Breitling Chronometers
The Swiss Official Chronometer testing institute establishes which timepieces can be called a chronometer. This is an independent Swiss organization that establishes criteria for quality and performance in watchmaking. A watch that wants the title must demonstrate that it meets the criteria through a series of test. Specifically, the watch movement is rigorously tested.
A watch with a quartz osciallator is examined over a period of 11 days. During this time the watch orientation and positioning are changed. In addition, the temperature is changed periodically to test the reaction to varying degrees of heat and cold. There are seven benchmarks the watch must meet. The maximum variation in rate over a 24 hour period is plus or minus 0.07 seconds. This is equivalent to a plus or minus 25 second precision throughout the course of an entire year.
The Breitiling Aerospace, and indeed all Breitling watches surpass these crtieria. Breitling watches have a plus or minus 15 second precision in a year. In fact, Brietling is the only watchmaker that has chronometer cetifified movements in all its watches.
THe title chronograph applies to watches with functions for recording duration, like a stopwatch. Being a chronograph does not imply the watch is a chronometer. However, in the case of Breitling watches, all chronographs are also chronometers.