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The interactive Then & Now pop-up museum focuses on Breitling’s considerable history as the brand celebrates 140 years of firsts. Long-time brand ambassador, Swiss explorer and climate advocate Bertrand Piccard and Gregory Breitling, son of Willy Breitling, the last member of the Breitling family to head the company, were present for the opening on 28 August, along with a number of VIPs.
Breitling’s first-ever heritage-inspired pop-up museum is open to the public free of charge for a limited time only. Visitors can request a ticket by either walking in or selecting a time slot online to book a visit in advance. Additionally, the ground-floor Breitling Café features cocktails and small plates. A special anniversary book, Breitling: 140 Years in 140 Stories, released by Rizzoli, is on sale in the gift shop along with various branded items.
Through a selection of unique and often untold stories, Breitling takes the visitor back to the early days of the brand’s beginnings in Saint-Imier in 1884, before Leon Breitling relocated the company to his hometown, La Chaux-de-Fonds, the heart of Switzerland’s watchmaking industry. Visitors are encouraged to discover major milestones of Breitling’s history with a journey through the Time Tunnel before taking a deep dive into the brand’s three “universes” of air, land and sea. The mini in-house Chronometrie allows visitors to explore the intricacies of movement Manufacture with the support of state-of-the-art interactive technology, while the on-site flight simulator brings the brand into the present day with family-friendly activities.
A collection of 88 rare vintage watches that showcase Breitling’s pioneering innovation and inspired exploration over 140 years are the central focus of the pop-up museum. Celebrated milestones include the first Swiss wristwatch in space worn by Mercury 7 NASA astronaut Scott Carpenter in 1962 and timepieces that accompanied the first nonstop round the-world balloon flight completed by Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones in 1999.
September 19, 2024