The watch represents the watchmaker’s mission to transform its entire portfolio by 2025 to one with complete end-to-end traceability

In a Breitling first, the Super Chronomat Automatic 38 Origins is the brand’s first ever traceable watch that features lab-grown diamonds and gold that can be traced back to a responsible source. Besides its beautiful, sparkly design, the watch represents Breitling’s transformative journey to do better as a luxury brand. By 2025, the watchmaker’s entire product portfolio will, like the Super Chronomat Automatic 38 Origins, feature better gold and better diamonds, as well as have end-to-end traceability.

Photo: Courtesy of Breitling

There are still limits within the watchmaking industry when it comes to tracing precious materials. Tracing gold and the small melee diamonds to their origins has been nearly impossible as they tend to be combined from many different sources. Avoiding this by strictly sourcing the gold from a small, artisanal mine and using only lab-grown diamonds, the Super Chronomat Origins can ensure that its precious materials are free from association with conflict or human rights abuses. 

Better gold and better diamonds

The gold used in the watch has met the criteria of the Swiss Better Gold Association, an association focused on the improvement of working, living, and environmental conditions in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) communities. Meanwhile, the watch’s type IIa single-crystal diamonds have been completely lab-grown, subjected to the same rigorous quality testing as natural diamonds, and have been founded to be identical to top-quality mined diamonds.

Better traceability

Since 2020, every new Breitling timepiece has come with a unique digital proof of ownership. For the Super Chronomat Origins, every owner will receive a record of its source in the form of an NFT. The supply chain from raw materials to the finished product will be documented on an online source map.

All-star squad member Chloe Kim

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim is the face of the Super Chronomat Origins. An advocate for sustainability, she supports Protect our Winters, a nonprofit focused on legislation regarding climate change. Apart from her charitable involvements, the snowboarder became the youngest woman to win gold in the halfpipe when she was only 17. Kim won the same sporting event again at this year’s Beijing Winter Olympics at the age of 21.

For more information on the Swiss Better Gold Association, visit swissbettergoldassociation.ch. For more information on the SCS-007 Sustainability Rated Diamonds standard, visit sustainabilityrateddiamonds.com, and visit the Super Chronomat Origins source map here.