The Breitling Watch Blog

Finally, the long awaited (well at least it seemed that way from the comments I was getting) video review of my Graham Chronofighter watch. This is a cool watch with a neat Chronograph start/stop button that is operated from the large lever. No date, with a movement based on the Valjoux 7750. Many have criticized Graham for their excessive prices given the modified ETA movements, but they do make an interesting time piece. Enjoy the review!

Its funny.. I bought this watch, and then sold it on Timezone to a well known TZer, who resold it at a large profit for himself I believe, since everyone has consequently been selling it around 50% more than I sold it to him for! But anyway, some you win, dimsum, you lose is what I say to that.

Now, I only sold it a few months ago in June, and it has gone to three different owners since that. Its a neat watch with a mechanical Alarm movement by A. Schild. I did not know the watch was called a Sportscape Alarm Automatic until I saw it posted as such on the sale forums of TZ. You learn a lot in those forums.

Its a nice 40mm size, mounted on a Bob Faux Crocodile strap. Works well with the watch. It came with the original Dunhill strap but was VERY worn out and I was unable to find a thin enough strap to use with the Dunhill folding deployant. I stuck the 20mm Bob strap on and it looked good enough for me! I noticed that the watch has subsequently been mounted on a genuine Croco strap by another owner.

Exhibition caseback shows off the A. Schild alarm movement, which is quite thick compared to usual movements. Its got a lot of depth in the bridges and the watch itself is also thicker because of this. Two springs need to be wound, one for the alarm and one for the time, similar to a Clock movement like the ones from Hermle. The chime is just kind of a buzzer and the watch buzzes on the wrist.

Didn’t take too many photos of this dunhill, but here’s a wrist shot to show the 40mm case on my 6 3/4″ wrist. It shows very well and doesn’t appear small at all to me. I quite enjoyed the watch while I had it, but too many other watches were calling my name so the Dunhill just had to be sold. While I do enjoy having an alarm complication due to it’s uniqueness, it wasn’t something I used and eventually lost its novelty. Otherwise, a very nice watch.

Dievas (pronounced “D-Ah-Vas”) is a Singapore based watch company that produces Military inspired timepieces which are mostly mechanical automatics. Some of the models such as the Vortex are made in Germany and I’ve been told uses the same cases that Kobold uses in their watches. They probably came to fame because of their Panerai Homage watches, especially the California dial ones.

The one I’m looking at today is the Dievas [Z]eta watch, which uses a Japanese movement, unlike most of their models which use Swiss movements. The Zeta is a cheaper model, but gives outstanding value, given the multitude of features. I ended up disliking the Camo-green dial, so ended up selling this one.

The large military-style dial measures a healthy 44mm in diameter, 52mm lug to lug, and is approximately 14.5mm thick. The dial has a criss-cross texture to it. Notice the Tritium tubes mounted on the dial, which are all manufactured by MB Microtec in Switzerland. These are the same tubs you will see on Ball Watches.

The chunky 22mm bracelet is solid stainless steel and has no taper, making it a bit uncomfortable but not unreasonably so. It has the standard flip-lock stamped clasp, and works well. The movement is the Japanese-made Miyota 8215, which has about 42hr power reserve and 21 jewels. Rather unremarkable, but at this pricepoint, the watch is very nicely made. The only downsize is the lack of hacking.

Here’s the head-on wrist shot. It fits my 6 3/4″ wrist quite well, I think. I find that 44mm watches work really well for my wrist size, and this Dievas [Z]eta is no exception. The watch lugs curve, and while it is a well made and sturdy watch, the case finish is much less refined than most Swiss and German made pieces.

Signed crown, with a deep machined “Dievas” printed on it. Screw down as well, with holes in the lugs for releasing the pins. Nothing to complain about here. Water Resistance is an impressive 300m.

And finally, the angle wrist shot. Elaborating more on the features, the watch also has the requisite Sapphire Crystal, abeit without AR coating. The bezel, believe it or not, is Ceramic too! Quite the bulletproof array of features if you ask me. Overall an outstanding value, but I would stick to the more conservative dial colors as the Green/Yellow started to bug me after a while.

I’ve posted my video review of the D&B Aerodyn Big Date on Youtube, so I hope you guys enjoy it. Most people tend to say that this watch looks like a Franck Muller, but its got distinct differences and has a style of its own. While this watch has a unique charm that not everyone can appreciate, I really do enjoy this watch and many of Dubey & Schaldenbrand’s designs.

Just posted a new Video Review of my wife’s Breitling SuperOcean Heritage 38. This is the 38mm diameter model that features Breitling’s new Calibre 37 movement, and is the first watch to feature this movement. While ths is a mens watch, the size worked well on my wife’s wrist and we went with the matching SuperOcean Heritage watches.