If you’re trapped on a deserted island, instead of spending months looking for the Pearl Station and figuring out the smoke monster you could just pull the antenna out of the Breitling Emergency II and call in a rescue party. This watch contains a small emergency transmitter that will notify authorities of your position as soon as you deploy an internal antenna, ensuring you won’t even get a chance to notify Desmond that it’s not Penny’s boat.
The original Emergency watch, designed in the 1990s, sent a 121.5 MHz signal that could be detected by rescue craft within 100 miles of the watch. The new model also transmits at 406.04 MHz, a frequency that is now monitored by orbiting satellite. The watch can transmit for about 24 hours before the battery dies.
The watch is huge – 51mm wide – and surprisingly thick. However, the fact they’ve been able to fit a solid transmitter and a nice quartz chrono into a package that could feasibly save your life is pretty cool. Breitling will also give you a new watch if you activate the transmitter in a real emergency situation. The piece will cost $15,000 when it’s released this year.
The watch comes with a charger for the emergency module and the quartz movement is powered by a separate battery. It’s obviously a bit pricey so you may want to think twice before coughing up the cash. After all if, once you land on the island, you’re suddenly able to walk again and you get to hang around with Evangeline Lilly, you may just want to hang around for a while and see how things play out. Your call. For more on the Emergency, head over to A Blog To Watch’s hands on from Basel this year.