The Breitling Watch Blog

Well, we outgrew the last server, so BreitlingSource moves to a shiny new server now to handle the load that we were exceeding and costing too much to maintain. Now the hosting costs even more, but should have lots of room to grow.

Hope you guys continue enjoying the site!

In January, Gerald Genta and Daniel Roth, two luxury watch brands under the Bulgari Umbrella were consolidated into the main Bulgari brand and now all watches will feature the Bulgari namesake and branding. The newest watches from this integration were unvieled at Baselworld.

The “merger” was meant to help strengthen the Bulgari brand, allowing it to benefit from the horological expertise of the Genta/Roth brands. The dials of the new watches will still bare their original Roth or Genta logos in addition to the Bulgari branding.

See some of the new pieces:

Urwerk continues to innovate their Rare Species Collection with the addition of the White Shark to their collection, which is produced in a limited edition of 24 pieces. The watch features the caliber UR 7.02 movement, which has their patented revolving satelite complication for telling the time. The hours are shown on the point that is within the minute scale, and points to the current minute. What looks like a Moon Phase indicator is actually a Day-Night indicator, much to my chagrin! Day-Night moonphase look-a-likes are a pet peeve of mine.

Nicolas G. Hayek (1928-2010), the Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Swatch Group Ltd., passed away today at work due to heart failure. Mr. Hayek was an icon in the world of Horology and one of the most enthusiastic characters and supporters of the mechanical watch movement. He will be missed, but his work will live on.

Zenton, a new watch brand dedicated to producing dive watches in limited numbers, has released a few watches with the launch of their new brand. The model is the M45, and it comes in a variety of different color combinations, all which can be customized from dial color and bezel color to left and right hand crown!

The M45 features 2000m water resistance, helium release valve, Swiss ETA 2824-2 movement adjusted to 5 positions, all in a stainless steel 45mm case. I’m curious where these are made, as the site has absolutely no mention of this. This makes me a bit suspicious and leads me to believe they are manufactured in China or somewhere that is less desirable. They are extremely affordable at $888.

Here is a list of the specs:
Bezel diameter 45mm / Lug to lug 53.5mm /
Band 24mm / Height 17mm
2000m water resistant
Automatic helium escape valve
Antimagnetic 80000 A/m
4.3 mm sapphire glass with inside ar coating
MOVEMENT: eta 2824-2 topgrade 5 positions adjusted

Address of Nicolas G. Hayek, Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Swatch Group Ltd. at the Assembly General 2010 of the Swatch Group Shareholders of May 12, 2010, in the Congress Center Basel (Switzerland).

Please find the attached 7 page PDF of Hayek addressing Swatch shareholders here!

Or alleged murderer. Interesting article about how a Breitling watch helps lead police to a man’s alleged murderer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/8661079.stm

Swiss watchmaker Marc Jenni has launched his own brand of watches, with the first being the Prologue. The watch is available in 18K white and rose gold, and uses the Marc Jenni Caliber 2010 movement. The movement looks like a base movement of some sort, though I’m not sure.

There are some modifications to the mechanism as there is no crown. Instead, the black rubberized ring that encircles the entire watch can be gripped and rotated. Rotating the ring either winds the watch, sets the time, or sets the date – depending on the setting, which is determined by pushing the button at 4 o’clock. The mode is indicated on the dial.

Quite an interesting watch, with a unique difference.