explanation as any. Davis did not merely possess style. He treated style as another form of self-expression. The Miles Davis Estate puts it directly: his Navitimer "wasn't a prop." It was something he chose because it spoke to him.
The Navitimer's display caseback in all its glory
Two Originals, One Philosophy
This is where the Breitling tribute becomes more interesting than a simple celebrity edition. The Navitimer and Miles Davis share an unlikely philosophy. The watch was created to solve problems. Davis spent his career creating new ones.
He could take the conventions of jazz and strip them down to silence and space, as he did with the cool-jazz recordings that made his trumpet sound almost conversational. Then he could turn around years later and plug into an amplifier, embrace rock and funk, and help invent an entirely new musical vocabulary. He never seemed particularly interested in asking what he was supposed to do next.
The Navitimer on his wrist reflected much the same sensibility. It was a technical instrument, but Davis transformed it into something personal. As Breitling House of Brands CEO Georges Kern puts it, "On Miles Davis' wrist, the Navitimer became part of a larger cultural story."
That story is now being retold.
The Navitimer B09 Chronograph 41 Tribute to Miles Davis preserves the details that made the original distinctive while avoiding the temptation to simply reproduce a vintage watch. Its 41 mm stainless-steel case mirrors the dimensions of Davis' ref. 806 Mk5. The monochrome reverse-panda dial, cream-colored vintage-inspired Super-LumiNova, and Twin Jet logo evoke the original, while the modern execution brings contemporary Breitling craftsmanship into the equation.
Inside is the manually wound Breitling Manufacture Caliber B09, a fitting mechanical choice given that the original belongs to the era before automatic chronographs became commonplace. The COSC-certified movement provides approximately 70 hours of power reserve and is visible through the open sapphire-crystal caseback.
The chronograph retains the Navitimer's signature aviation-inspired circular slide rule, while the watch is water resistant to 30 meters. The caseback is engraved "Miles Davis Centennial" and "One of 500," making the limited production unmistakable.
Buyers can choose between a hand-colored gradient-brown calf-leather strap with a folding clasp or the revived Air Racer bracelet, a distinctive vented stainless-steel design first introduced in the 1960s. The bracelet's hinged links near the clasp add contemporary comfort to a decidedly period-correct look.
There is something fitting about celebrating Miles Davis with a watch rather than simply putting his name on one. Davis never needed a product to make him relevant. His relevance came from the way he changed the conversation.
The same could be said of the Navitimer. What began as an aviation instrument eventually escaped the cockpit and became a cultural object, worn by people who appreciated what it represented as much as what it could do. Davis was among those who helped make that transition possible.
On his wrist, the Navitimer became less about calculating flight paths and more about personal direction. And perhaps that is the real connection between the two. Miles Davis spent his life navigating his own course, through jazz, fashion, art, and culture, without ever sounding like anyone else.
A hundred years after his birth, Breitling is celebrating the watch that accompanied him along the way.
Some watches tell time. Miles Davis made his tell a story.