The Breitling Watch Blog

Watch discount retailers have been liquidating these Eterna Soleure automatics like mad for the past couple years, and I have had my eye on them since they started in around $1100 and have been dropping steadily. Now they can be had for around $800 or a touch less depending on where you go. An absolutely smashing deal considering what a beauty this watch is. Make no mistake, while this watch is priced in Hamilton Territory, case and dial work are far above and compete with Swiss brands matching the true MSRP of this watch, which is around $3000.

As you can see, my version here is the black dial with silver applied indices. There is also a arabic numerals version as well, but I prefer this one due to the cleaner, more classy look. Seems to suit this watch better. I actually have a moonphase version of the Eterna Soleure with the silver sunburst style dial. I like that dial as well but now having both of them I think if I had to choose one, I’d take the black. You can clearly see the blue tinge of the AR coating as well in the above photo.

The watch is housed in a beautifully crafted 316L three-piece stainless steel case, measuring 42mm in diameter and 9.5mm in thickness. The casework is fantastic and at street prices around $800-900, it is an incredible deal. The machining and polishing are top notch. Indices and hands are beautifully crafted and polished as well, giving the watch a quality appearance. The date is located at 6 o’clock, and is quickset.

The case back is mostly polished with some finely sandblasted edges, and solid steel not revealing the Selitta SW-200 movement beneath. I had a photo of the caseback opened on another example of this watch but I seem to have misplaced it. It is a nicely finished version of the movement with a signed and jeweled rotor. The Selitta SW-200 is a near exact reproduction of the ETA 2824 movement, produced by Selitta to service the needs of the Swiss Watch industry since ETA’s announcement to stop selling its movements outside the Swatch Group.

The strap is a wonderfully clean and immaculately hand-crafted Genuine Crocodile affair, with lug attachment side curved to fit the contours of the watch. I love watch straps that have curved ends, but they are hard to find replacements for without paying relatively high prices. That’s one of the things about watches like these that are highly discounted is the straps are often not discounted as much as they should be.

Here’s a shot of the cool Stainless steel deployant that Eterna uses. It is a single butterfly, push-button style deployant with the Eterna logo deeply machined into it. I really quite like it as its easy to use and very comfortable, something that can’t be said for all deployants.

I saved the best for last – a wrist shot of the 42mm Eterna Soleure on my 6.75″ wrist. It actually shows a bit smaller in the photo in relation to my wrist than it does in real life. I’ve had trouble getting accurate looking wrist shots depending on the type of lens I use. Most either make the watch look too big, or too small. Nevertheless, its always good to see what it looks like on the wrist. I would say that it wears in-line with other 42mm watches. Hope you enjoyed the review!

Specs as Reviewed:
MSRP: $2995
Brand: Eterna
Model 8310.41.41.1175
Polished Stainless steel case (316L)
Strap: Genuine Black Crocodile Strap w/Deployant
Lug Width: 22mm
Water Resistant 5 ATM / 50 meters / 165 feet
Sapphire crystal
Case diameter: 42mm
Case thickness: 9.5mm
26 jewel Movement Automatic self-winding movement, Sellita Calibre SW 200
Swiss Made

Shot some nice photos of my Eterna 1935, and figured I would follow up with the video review I posted a ways back with some photos of this great value watch. Eterna has been making fantastic watches for years, in addition to being the company that created most of the previous generation of ETA movements before selling ETA to Swatch.

This Eterna is like most others, great value for dollar on the secondary and liquidation markets such as eBay. The MSRP’s are high, but if you’re like me, deals can be had on forums as well as on eBay and from luxury watch liquidators.

This particular Eterna I picked up from a fellow on Timezone, second hand. I had purchased a watch from him before and this was the second one. I had seen them all over eBay at one time, but never had the chance to pick up one for what I felt was a good price and had the dial and bracelet combination that I was looking for. I was able to get this one and was really happy since the silver Guilloche dial is fantastic, with the polished stick indices really setting the dial off.

The watch features standard Hours, Minutes Seconds and a Date at 6 o’clock, and the square case measures 29mm x 43mm and is 10mm thick. Sounds small, but its actually not too bad. Very large wearing for what sounds like a 29mm watch. I would probably compare it with most 38-39mm watches for size.

The bracelet is fantastic, and is screw construction, with very good tolerances and fit. Links are two-tone polish and brushed. The clasp is a hidden double butterfly with push button release, and features an Eterna signature on the bracelet section.

The back is a sapphire crystal exhibition back with a view of the Eterna-matic ETA 2824 movement, with customized Eterna Rotor. The caseback is screwed down giving it a bit of water resistance rated to 30m.

There it is on my 6.75″ wrist, which isn’t too bad. The watch looks fantastic with dress shirt and suit and was one of my favourite dress watches for quite a while. Its probably more suited to a dress shirt type of environment as I don’t like how it wears with T-shirts. Overall, a beautifully crafted timepiece which is a steal at secondary market prices as most eterna watches are.

Check out the old video post here if you haven’t seen it already:
http://blog.breitlingsource.com/2011/07/26/eterna-1935-eterna-matic-watch-video/

On my computer, I have a photo temporary folder where I store my photos initially after downloading them from my camera. Its like an “unsorted” temporary folder before I have decided what to do with my pics. Because I am busy (or lazy, can’t always tell which), photos often sit there for months. Looking through my temp folder now, I see lots of wrist shots, and figured I would throw them up on here for kicks. Seeing lots of wrist shots in a row is kind of a cool thing, so Here it is!

Up First: Rolex GMT-II Ceramic

Next Up: IWC 3717 Spitfire Pilots Chronograph

Eterna 1935 Automatic

Panerai PAM90 Power Reserve

Sinn 857 GMT Tegimented

Panerai PAM320 GMT

Wyler Geneve Code-R Chronograph

JOA 249 Homage

Graham Chronofighter Classic

I’ve posted a new video review of my Eterna 1935 Automatic watch. I’d wanted one of these for quite a while, because Eterna’s always been great bang for buck on the secondary markets. Phenomenal case-work and quality for the price. This is a bit of a old-school rectangular style, but if the JLC Reverso can be considered beautiful, why not this right?

Here is the video review finally of my Eterna Soleure Moonphase that I reviewed a while back. This is one of my favourite “off-brand” watches, meaning brands that are not well known with the majority of people. I love the single pusher Chronograph function and I love the clean subdial for the moonphase. Instead of putting the Chronograph Hour counter there, its a clean moonphase complication. Fit that onto the nice 42mm Soleure case from Eterna, and you have an outstanding timepiece.