The Breitling Watch Blog

I must have owned over a dozen Pilot watches over the years, but this Glycine KMU 48 is only the second PVD pilot I’ve had. The first was a affordable Ticino Pilot watch which ultimately did not fit the bill for me. This Glycine comes closer, but in the end, I just don’t wear my pilot watches as much as I like to buy them.

The Glycine KMU 48 is a LARGE imposing, saucer-on-the-wrist kind of watch. The 48mm diameter and healthy lugs made it simply too big for my wrist, which is the real reason that I never really ended up wearing this watch. I picked it up in a multi-watch trade because it looked interesting to me, but ended up having to sell it. I think it would be better on a 7.5″+ wrist, and I generally wear large watches very comfortable like the Breitling for Bentley Motors watches.

The watch has a simplistic appeal to it, like many Glycines do. It is also one of those little know, but well know enough brands that many who do not like mainstream brands often gravitate to. And for those reasons, Glycine has become a popular cult brand for Swiss Watch afficionados. The watch wears quite thin, especially for its radial diameter, and features 24mm lugs, which allows it to wear Panerai straps of which I have many.

The lume is limited and is only present on the little dots around the dial and on the hands. The PVD coating is done pretty well, and the lugs have holes drilled on the outside.

The movement featured in this watch is the ETA Unitas 6497. It only has one decoration, which is a laser etched “GLYCINE” on the bridge, it is so light its hard to see it in the photograph, but appears on the bridge that has the 3 visible jewels. The finish is pretty much basic raw “hammer-peened” bridges. For the price I paid for it, its a pretty cool piece, but I recently let it go to a fellow who appreciated it more than me. Hope you guys enjoyed the write up!

A new Chronograph from Ocean7, Mitch Feig’s Dive Watch company – is in fact a Pilot Watch! I remember the first Ocean7 Chronograph I bought, Swiss Made using the Valjoux 7750 movement costed $1800. This new Pilot uses the same basic parts and even comes DLC coated and only runs $799! This certainly is a very attractive price point for buyers as it puts an automatic Swiss Made chronograph well below $1000. From what I’ve seen from Ocean7 in the past as far as quality is concerned, this should be a very solid buy.

From Ocean7: “The OCEAN7 Watch Company has released one of the most affordable handmade Swiss ever made available on the market: the Pilot Chronograph. The Pilot Chronograph features a Swiss ETA 7750 chronograph movement and many desirable features:

Sandblasted, DLC coated case
Swiss ETA 7750 Chronograph Movement
44 mm diameter
15 mm height
Swiss Orange Super Luminova
Domed Sapphire Crystal
PU Rubber Sport Strap with Black, PVD Coated Buckle
Water Resistance – 5atm
22mm Lug Spacing”

Pilot watch collectors can rejoice as another reputable Swiss manufacturer of watches creates a new Pilot watch for enthusiasts. The Alpina Startimer Pilot is a beautiful Pilot watch with a twist.

ALPINA – Startimer Pilot Collection

Alpina, former supplier of army pilot watches, has returned to its century-old heritage with the Startimer Pilot Collection. Comprising four models, two with three hands and a date, an in-house regulator and a chronograph, these re-interpretations meet the same requirements as in the past: precision, reliability, resistance and instant legibility. The 44 mm polished steel case, the matt black dial with its oversized white luminescent hourmarkers, and the red triangle at the base of the direct-drive seconds hand are hallmarks of every Alpina timepiece, now as in the past. For the launching of this latest model, limited to 8,888 watches, the brand has joined forces with two choice partners, Cessna Aviation and PrivatAir.

Movement
Automatic, AL-860 chronograph calibre

Functions
Hours, minutes, seconds and chronograph

Case
Polished stainless steel, 44 mm
Anti-reflective sapphire crystal and transparent back
Water-resistant to 100 m / 10 ATM

Dial
Matt black
Oversized white luminescent hourmarkers
Minute and seconds counters at 9 and 3 o’clock

Bracelet/Strap
Stainless steel or black leather with folding clasp

Other versions
AL-525 movement: 3 hands and date; in-house AL-710 movement and AL-950 regulator: 3 hands with date hand

Here’s the Laco Flieger Watch Video review that I posted to Youtube, as a follow up to my previous written review of the Laco watch here, around a year ago. Its taken me a long time to get some of these video reviews up, but I will – I promise! Enjoy the video.

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.