There aren’t many watchmakers that carry a rich and storied legacy into their 140th year. But for Breitling’s 140th anniversary, the Swiss marque continues to surge ahead, celebrating this milestone with a succession of new releases. To commemorate its history of exciting firsts, Breitling has debuted its perpetual calendar chronograph movement, designed in-house.

For those unfamiliar, a perpetual calendar movement is programmed to correctly display and automatically adjust the day, month and year, even accounting for leap years. As long as the complication is kept moving, it won’t require manual adjustment for years – or even centuries.

Breitling has long set itself apart as one of a handful of independent watch companies that produces its own manufacture movements. This began in 2009 with the Manufacture Calibre 01 followed by a string of chronograph calibres: the B02 with 24-hour function, the B03 split-seconds, and the B04 with a GMT. The newly unveiled Calibre B19 is the brand’s first exclusive perpetual calendar movement. It’s a chronograph too, a function for which Breitling played a key role in the development. The new Calibre B19 also features a full calendar and moonphase, which can run for nearly a century without any tweaks.

The calibre is just as impressive visually. Its rotor is carved of solid gold with an engraving of Breitling’s Montbrillant Watch Manufactory in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.

The celebratory launches don’t stop there. Breitling has introduced three limited editions of its flagship models: the Premier, Navitimer and Chronomat. The Premier, which hit the watch scene in 1943, has been refreshed as the Premier B19 Datora 42. This edition appears in solid 18k red gold and retains its Arabic numerals, contrasting minutes scale and signature square pushers.

Next, the new Navitimer B19 Chronograph 43 Perpetual Calendar. First launched in 1952, the Navitimer was Breitling’s successor to the Chronomat, born when the US Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the largest aviators’ club in the world, approached then-owner Willy Breitling to create a chronograph for its members. The anniversary edition retains many of the original Navitimer’s features, such as the famous slide rule which, for this edition, contrasts in black against an 18k red gold dial.

The final model offers up a skeletonised take on the Chronomat, a watch introduced in 1983 as the official timepiece of Italy’s aerobatics team. Kitted out with the model’s distinctive four raised rider tabs at the 15-minute marks and an “onion” crown, the new Super Chronomat B19 44 Perpetual Calendar has been subtly elevated with ceramic inserts and a rubber version of the classic Rouleaux bracelet.

‘With the Calibre B19 and our anniversary limited editions, we’re making history again,’ says Georges Kern, Breitling’s CEO. ‘This launch is about being as groundbreaking as our 140 years of firsts demand.’

£48,000; breitling.com