June 2009


Recently, I bought both the SuperOcean Heritage 46 and 38 watches for my Fiance and myself as wedding gifts. We are getting married on July 11, 2009, and wanted to have a couple of Breitlings to commemorate the occasion. Since Much of my recent life has revolved around watches and Breitling more specifically, we felt matching Breitling watches were the way to go.

So I set about finding an AD that offered a good price for the purchase, which I did. The SuperOcean Heritage 46 in Black is a very popular watch, and the wait time on that watch is approximately 6 weeks, which is what it finally took for the watch to arrive. But it sure was worth the wait!

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They are truly stunning watches, with a very business-black dial and presence on the wrist. Case and bracelet craftmanship is of the typical high Breitling quality. The Specs are as follows:

SuperOcean Heritage 46
Diameter: 46mm
Movement: Breitling Caliber 17
Water Resistance: 200m
More Info Link

SuperOcean Heritage 38
Diameter: 38mm
Movement: Breitling Caliber 37
Water Resistance: 200m
More Info Link

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The SuperOcean Heritage 38 is a bit small for me, but to be quite honest, I think that is more than big enough for many wrists. It is slightly small by today’s standards, and while a men’s watch, we decided that it would be a good watch for my fiance as it would match very well with mine. It is a bit large on her wrist, but looks quite nice still.

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Here is a nice close up of the dial detail. You will notice that one of the Lume Dots is slightly off-centre. It isn’t noticeable to the naked eye really, but under a loupe or zoom up in a good macro shot its easy to see. Otherwise the dial is immaculate. You can see the slight bluish hue that comes from the double Anti-reflective coating on the Sapphire Crystal.

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A nice Bokeh shot with the SOH 46 in the foreground. I think these photographs turned out quite nice, with a slight bit of overexposure. The mesh bracelet is very cool, and fits VERY comfortably on the wrist. It is the most comfortable bracelet that Breitling has made, in my opinion. While the style of the mesh might take a while to really appreciate, the comfort is noticeable immediately.

Bezel clicks very solidly and reeks of quality, as does the crown movement and case machining. Given the price of these watches, I do appreciate them better than the price I would have had to pay for matching Rolex Datejust watches. I probably paid just over half of what a matching pair of all-steel Datejust watches would have costed, and the mens watch would only be 36mm. However, the woman’s datejust does look better for women, I believe.

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Here is a shot of the engraving done on the side of the watch. additionally we had our names engraved on the back in an arch, which turned out quite nicely as well. The case-side engraving was a really cool touch, and feels a bit more permanent than the engraving on the caseback, which is something that we liked about it.

Longines continues to release re-editions of many of it’s classic watches in my relevant and current case sizes, but maintains a style that is loyal to the original. The Silver Arrow 1955 re-edition is the next of these watches. This model boasts a 38.5mm case diameter, and hesalite crystal. Movement is the Longines Caliber L619, base ETA 2892-A2. This model will sell for $1500.

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Here is the video review for the Hamilton X-Wind Chronograph. As I had mentioned in my regular review, I had always wanted an X-Wind since I tried one on in the Caribbean. Its a nice looking watch, like most Hamiltons. Just a small refresher.. 44mm Diameter, swiss made, Valjoux 7750 movement. Sapphire Crystal. Left-hand crown. Enjoy!

The Seamaster Aqua Terra Co-Axial GMT Chronograph is quite the looker, and shares the more aggressive and bold styling that all the new Aqua Terra line of watches have. Raised and intricately shaped indexes, “teak concept” dial, and exclusive Co-Axial Calibre 3603.

Case is 44mm
Water Resistant: 150m
Domed Sapphire Crystal
Caseback: Exhibition

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The Museum dial of Movado, which has been a great identity icon for the company has also become their crutch, as the dial symbolizes a recognizable “high” end brand, but also firmly sits it as the bottom of the luxury brands. Often considered by many to be the top of the low-end watch brands, Movado has been trying to reclaim a spot as one of the innovators in horology.

They have done some amazing casework with their new offering, the Movado Master Automatic. This 44mm Automatic watch has a very unique and articulately designed case in stainless steel. Crystals are sapphire, and it is water resistant to 300 meters, thus the rubber strap. It uses a ETA 2824-2 Movement, with a blackened and laser-cut Movado logo rotor.

My personal opinion on this watch is that the case is beautiful, and the dial is recognizably Movado, but not too much so, allowing their designs to break free of the mold but still maintain their iconic identity.

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