The Breitling Watch Blog

Well, only Rolex, Blancpain, Vacheron, and Ulysse Nardin videos right now… but the B’s will come. I’m working on getting lots of Breitling vids up, and hopefully lots of people will enjoy them.. but right now I have 9 videos up of general watches and watchmaking movements type things… check ’em out! The link is listed there on the right, but there will be more.

http://youtube.com/profile?user=breitlingsource

Since I picked up that Silver Navitimer in Toronto, I’ve been wearing two Navi’s…. one of them is a Black model with the Valjoux 7750 style layout, using the Breitling Caliber 13 movement. I think I will be getting rid of this one… If anyone is interested, my asking price is $2300US Shipped + paypal fees 😉

Anyway, this is a great watch… very classic, and the colors Black with white subdials and outer ring are instantly recognizable as a Breitling Navitimer. What better way to start off a Breitling Navi collection right? I am hoping to snag a larger Heritage in either white with black subdials or black with white subdials… this one is dubbed the Old Navitimer II, and is a 2002 Model. COSC ceritfied with all boxes and papers. I really liked wearing this one with a suit, and it keeps time to within 2 seconds a day.

Band is well made, but will need to be replaced. Has a quickset date which is a plus. The new model does not!

Beautiful back and excellect construction… I will be buying more Navitimers in the future. Possibly a Navitimer world or maybe a Heritage next. I also want a Chrono SuperOcean or Chronomat Evolution soon! So many watches, so little time. Keep ’em sharp!

The Navitimer keeps great time, within COSC specs… has a great curved Anti-glare sapphire crystal, and looks fantastic on the wrist. The packaging, as with all Breitling watches is very nice. Though I really like the newer style Breitling pacakging that includes the travel case!

Movement: 9/10
Case/Crystal/Crown: 9/10
Dial/Hands: 9/10
Strap / Buckle / Bracelet: 8/10
Accuracy: 9/10
Comfort: 8/10
Packaging / Manual: 8/10
Overall Impression: 9/10

Toronto was a great success, and I managed to procure the Breitling Navitimer with Silver face and Arabics and the custom knife that I’ve been waiting 2 years for! A very spectacular peice, I must say. Designed and built by Kirby Lambert of Regina Saskatchewan. I have 6 knives from him. Enough chitchat… here are the pics!

First we have a fantastic knife by one of the hottest Canadian knifemakers around, Kirby Lambert. It is based on his Spearpoint model, and has Devin Thomas Reptillian Damascus Bolsters, Mammoth Ivory handles that I scored from Tony Painter of the Yukon several years ago, and a very nice Hamon on the 1050 Tool Steel blade.

The next item i procured is a silver dial Navitimer… very rare arabic dial. I simply LOVE THIS WATCH. I did try on a Bently Motors T that I loved even more, but the price was over double, so I had to pass.

Enjoy pics of the Navitimer Silver:

In the upcoming Month I will be adding to my current collection of watches. There are 3 watches coming in, a Breitling Navitimer, Sinn 6100, and an Eterna Airforce Chronograph…. all will be reveiwed soon!

I will also be reviewing knives in a new Knife Blog that I will be starting very shortly. Keep you eyes out for that! If you have any interest in custom and production knives, it will be something that you will enjoy. This weekend I will be at the Canadian Knifemaker’s Guild show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I’ll have some pics up of that and perhaps some converts will come out of that! Custom knives are a truly beautiful thing to behold… the craftsmanship that goes into them is phenomenal.

Other than that.. I will be trying out some new watches like the Invicta Bell and Ross BR-01 homage watch… that will be interesting.. not as nice but should definately give me an impression! See you all in a few days!

Right after shipping off that Formex, I just got another watch in! Got this one off of a forum from a REALLY swell guy… sold it to me for such a great price and included Express Shipping all they way to Canada. Got off easy with no duties/taxes too!

Anyway.. here is the wonderful watch from ball:

This is truly one of my favourite watches I’ve received in a LONG time. When i play with it and wear it I get almost as giddy as I do when trying on a new Breitling! Ball watches have been around a while, making watches for the adverse conditions of the railroad building trade I believe. Their new watches have cool Tritium tubes in them to make the indices glow super bright for 25 years!! This one contains an Swiss ETA Automatic movement… the 2893-2. This movement is based on the ETA 2892-2 but wiht the addition of a GMT hand module.

This Ball I purchased is indeed used, and is an older one with the older packaging.. i believe newer models have a white box.

Comes with plenty of links, and a half link as well. A decent sized manual that i have not yet need to consult. Out of the box the watch is keeping time within COSC standards, which is very good. This watch just sits on the wrist really nicely and looks really darn good to boot!

All three hands and all hour indices have the tritium illumination from the tubes. The Second hand and GMT look the same in the dark, however you can tell the difference by the fact that the second one moves a lot quicker. Dial is a nice matte black finish with painted lettering… not quite as nice as the Breitling Dials, but still quite nice indeed. Bezel is very cool as well.

The back of the watch has a very neat engraving/stamping of a submarine, and mentions that the watch is good to -40degrees celcius… a nice feature as it does get cold in Canada!

The bracelet is very well made and I highly recommend the watch in general. Sapphire crystal, Solid stainless bracelet, very robust case and unique styling. It is a lot more streamlined than Breitling watches are, which tend to sit ON the wrist, rather than AROUND the wrist like the Ball.

This Ball also has the signaure ball crown lock which flips up when you release it and pull upwards. A neat feature, but more of s styling gimmick than anything else… kind of like Panerai’s crown protector!

Movement: 8/10
Case/Crystal/Crown: 9/10
Dial/Hands: 8/10
Strap / Buckle / Bracelet: 8/10
Accuracy: 9/10
Comfort: 8/10
Packaging / Manual: 6/10
Overall Impression: 9/10