The Breitling Watch Blog

Hey all.

Here’s another Welder I picked up a few weeks back. This one is a stealthy looking black number from U-Boat designer Italo Fontano.

It came in a neat little Water tight case with a 3D rubber Welder Logo on the top. Cool! This case is truly cool and useful. It sure did it’s job of protecting the watch when the FedEx guy dropped my package onto the tiled floor of my office, right in front of me! He got all red in the face from embarrassment. I shrugged it off.

Inside the case was, of course the watch, an info sheet for setting the watch and a coupon for a rubber watch band available in October.
First Impression of the watch? Gee, it sorta reminds me of a U-Boat, eh! So, instead of $5000 dollars I paid about $500 for a watch from the same designer. Sure, minus a Swiss movement and about 18K of gold it’s look similar, yea? Style wise you can see the similarities.

Second Impression. IT’S A HONKIN’ BIG WATCH!!
It’s spec’ed at 48mm. That’s just the Bezel. Add the Crown bar and Chrono buttons and your up for 60mm of watch. That’s about the biggest watch I’ve worn ever. Niiiiiiiiiiice…

The finish is excellent from what I can see. The IPB treated case is a matte black. The K24 I ordered is a black faced, white number Chrono with IPB treated case and black leather Band. Stealthy. The leather band also carries the U-Boat signature metal Lug Tab displaying the Welder logo.

Pulling this Bad Boy out of the case it appears to be a heavy contender. Literally 120 gr. heavy. Since I’m use to heavy, hunky chunky watches we immediately felt a connection to each other. Gotta whip this one on NOW!

As I usually wear watches with Metal Bracelets I struggled a bit to put on the leather strap. A bit stiff as with any new leather watch band.

After a few moments I had the watch on nice and……awwww crap! The crown is on the left side, making this watch a righty. I knew that when I bought it figuring it will be cool to have a righty. So after a few more moments I got the watch off the left and put her on the right.

A bit of waving and flopping around the watch settled on my wrist. Then I conducted the flex test, bending the wrist up and down. The crown touches but it didn’t feel intrusive against my up-bent wrist. For sure it would be fine on my left wrist. BUT would ya wear a righty on your lefty? Hmmmmmm….

On the back of the case there is some info etched on regarding movement, material, Diving depth and weight. Also the serial number.

Next I played with the functions. Nothing special. It worked like any Quartz Chrono. Setting the watch was nothing special.

The Date window is situated at the 9 position. Clear and easy to read.

The Face is matte black with white numbers and index. Luminous hands and the number 2, 4, 8 and 10. The chrono minute dial is also luminous as is the Chrono Second hand. How luminous? Meh, it’s ok, not overly bright but ok. In comparison to my Seiko diver SKX-007 it’s dim.

So what’s the verdict? It’s a cool watch, great for the hunky chunky crowd. Love U-Boat but can’t afford it like me? Here ya go. Great styling, excellent finish and guaranteed to make you look a bit thinner (remember 60mm?) this would do you just fine.

Thanks for reading my review!
Norman

Have you ever wondered what exactly the COSC Certification for mechanical watches entails? I have - So I looked it up.

There are three labs all located in Switzerland that do the COSC certification: One in Geneve, one in Le Locle, and one in Biel/Bienne. The entire testing process takes 15 days, and the watches are tested in five positions. The watches are tested as movement only, and do not come with hands or anything. Automatic movements have the rotors detached during testing and three temperatures are tested as well. 23 Degrees Celcius is the main temperature tested.

NOTE: I have received conflicting information as to whether the second hand attachement and rotor removal is done by the COSC or by the company sending the movements in. Initially I had read that it was done by the company sending it in and not the COSC, but have not been able to find reference to that anymore. Any information would be great!

15 Days for Mechanical watches

Day 1 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Vertical - 6 o’clock up
Day 2 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Vertical - 6 o’clock up

Day 3 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Vertical - 3 o’clock up
Day 4 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Vertical - 3 o’clock up

Day 5 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Vertical - 9 o’clock up
Day 6 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Vertical - 9 o’clock up

Day 7 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Horizontal - Dial Down
Day 8 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Horizontal - Dial Down

Day 9 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Horizontal - Dial Up
Day 10 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Horizontal - Dial Up

Day 11 : 8 Degrees Celcius - Horizontal - Dial Up
Day 12 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Horizontal - Dial Up
Day 13 : 38 Degrees Celcius - Horizontal - Dial Up

Day 14 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Vertical - 6 o’clock up
Day 15 : 23 Degrees Celcius - Vertical - 6 o’clock up

Seven things tested for Mechanical watches

1. Over the first 10 Days the average daily rate must be within -4/+6 seconds
2. Mean variation in rate cannot be higher than 2 seconds in any single position
3. Greatest variation in rate between any 2 days cannot be more than 5 seconds in any single position
4. The difference of the rates in the vertical and horizontal positions cannot be more than -6/+8 seconds
5. The difference between the main daily rate and any individual rate cannot be more than 10 seconds
6. Variation in temperature cannot be more than 0.6seconds per degree
7. Difference between the mean daily rate of the first two dates compared with the the last two dates cannot be more than 5 seconds.

Many brands do not submit to COSC, and feel that their watches are good enough on their own merit. This may be true, but COSC does have its place, and at least in my opinion, it is not a gimmick. It provides the end-user with a third-party certification that their watch is accurate. That is nice to have, though, not necessary in most cases.

Quartz watches have a different set of parameters that must be met.. perhaps we’ll discuss those in a different post

A new watch classifieds site is now open, dedicated to Canadians. This makes it easier for Canadians to connect with other Canadians to buy sell and trade watches, without the hassles of customs and taxes and import duties.

This is a brand new site and will need your support to keep it going! Please visit and start listing your watches for sale/trade if you are Canadian!