The Breitling Watch Blog

One of the new models from Basel that I am excited about is the Eterna Madison 8 Days Spherodrive. I have had a soft spot for Eterna watches for a long time, and my small collection of Eternas is evidence of that. I have been impressed with the companies creation of new in-house movements (They did create ETA, after all), and have used their signature ball bearing innovation to make the Spherodrive.

The new Eterna Madision 8 Days Spherodrive uses their handwound caliber 3510, and the watch measures 53mm x 38mm, a very healthy size. Its also a beautiful dial and movement, with all screws and screw holes and edges beveled from what it looks like.

MB&F Watches are absolutely amazing horological machines… they are so uniquely designed, and an absolute joy to look at. The amount of care and creativity that goes into each of these is unbelievable, especially when you know that only 25 of them will ever be made.

The Horological Machine No.2 Sapphire Vision measures 59mm x 38mm and is 13mm thick. Water resistance is 30m. Movement is a Jean-Marc Wiederrecht/Agenhor designed automatic, 44 jewels, beating at 28,800 bph and with a 22kt blued gold winding rotor. It contains 349 parts.

Complications include:
Retrograde date
Bi-hemispherical moonphase
Jump hours
Retrograde minutes

Being a Canadian watch collector and blogger, I feel something of a responsibility to mention the watches that Canadian watchmakers produce and sell such as Halios. Today I’m going to talk a little about Archer Watches, who have become quite popular with the online watch crowd. The company is a one-man watch operation run by a guy named Al, who is quite the watchmaker. I haven’t found any info on his credentials, but he certainly knows his way around a watch movement as can be seen in his blog.

Al’s latest creation is the Archer Aero CS. The Aero CS is a 42mm 316L Stainless Steel cased Pilot watch. Double Sapphire Crystals, and some interesting movement upgrades: A Central Seconds hand modification, and a feature where the second hand will stop at 12 when the crown is pulled out allowing easy synchronisation. It comes available on a Jurgen’s 22mm strap, which is a very nice strap, or optional stainless steel bracelet. Price for the Archer Aero CS is $1,900 US on strap, and $2,150 US on Bracelet.

The partnership between the bladesmith Johan Gustafsson and watchmaker Patrik Sjögren aims to provide truly unique watches with inspiration from the cold north of Scandinavia.

GoS proudly presents Blizzard and Aurora, two new designs based on an dramatic explosion Damascus steel pattern. Both dials are etched to enrich the contrasts but while the Blizzard is uncolored, the dial of Aurora has been given a lustrous green-orange color to resemble northern lights, Aurora Borealis. Traditional Lappish techniques has been used to make the reindeer strap of Aurora, which leather has been naturally tanned without any chemicals.

The watches are equipped with a beautifully finished Unitas/ETA 6498 pocket watch movement. The finishing has been done by the swiss company Soprod, that also have further improved the movement to chronometre grade standard with a screwed balance.

Specifications Blizzard – GoS 010:
- Case: 44mmx12mm
- Lug width: 22mm
- Glass: Flat sapphire glass (case back mineral)
- Movement: Swiss manual movement ETA 6498-1
- Modifications by Soprod
- Cote de Geneve finishing
- chronometre grade adaptations, screwed balance
- Dial: Hand forged Damascus steel with a hand shaped chapter ring in grade-5 titanium
- Crown: Oversize in Damascus stainless steel with large gold fitted diamond
- Hands: polished steel finish
- Polished stainless steel mesh strap

Specifications Aurora – GoS 009:
- Case: 44mmx12mm
- Lug width: 22mm
- Glass: Flat sapphire glass (case back mineral)
- Movement: Swiss manual movement ETA 6498-1
- Modifications by Soprod
- Cote de Geneve finishing
- chronometre grade adaptations, screwed balance
- Dial: Hand forged Damascus steel with grade-5 titanium index markers.
- Crown: Oversize in Damascus stainless steel with large gold fitted diamond
- Hands: Polished and blued
- Handcrafted and naturally tanned reindeer strap with traditional Lappish tin ornamentation

Find out more about these watches here:
http://www.urmakare.eu/pressrelease/GoS-watches-Blizzard-Aurora.pdf

Many of you Dive watch guys are well familiar with the German watch company Kazimon. Their watches feature precision, custom german made watch cases and dials fitted with Swiss movements. Their watches are not cheap, and like most German Dive watch companys, their watches don’t really maintain their value on the secondary market from what you paid. However, they do make a pretty darn cool looking dive watch,

Water Resistance: 1500m
Diameter: 42mm
Lug Width: 22mm
Crystal: 4mm Sapphire
Movement: ETA 2824-2
Features: elastically supported movement, stainless steel movement holder, double sealing on case, blue superlume on dial and hands.
Price: 990 Euros

Breitling released a new limited edition Cosmonaute, using the rigid Air Racer bracelet. This limited edition will be 1000 peices, and feature the Navitimer Cosmonaute 24-hour dial, in an automatic version. This watch uses the same Caliber 22 movement in current Cosmonautes, and really has very little difference besides the dial and bracelet. Same 41.5mm diameter case, and 30m water resistance.

This new dial is pretty nice, however. Note the addition of the “Swiss Made” Designation on the watch dial. Breitling is starting to re-incorporate this element.

Sinn launches a new model, and this one departs a bit from the Sinn mold as once in a while their models do. While not quite as different as the 6100, this one still shares a much less “Tool Watch” style than most Sinns. The Sinn 917 has a Destro, or left-hand, crown and pushers, along with a crown at the 4 o’clock position on the right hand side for rotatiing the inner bezel. The case is Argon-filled, and measures 44mm x 15.5mm. Water resistances is good to 100m.

The movement inside the Sinn 917 is the ubiquitous Valjoux 7750, with an additional Power Reserve complication in addition to the standard Chronograph and Date. Watch is fabricated in Germany as all Sinns are.

IWC has released their newly re-designed Aquatimer in a solid Rose Gold version, and it looks stunning. While not a fan of the new Steel Aquatimer, I really like this rose gold offering, with their in house IWC Caliber 89360 movement. This is the superb movement used in the Da Vinci Chronograph which features IWC’s signature Pelaton Winding system, and Chronograph hour and minute counters both on the subdial at 12 o’clock. Chronograph second counter is central, and second dial for the time is located at 6 o’clock.

Beautiful display back shows off the nicely finished movement and pelaton winding system. The watch measures a healthy 44mm in diameter and 15.5mm thickness.