I love ana-digi fake watches and have a genuine soft spot for perfect replica Breitling Aerospace (especially the early examples). It’s a true modern tool watch, and I love the mix of function-over-form thinking and small elements like the fact that the displays (at least those with backlights) remain compatible with night vision goggles. I owned, adored, and entirely regret selling my grey-on-grey E56062-gen example and will almost certainly own another Aerospace in the future.
Focusing on this specific new edition, the orange dial and the special balloon case back are certainly cool, but both ana-digi luxury fake Breitling fans and old-school Hodinkee readers may remember that this is not the first Orbiter 3-themed Breitling super clone for sale. Back in 2000, the brand released the Emergency Orbiter 3, a 1,999-unit edition of the then-current Emergency generation with a blue dial that was further customized with the logo from Orbiter 3. My good pal Jason Heaton had one and wrote a lovely In-Depth for Hodinkee back in November of 2016 – I highly recommend you check it out here.
Back in 2000, the cheap replica Breitling Emergency was selected because that’s what the crew of Orbiter 3 – Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones – wore while riding that balloon around the world. Given the difficulty of the mission and the likely need for rescue, the Emergency was the sensible option at the time. Sadly, that Emergency is no longer made, as it was discontinued more than a decade ago and was replaced by the Emergency II, which is available but as more of a special-order item). Within the modern aaa quality fake Breitling catalog, the 25th anniversary thus fell to the Emergency’s sibling, the top super clone Breitling Aerospace.
Within that modern context, the best quality fake Breitling Aerospace gets the handsome orange dial, and a special edition is born (along with that piece of the original balloon). At 43mm, the watch is a bit large for today’s tastes but is actually no larger (in standard case dimensions) than the original Orbiter 3 Emergency. I do expect that titanium will help quite a bit here, but also that the size won’t be the first concern for the type of Swiss movement replica Breitling customer that would love to own this new Orbiter 3 Aerospace. This is a niche within a niche.
With rumors mounting that the current-gen of the Swiss copy Breitling Aerospace will soon be replaced by an updated reference, this B70-powered example may be as much a forward-looking creation as it is a reference to a special event from a quarter century in the past.
For me, there are two takeaways. First, the Orbiter 3 mission is a great story, and I highly recommend you read Jason’s In-Depth on the mission and the original commemorative Emergency (re-linked here for convenience). Second, I’m thrilled that best quality replica Breitling is not yet done with my favorite model in their lineup as the ever-foolish Aerospace continues to find a home in both Breitling’s past successes and the brand’s ever-evolving future.
