The Breitling Watch Blog

My second and last Pyrolume Watch video review. I don’t think that Pejman at Pyrolume appreciated my lukewarm reviews of his watches, but that’s the way I feel about them. They are essentially Alpha watches with a custom made dial. Look neat, yes, but the premium for the dial on what is essentially a dressed up $50 watch is pretty high.

Having said that, his dials are pretty unique and they are not something you can get anywhere else, and they are CNC’d in-house and hand lume-painted. I think I would appreciate them more if he used a $250 base watch and charged $500 for the watch, however.

I’ve posted video reviews of both Ticino Big Pilots of Youtube, and here they are for you guys to check out if you haven’t seen them already. Both are 47mm reproductions of the Nav B-uhr Pilot watch from WWII. Manual winding Chinese unitas copy movements.

The video review for the budget-watch Ticino Big Pilot in the stealthy black case with sterile dial. A very cool watch for the money, and definately something that will keep your watch bug at bay if Pilot watches are your thing! Massive 47mm full sized big pilot case, with Chinese Manual winding Unitas movement.

Since the Economy has not recovered, I will continue to review some more affordable watches!

WWII style Pilot watches are a popular style of watches these days, with IWC coming in at the top of the price range, with a dozen or more other Swiss and German brands coming in anywhere under them. Some of the major Pilot watch producers include Steinhart/Debaufre, Archiemede, Ollech & Wajs, Damasko, Tourby, and Laco. What many may or may not know is that Laco was one of the five brands selected by the German military to produce watches for them during WWII along with Wempe, A Lange Stowa, and IWC. So if you want an authentic, yet affordable WWII style Pilot watch, Laco is definately your best bet.

Now, this is an automatic pilot and 42mm in diameter, which makes it different from the originals which were 47mm, and manual winding. They were large so that they could be worn around the outside of a flight jacket and still be easily seen. You can get the 47mm version from Laco, but the one I have here is 42mm, and has an ETA 2824-2 Movement, etched with the Laco logo on the rotor.

Its a very nice watch, with a mineral crystal (it can be ordered with Sapphire), and sits very well on my somewhat small wrists. The lugs have a interesting shape as they stick straight out from the case, rather than curving down. The Lume on the watch is okay, but not fantastic.

There you can see the air-cooled perforated strap, but it is only perforated on the back and sides. It remains solid on the top, which is a nice feature. It makes the watch very comfortable to wear, and even comes with the same strap in black in case you want to swap.

And finally, a wrist shot. More and more I am finding I like the 42mm size, and though I do enjoy the 47mm pilot, I find the 42mm more suitable for me, and really in the end looks better, regardless of wrist presence.

If you like the Pilot watches, do yourself a favor and check out Laco. They are one of the original suppliers for WWII pilot watches, and they continue to make a great product for a great price today. This 42mm Pilot sells for about $450 new.

In my conitnuing search for good Budget watches, I got my first Glycine watch and it’s a very cool watch. I had seen a friends Glycine Airman D24, with the three separate hour hands and decided it was time for me to get a Glycine and see what the fuss is all about. While the Airman is not quite as fancy nor as desirable as the D24, it does have a similar feel with its large flat face and easily readable dial.

The Glycine Combat 4 is available in four or five different dial lume colors, all with a black dial. This one in particular has the yellow/green numbers and is my favourite. The other options include White, Blue, Red and I believe Orange though I’m not sure. The information online available for Glycine watches in general is very limited. Maybe it’s time for a glycinesource.com?? haha.. maybe not.

The Combat 4 has a nicely decorated Swiss ETA 2824-2 movement, and of course the entire watch is Swiss Made. It does not have a specification as to whether or not the crystal is Mineral or Sapphire, and the information available online is limited, but I am assuming that it is Mineral, as Glycine does use a lot of mineral crystals.

It is a bit strange seeing a watch that retails north of $800 with a Mineral Crystal (I am assuming), but it is a very nice watch. The dial is a very large one, with a case diameter of 43mm. This watch wears large for it’s size. The bracelet is also a very nice one. It feels really loose when you move it around, but it sits and molds to your wrist very nicely. When I strap this watch on, I want to look at it.. the dial just jumps out at me.

There it is on my 6 3/4″ wrists, and it really fills it out. The lume on this watch is one of the best I’ve seen. It starts glowing immediately and holds it longer than most watches I have. This guy is water resistant to 50M, and does not have a screwdown crown. A very simple watch, but it has that simple, but not too simple style to it with a touch of Pilot watch and a touch of sport watch. It looks simple, but it stands out, and looks great.

I think I need to get another Glycine now!