Help Translate Chinese on a Breitling Chronomat A13050

[CKLinLA]

Can someone translate the 4 Chinese characters in the photo below to English for me?
How do you say it, and what do the words mean?

Its the 'motto' on the Breitling Chronomat Limited Edition that I bought Monday. This limited
issue commemorates the end of the deployment of the (British) Royal Air Force in Hong Kong in 1997.


Close-up of the caseback:-



The same crest and motto appears on the dial.




And here are two more (non close-up) shots of the watch. Its my first Breitling, and am loving it ...






Thanks!

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OOoops! I've started this on the wrong forum section.
Can a Moderator help move this to the Other (non-Rolex) Watch Topics section? Thanks

[paoshu]

hi,
nice breitling in memory of 97
The four chinese characters from the right to the left is "cheng gao zhi yuan".
I use Chinese pinyin to pronounce the four characters.
The first character from the right "cheng" means "prospect"; the second character "gao" is an adjective to describe "cheng" and it means "bright".
The third character "zhi" means "ambition"; the fourth is also an adjective to describe "zhi" and it means "great"

[pitbull03]

paoshu is dead on. That's a nice looking watch you've got there with a bit of history on it. I'm jealous.

[tkc324]

Paoshu is right.
If you want to translate the 4 words as a whole... it means "To Travel far and with ambition/honor"

[CKLinLA]

Thanks paoshu, tkc and pitbull.
Your help is much appreciated. Now I know what the motto says/means.

The official motto of the RAF is "Per Ardua ad Astra" (Latin), which means
"Through Struggle to the Stars", so this seems to be a variation of that.

I really liked that this limited issue had links to flying and a 'plain' military style
- except for that RAF crest.

Here's a link to a listing of all limited edition Chronomats:
http://donindiano.lanetcie.com/watch...ditions#hk_raf

[ParisDakarBmw]

Originally Posted by banned4life

I think they mean "poor replica" LOL!

I don't think you'll see this in the watchout section...

That is a very nice Breitling, and you are inspecting every aspect. I have much appreciation for your attention to detail. I may never see that unless a true WIS took the time. Thanks!

[CKLinLA]

Thanks Paul. I am enjoying finding out more about the watch, Breitling, Chronomats, Hong Kong/China and the RAF, as using the watch itself.

[CKLinLA]

Thanks to feedback from forum members (above), I have been able to do additional
research on identifying the 4 Chinese words. on the watch.

The Chinese characters of the motto on the RAF crest on the watch are, starting
from the right are :-
- First character 程 is "Cheng" and means "a Journey";
- Second character 高 is "Gao" and means "High or Lofty";
- Third character 志 is "Zhi" and means "Purpose or Determination";
- The fourth character was identified as 遠 "Yuan" which means "Distant,
Remote or Profound".

The words are very small on the watch and for the 4th character, its hard to be absolutely
sure this matches (unlike the other three words). Its probably because I cannot read
Chinese!

I've put in another pic here, where that 4th character (on the far left) is a bit clearer
than in the earlier pics. (The other 3 words are clearer in the earlier pics.)




Thanks again guys for your help.