The Breitling Watch Blog

Next up in my search for the ultimate sub-$500 watch is a Wilson Watch Works Navi, which I briefly talked about the other day.

The Wilson Watch Works (WWW) stuff is not very known, especially outside of ebay, but very impressive. I stumbled upon Wilson Watch Works when I was browsing through ebay at various watches using the Swiss Unitas 6497/6498 movements. These are hand made peices from the US, made from German crafted cases and dials, with Swiss luminova. Front crystals are all Sapphire, double AR coated, with rear exhibition crystal made from K1 Mineral.

The model I picked up is the Navigator, or that’s what I call it at least because of the navigator dial, as Chris at WWW does not have model names yet. Dials and cases are totally sterile. This one is 42mm, and bead blasted stainless steel. They are all available with any combination of cases, dials or movements. You can choose to have a seagull movement installed if you prefer, and will save you $150 or so.

As you can see, the semi-gloss black navigator dial is very nicely crafted, with expertly applied Swiss luminova on the all the outer markers and outer arabics. Hour and minute hands are also both illuimated.

I put mine on a German Pilot strap with rivets in a dark chocolate brown, and I think it looks fanastic. Chris offers them on either vintage or bund straps, but I am partial to the double rivet pilot strap so I sourced mine elsewhere.

The crown is very nicely crafted of solid stainless and finely bead blasted as well. The movement is nice and slack-free, unlike those chinese seagull unitas copies. The cases are manufactured by a company in Germany that also manufactures cases for Tourby watches and Lum-Tec, which sell nearly identical watches for almost twice the price, which is probably fair market value. Wilson Watch Works doesn’t have the same exclusive dial and case designs, but the quality is the same, and thus you save money.

This case uses lug screws, not spring bars, which is kind of nice. The screw threads are very strong and well threaded, and not likely to strip. They are polished, which gives a nice contrast to the blasted case.

Exhibition caseback showing the swiss made eta unitas 6497 movement, undecorated, but beating strong. Did not really check accuracy, but it was within seconds of my Breitlings that I synched it to over the course of a day. Of course the Unitas doesn’t have a date complication, but most days I can do without it – doesn’t stop me from looking for it though.

On my wrist, the 42mm case is fanastic. Probably the perfect size, though the spikey diamond crown digs into my wrist sometimes. But I love the watch and love the case. Everything about it screams quality… and at a price of $459, it certainly is worth the price and very close to the perfect $500 watch for me. I’d been eyeing the Tourby peices as well, but at $800+, they would really have to offer me something that WWW doesn’t. And until then, I’ll stick to my WWW Navigator.

Take a look at his ebay store here: http://shop.ebay.ca/merchant/wilsonwatchworks

I went on a bit of an affordable watch buying spree and picked up several watches in the Sub-$1000 category. Three of these watches clocked in under $500, and it gave me the inspiration for an article because I realized that there is definately a niche that these affordable watches fill. I have had my share of bargain mechanicals liks Trias in the past, and was disappointed. This new breed of watch is quite different from the last, however. I’ll be releasing video reviews for some of these watches as well in the future. The prices I am going by are the available online prices for these watches new, not the MSRP or the used prices. I’ll start from lowest to highest priced.

1. Alpha Radiomir Automatic – $65US

The first watch is an Alpha Radiomir with a Japanese Miyota movement, probably the best movement that Alpha uses, as most of their other watches use fairly unreliable Chinese movements with questionable accuracy. Their cases on the other hand are very well made, and a steal given the ridiculously low prices. This is the perfect mechanical watch if your budget is below $100.

2. Ticino Stealth Military Pilot Watch – $199US

The Ticino is a nice budget watch with a cool Pilot look without the price tag associated with it like most 47mm pilots like the Steinhart/Debaufre Nav B-Uhr, or even more so the IWC Big Pilot. The Ticino is also available in this cool stealthy black case with a completely sterile dial. Very nice touch. The watch is completely Chinese made, but good value, especially if this is all you can afford. Manual winding Unitas clone movement in this one.

3. Pyrolume Mechanical Pilot – $400US

Pyrolume is an interesting brand out of the US here, hand assembled in a one-man shop. The watches are mostly constructed out of Chinese-made parts, except for the dials which are CNC machined in-house by the watchmaker. The mechanical movements are either Chinese Unitas Clones or Japanese Miyota automatics mostly, very similar to the $65 Alpha Watch. The watches have very unique and memorable dials of the watchmaker’s own designs, and are the primary reason for buying these watches. The accuracy on mine is not very good. For a primarily Chinese-made product, it is pricey, but his dials are one-of-a-kind. Currently available only through eBay.

4. Swiss Army Ambassador Day-Date – $450US

Victorinox Swiss Army is probably one of the most underrated brands of watches I have ever seen. Their watches are a bit more mass-market, and likely brushed aside by WIS, but the value is undeniable. Retail price on this Ambassador is around $750, but it can usually be picked up online for around $400-475US new. This is a completely swiss made watch, with a decorated rotor, sapphire crystals front and back! And not to mention the dial is quite stunning. Pricing is very much inline with Hamilton watches. Victorinox makes a very good watch for the money.

