The Breitling Watch Blog

This is the first of my recession time watch reviews! In this economic downtime its important to still get the fix for your watch bug, but at the same time stay responsible. Its not about whether you have the money, its about whether you should be spending it. And spending it might not be the prudent thing to do. And some of us aren’t patient enough to wait long periods, so that short term watch fix can be had by spending only a hundred or two.

The Ticino Big Pilot 47mm Watch
I purchased both the black and the regular steel version of this watch after owning an IWC Big Pilot for a very short period of time. Picked ’em up from sizzlinwatches.com – they have a deal now.. cheaper than when I bought them. I really loved the look of the Big Pilot, but it was uncomfortable with the crown digging into my wrist all the time. Couldn’t justify the expense. So I purchased a couple of Ticinos! For $125-200 a pop, the cost was minimal and with the amount that I would wear it, it would last a decent amount of time.

First up is the Ticino Black PVD.

Massic 47mm size, with a well-machined case. Dial is a very nice matte black with a totally sterile dial. Small seconds at 9 o’clock. Very standard Pilot dial, with the Triangle and two dots at 12 o’clock. Speaking of which, does anyone know what that symbol is called?

Comes on a black leather strap, of average quality. Buckle is black coated as well, which was nice to see. If you look closely you can see the crown is not that sharply angled. At first, I thought this was because they painted it black and it wasn’t very good paint. I realized later that it is because it is a cheaply manufactured base metal crown because the non-black coated one looks like this as well, except it is chrome plated.

Visible case back, not bad. Some sort of Chinese movement.. sea-gull, type E, whatever. I don’t keep up on the Chinese movements but if you know, feel free to comment. Once a fellow on youtube called me a blowhard because I didn’t know my Chinese movements and how it’s the heart of a watch. I realize its the heart (or soul, as I like to call it), but keeping up on $20 movements that are replicas of real swiss movements isn’t something I am that interested in. But perhaps one day!

Ticino Big Pilot 47mm Regular Steel.
Now.. onto the Steel version. I picked up the Pilot style bracelet for this one also from the same guys. I prefer the look of this watch on the bracelet, and it seems to sit better on my wrist, even though it is still probably a bit too big for me. The bracelet makes the watch not move around quite as much.. but maybe I just wear bracelets tighter than straps.

There’s a shot of the regular steel version. As you can see, the dial on this one is not sterile, and has the Ticino logo on it as well as the word “Professional”. I think I prefer the sterile dial but this steel case. Too bad they didn’t offer it that way. Perhaps the movements and dials could be swapped out. Looking at the crown, you will notice it is also not very well cut probably because it is chrome-plated base metal rather than stainless steel. I’m not sure how long the plating will last, but most old watches have crowns that are plated base metal.

If you look closely, the movements are actually different. I thought that was strange. I don’t know which Chinese movement was used in which watch, but they are not the same. Both models have Ticino written on the winding gear, however.

And a final shot of the silver model on my wrist.. and another below of the black one on my wrist!

Both watches are pretty good value for being under $200, and offering a nice, subtle styling that you don’t find very often. Both kept very good time, within 12 seconds a day, which is better than many non-swiss made mechanical watches I have had. Aside from the Crowns, I really like the build quality of these peices. Hope you enjoyed the review.