WHEN THE BREITLING CHRONOMAT BECAME A SECRET WEAPON IN KAIJI

In Japanese manga, a watch is rarely expected to determine the outcome of a life-or-death gamble. Yet in Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s Kaiji, the Breitling Chronomat becomes precisely that: a discreet instrument of deception during one of the series’ most tense confrontations.

First published in the 1990s, Kaiji follows its eponymous protagonist, an indebted and marginalised gambler repeatedly drawn into contests in which the stakes extend far beyond money. Its psychological intensity and focus on ordinary people pushed to extraordinary extremes have since drawn comparisons with the survival-game genre that reached a global audience through Squid Game. Breitling notes that Hwang Dong-hyuk, creator of Squid Game, has cited Kaiji among the Japanese manga that influenced his thinking about high-stakes competition.

Fukumoto’s visual language is deliberately heightened. Angular faces, exaggerated expressions and moments of almost theatrical tension amplify the emotional pressure surrounding his characters. The stories frequently centre on underdogs who enter seemingly simple games only to discover that the rules are designed to expose fear, instinct and vulnerability.

That sensibility is particularly evident in the confrontation between Kaiji and Yukio Tonegawa, a senior figure within the Teiai organisation. Their contest, known as E-Card, is built around three types of cards: Emperor, Citizen and Slave. The hierarchy is deliberately asymmetric. The Emperor defeats the Citizen, the Citizen defeats the Slave, while the Slave is capable of defeating the Emperor. The structure gives the game a larger symbolic dimension, allowing the apparently powerless player a route to challenge authority.

The tension, however, does not depend solely on the cards.

Tonegawa possesses a hidden advantage. Kaiji has an electronic device attached to his ear, ostensibly part of the elaborate wager. In reality, the device monitors his physical responses, transmitting information about his pulse, body temperature and perspiration. Those readings are displayed through the three sub-dials of Tonegawa’s Breitling Chronomat, allowing him to observe Kaiji’s reactions and anticipate his decisions.

The watch therefore becomes part of the mechanism of the deception. Tonegawa wears it on the inside of his wrist, enabling him to study the readings while appearing to concentrate on the game. When Kaiji notices the unusual positioning of the watch and begins to understand its purpose, the balance of the contest changes.

For Fukumoto, the choice of watch was deliberate. Looking back on the creative decision decades later, he explained that he wanted something appropriate to Tonegawa’s status and found the Chronomat’s chronograph configuration particularly suited to the fictional display of Kaiji’s vital signs. He also regarded its bold design as a fitting visual counterpart to Tonegawa’s character.

It is an unusual example of horology becoming integral to storytelling. The Chronomat is not simply worn by a character; its physical architecture is repurposed within the narrative. The three sub-dials, normally associated with the functions of a mechanical chronograph, acquire an entirely different fictional purpose. In Fukumoto’s hands, the watch becomes a visual shorthand for surveillance, calculation and concealed information.

That choice also acquires an interesting dimension when viewed against the history of Breitling itself.

Breitling was founded in 1884, when Léon Breitling opened an atelier at Place Neuve in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. From its earliest years, the company concentrated on chronographs and precision timing instruments, later developing a particularly strong association with aviation. In 1892, Breitling moved its operations to La Chaux-de-Fonds, one of Switzerland’s historic watchmaking centres.

The Chronomat emerged during a period when the mechanical watch faced an uncertain future. In 1983, Breitling created the Chronograph Frecce Tricolori for Italy’s renowned aerobatic team. Designed as a robust mechanical chronograph for pilots, it introduced features that would become closely associated with the Chronomat, including its distinctive rider tabs and Rouleaux bracelet. The following year, the design was released more broadly under the Chronomat name as Breitling celebrated its centenary.

Its arrival was significant because the Swiss watch industry was then confronting the quartz crisis. Battery-powered watches had transformed expectations around accuracy, affordability and design, placing traditional mechanical manufacturers under considerable pressure. Breitling’s decision to invest in a substantial mechanical chronograph represented a commitment to a different proposition: mechanical engineering, physical presence and a distinctly instrument-led aesthetic.

That history makes its appearance in Kaiji unexpectedly appropriate. The watch had been conceived as a functional instrument, but within Fukumoto’s manga its functions are transformed into the fictional language of psychological warfare.

The connection has become particularly interesting in 2026, as Breitling has introduced a new generation of the Chronomat. The current collection includes 36 mm and 40 mm time-and-date models alongside a 42 mm chronograph. The updated designs incorporate integrated bracelets, a revised bezel architecture and refinements intended to improve ergonomics while retaining recognisable elements of the Chronomat aesthetic.

The watch featured in Kaiji, meanwhile, belongs to another era. The Chronomat reference 13050 used by Tonegawa reflects the design language of the period in which Fukumoto created the story. Its presence is therefore not a contemporary insertion into the manga, but part of the original visual world of the work.

That distinction matters. There was no need for the watch to advertise itself. Its importance comes from the role it plays within the plot: a familiar object made strange by context, its ordinary functions transformed into a device for reading another person’s fear.

The wider story also mirrors the underdog character of the Chronomat’s own history. The model was born when mechanical watchmaking faced formidable competition from quartz technology, yet it became one of Breitling’s defining collections. Its journey from an aviation instrument to a watch associated with sport, popular culture and contemporary design reflects the adaptability of a mechanical object that has repeatedly found new contexts.

Today, Breitling’s official boutiques in the United Arab Emirates include locations in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, including The Galleria Al Maryah Island, Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, Mirdif City Centre and Marina Mall.

The Kaiji episode offers a more unusual context still: a world in which a watch is not merely a marker of status or taste, but an instrument hidden in plain sight. Fukumoto’s decision demonstrates how recognisable design can acquire a completely different meaning when placed inside a carefully constructed narrative.

Perhaps that is the most intriguing aspect of the Chronomat’s appearance in Kaiji. A mechanical chronograph, created to measure time with precision, becomes a fictional means of measuring something far less tangible: hesitation, fear and human instinct. Decades after the manga first introduced the watch, that transformation remains a compelling reminder that design can carry meaning well beyond its intended function.

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