5. Wilson Watch Works Unitas Navigator – $460US

Wilson watch works is one of my favourite places to pick up a $500 watch. His watches are probably the priciest of the bunch, but justifiably so. The cases are sourced from Germany, as are the dials, sapphire crystals, Double AR coating on the front. Movement is Swiss made Unitas, and timed and regulated. Compared with watches at several hundred more. At this price competition is stiff, but the Wilson Stands out especially if you like the pilot style watch. Currently available only through eBay.

Overall, all these watches offer something unique for the pricepoint, and will appeal to different people. The key thing is to remember that there are lots of great choices out there for any budget, and to have fun when you are collecting!

I continue my search for the perfect sub-$500 watch, in order to help prospective buyers get their watch fix while still remaining realistic in this financial crisis. Because you gotta get your fix, even if your savings are taking a dive… I know this 🙂

The next couple of watches I am reviewing are some watches by a fellow who gained his customer base from a replica watch forum, and started his career by modding replica watches. He calls them Hommage watches now as his watch creations do not bear the marks of commercial watch companies, but are rather sourced from the same people that provide Alpha Watch with their parts.. another famous Hommage watch company I have also tried out recently.

The man behind the products is Pejman Foroush, and he CNC machines his own custom dials on a benchtop CNC mill.. very cool. Custom dials and custom applied Lume.. you’ll see why they are called Pyrolume the first time you see one.

His prices run about $200-500 at the moment, with occasionaly $1 no reserve auctions on ebay, which is where I picked mine up. I bought two watches from him, one a manual winding asian unitas, and the other a Japanese Miyota quartz movement.

Pyrolume 50mm Japanese Miyota Quartz

A very cool and unique looking watch, with a somewhat rough finish. He said that this is a “prototype” watch so it is not finished as well as others. The strap I put on the watch is an aftermarket $100 NUBO strap. The original bracelet that came with the watch was made of a very cheap metal, almost feeling like aluminum and really did not do the watch justice. I was unable to get the bracelet off using Pejman’s instructions as there is no notch that is typically there to remove bracelets. I ended up using a drill press and just drilling right through the bracelet to remove it.

His dials is really the center point of this peice, as the case is nothing special, and actually a bit light and flimsy. However, the care he puts into his dials is really something. Very good work indeed. I would really like to see this stuff in a germany or swiss made case, with a genuine swiss movement.

As you can see, the Lume is outstanding, and is really the whole point of the watch. If you are looking for a completely unique dial, made and assembled in the USA, this is your watch. However, I would say that the case work and original bracelet were a bit lacking given the prices.

Oh, and just for kicks, I checked out the back of his dials. Kinda neat hey?

Pyrolume Manual Winding Pilot 45mm

Now this Pyrolume costed a bit more than the other one, but the dial is a bit less flashy, and has a very neat blasted surface, that looks amazing when it is lit up. This one has a Chinese replica unitas movement in it, and the case is all blasted Titanium. It’s a really dark titanium, so I’m not sure what alloy/grade was used, but I do not think it is the type typically used for watches.

As you can see from the above pic, the surface has what he called a “moonstone” finish to it, that somehow reflects some of the lume when it is lit.. not sure how he did it but it is very cool.

Here is a wrist shot of the watch on a black leather strap that I swapped in. It came on a Panatime Carbon fiber strap that was okay, but I did not like that the blue stitching in the strap was a different hue of blue than the kind onf the dial and of course the buckle was not titanium… just looked a bit off to me so I stuck it on leather for these pics… Afterwards I bought a grey NATO strap that matches the Titanium dial and now it looks Amazing! I love it on the grey Nato, and that is where it is staying.

See, there it is on my grey Nato.. I love it. Too bad that it covers the exhibition back, but no biggie, just a chinese movement. Speaking of the movement, I am not sure what level of experience Pejman has with watchmaking, or what kind of regulation he puts his watches through, but this watch is running about 30-40 seconds fast per day, and has ever since I received it. It may have gotten magnetized on the way here, or just was that way before it came. Its hard to tell how fast sometimes because there is no second hand, so its just a rough guess.

The quality of the case on this model is better than the one on the Quartz one, and is reflected in the price. Also it is Titanium, which probably adds a bit to the cost. The crystal is curved, and a bit annoying as it reflects quite a bit of light, but the Dial on this one is truly magnificent. I love the blue hues and sandy finish to the dial, and that is indeed the entire purpose of this watch, to showcase the dial. All things aside, Pejman does a fantastic job with his dials, and for that he should be commended.

There is a nice lume shot of the dial from Pejman. All things aside, these watches might be priced a bit high in my opinion, but their one-of-a-kind originality is worth the price if you like it. I would really like to see some swiss movements in his watches, as that would really up the ante and justify the pricing. Heck, he could even raise his prices if he switched to swiss movements and cases.

Given that you can pick up peices from Debaufre and Invicta completely swiss made for the same price, it is the innovative dials that will draw you to his peices, not the quality of the movements.

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.