Twenty-five years ago today, balloonists Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones landed in the Egyptian desert in the Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon. They had just become the first people in history to circumnavigate the globe in a balloon without stopping, having completed 45,633 kilometres in just under 20 days.

Piccard recalls, ‘It was not only about flying around the world; it was about showing that we can achieve much more than we think. Now, as then, we need to be able to dream big. To get out of our comfort zone. To be disruptive. When you apply this thinking to any topic, you can change the world.’

Swiss watchmaker Breitling has long embodied Piccard’s belief through its pioneering horology. Indeed, although the brand soared to new proverbial heights through its participation in the Orbiter 3 endeavour, it boasts an even greater heritage in the domains of land, sky and sea – from the instruments it made for military aviators in the 1930s to its recent Professional line – high performance watches that Piccard himself went on to use. Hence, Breitling will celebrate its 140th anniversary this year by telling the stories of its many landmark achievements.

It kicks off the celebrations by launching the Aerospace B70 Orbiter – a watch that not only recalls the Orbiter 3 but contains a segment of the balloon, a literal piece of history. Breitling CEO Georges Kern says, ‘As we honour the pioneering spirit of the Orbiter 3 mission, we reaffirm our commitment to being at the forefront of aviation’s future. The skies have no limit and neither do we’.

Like other models Breitling offers, the Aerospace B70 Orbiter serves as a symbol of the brand having always reached for the sky when it comes to quality. It is powered by the brand-new COSC-certified Breitling Manufacture Caliber B70. This is a thermo-compensated SuperQuartz analogue and digital display movement that delivers ten times the accuracy of a standard quartz watch. It fuels a 1/100th of a second chronograph with split-time and flyback functions, a countdown timer, a second time zone, two alarms, a lap function, and a perpetual calendar.

While its functionality is fit for explorers like Piccard, the timepiece is also highly legible, since luminescent Super-LumiNova coats its numerals, indexes, and hands. Its dial, meanwhile, borrows a bright orange aesthetic from the Breitling Orbiter 3 capsule, while a segment of the original balloon is showcased through a transparent caseback inscribed with a commemorative marking. The Breitling Orbiter 3 mission logo appears on the dial at 3 o’clock. And the watch comes with either a black rubber strap with a folding clasp or a bracelet crafted in the same robust yet comfortable titanium as the case.

Breitling Aerospace B70 Orbiter, 43mm, black rubber strap/titanium bracelet, £3,950; breitling.com