Imagine it’s a warm summer day and you’re off away from your day job. Maybe it’s a weekend spent hiking in the woods or some other extreme sport.
All of a sudden a rock shifts, you sprain an ankle or something else happens that leaves you stranded. You’re alone. Except with the push of a button on your wristwatch, you’re not alone at all.
That’s the concept of the Breitling Emergency. The watch, released in 1995, has a built-in 121.5 MHz personal locator beacon (PLB) and a dual frequency transmitter. This means it can serve as both an instrument to send alerts and also guide rescue missions to a distressed location.
Breitling identifies the Emergency as the “first ever wristworn dual frequency PLB” and as “a safety and survival instrument in all distress situations on land, at sea and in the air.”
The Swiss watchmakers estimated 40,000 of these Emergency watches were sold during the Emergency’s first run from 1995 to 2010. According to Forbes, the company claimed 20 people were rescued while wearing this watch.
When Breitling began development on a sequel model, it did so because the 121.5 MHz frequency was little used. Instead, a distress call would have to be sent out on the original 121.5 MHz frequency as well as a new 406 MHz (satellite) frequency. Furthermore, the technology around 2009 for this type of machine would have been around the size of two cigarette packages. In other words, not the size of a wristwatch.
When the Emergency II finally debuted in 2013 and was available for U.S. sale in 2015, it did so with a rechargeable battery (it can hold a charge for months at a time). However, in countries Russia, Germany and Canada, the watch is not available for sale because governments need to approve items that with personal location devices.
Before it became available in the U.S., the FCC had to give final approval. A new Emergency retails anywhere from $4,000 to $17,000.
12 Comments
Justin
Awesome! I was wondering about the updated model. Always loved Breitling chronographs. My first “real” watch was and is a Breitling Crosswind I splurged on in 2000!
Let us know if you ever become Chrono certified .
Mike Graves
This is great! I had no idea!
Bob
Are you able to work on Breitling watches?
Johnny
Great idea!!! Never knew this was available.
Mark Morgan
One of the best articles you have ever did. Thank you Mark
Michael Crestohl
Very interesting article Mark. I had no idea that such a device existed.
Daniel Benninghoff
That was very interesting reading. Thank-you
Darin Tornatore
Good read Mark. I heard Tom Cruise and other notable celebrities wear this watch. The watch is truly a ‘James Bond’ style watch.
Mark, can you work on Breitlings? Specifically, a Super Ocean?
Rick
Top Gear did a show that featured this watch a few years back. Season 22 Episode 6
michael buck
you forgot to tell the charge for sending a false alarm
Jim Brake
121.5 MHz is also the aviation emergency frequency. You wake up lots of people when you broadcast on this channel.
Modern ELT ‘s (emergency locator transmitters) transmit aircraft type, registration number, location (using GPS coordinates) and more on the 406MHz band.
121.5 transmits “I’m down (or lost)” and requires triangulation to find you. 406 transmits location within feet.
Thanks for the post, Mark. Always good reading.
Jim
Capt. Michael B. Miller
We have had EPIRB’s on ships since the 70’s, and I knew that technology was making them smaller and cheaper, to the point that they have personal EPIRBS that can be pinned to a life jacket, but I never thought I’d see it this small. Now they just need to get cheaper.