The Breitling Watch Blog

Well, before I was able to get a Breitling Caliber 01-based watch, my buddy picked one up. He snagged a Chronomat 01 with the Roman Numeral Dial… awesome. I love this combo, though I have to admit that the watch has a level of “bling” to it that previous Chronomats did not have. Somehow the new polished bezel really takes the shiny level up.

I love the way the roman numeral dial looks on this model, with the numerals staying upright all the around, as opposed to the way they looked on the older Crosswind. While I still like the Crosswind, I think the Chronomat 01 has a more modern looking dial. I know that there are a lot of old school Breitling fans out there that do not like this new direction that Breitling is taking. While I don’t necessarily approve of all of their recent releases, this is one that has grown on me.

The dial features some of those square elements with faint striping that a lot of the people seem to dislike, but don’t bother me too much.

There she is head on.. as you can see, same double AR coating as always. The 43.5mm diameter, while slightly smaller by .2mm, actually seems to wear a bit larger to me. I am not sure why, but it might have to do with the bezel design and shape.

The new 01 movement is an absolute piece of genius and features just about everything that I could hope for in a Chronograph Movement:

- Amazing power reserve at 70 Hours
- Column Wheel Chronograph
- Auto-Centering Reset Hammers
- Customizable Index Regulator System
- Instantaneous Date

With the 01, Breitling moved back to fully polished bezels. The previous Chronomat and Evo models had brushed bezels, but prior to that, older Chronomats had fully polished bezels as well. As we all know, trends are circular and the Chronomat is no exception. The rider tabs are much more subdued than previous, but still feature the same quality screwed-in construction, as does the bezel.

Breitling also changed the Chronomat 01 Bracelet to have swing lugs rather than fixed lugs. This is common with their larger watches such as the Breitling for Bentley Motors, but new for the Chronomats.

Overall a Killer watch in my opinion. Perhaps not a natural progression for Breitling and while the style may seem a bit forced, I feel that the watch is settling into the majority of its new design statements. I really dig the Breitling 01, and would probably have myself one of them if I weren’t getting so distracted by the multitude of other watches out there catching my fancy!

Video review of the sweet Omega Chronodiver with the tri-compax layout. Posted this in Youtube but didn’t get a chance to pop it on here til now just to make sure you guys see it. This is the one that uses the Omega Calibre 3301 movement, not the 7750 based movement in the Bond Style Chronodiver. Enjoy.

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?

Chronoswiss, contrary to what the name might suggest, is a German-based watch manufacture founded by Gerd R. Lang. While the company is German, the watches are all hand made and finished completely in Switzerland. Ever since I saw my first Chronoswiss, I’d wanted one.. I didn’t care that the watch was a smallish 38mm, I just loved the case and dial work. Which lead me to the purchase of my Chronoswiss Kairos!

Look at at that beautiful hand guilloche dial! Amazing solid sterling silver dial, with absolute attention to detail. Even the blued steel hands show absolutely perfect. In the price that you can get the Chronoswiss watches used, there is probably NO watch that is finished quite as nicely. The Kairos has been in production around 10 years, so its no spring chicken.

So nice I had to post two photos of the dial. The case is a three-piece design with a knurled bezel and sapphire crystal front and back. I remember reading somewhere that the polished breguet style hands on the Chronoswiss are hand-polished and take several hours to finish.

The onion crown is absolutely perfect, with its finely cut and machined grooves perfectly formed without any machining marks you see on inferior levels of finish.

The lugs screws are also perfectly fit and require two screwdrivers to remove. Since the watch has fairly wide 20mm lugs it gives the impression of being a bit larger than its 38mm case diameter might suggest. The Chronoswiss Alligator straps are also padded and of extremely high quality, adding to the luxurious feel of the watch.

And then there’s the movement! While its a relatively common ETA 2892 base movement it has a fantastic look and level of fininsh to it as well. The beautiful cut rotor looks amazing set against the steel bridges. One of the prettiest 2892′s I’ve ever seen.

And here’s the requisite wrist shot. 38mm Chronoswiss on my 6 3/4″ wrist. Not too shabby… looks pretty darn good if you ask me! I absolutely adore the Chronoswiss watches. While their larger timemaster seems to be more popular with the crowds these days, I still love the 38mm watches and wouldn’t hesistate to add another to my collection!

Frederique Constant is a relatively young watch manufacture, formed in 1988 by Aletta Bax & Peter Stas. The company is based in Switzerland and produces luxury Swiss automatic and has been very forward thinking with manufacturing silicon escapement wheels and creating a tourbillon movement. This Persuasion Automatic isn’t one of these iconic award-winning masterpieces from Frederique Constant, but it is a fine, entry level luxury Swiss Timepiece in its own right.

The beautiful white, textured dial is reminiscent of Cartier’s due to the oval Roman Numeral layout, but still retains some sense of identity without looking like a copy of some sort. The double-beveled Persuasion case is classic, yet has a touch of modern to its overall look.. not much, but just a touch – enough to let you know it was made in the last decade.

The stainless steel, 40mm diameter watch come mounted on a faux Crocodile leather strap, which is appropriate for this price range. With a retail price around $1800, Crocodile usually isn’t supplied. Otherwise, its a great quality strap, with a good buckle on it. Handles are blued steel, and there is no lume to be found on the dial. Date is located at 6 o’clock, and the crown at 3. The Swiss Made marking is also located at 6 o’clock under the date.

The watch features a curved AR-coated sapphire crystal front, and an exhibition back. Water resistance is 60m, and the crown is not screwdown.

The movement is an ETA 2824-2 base, with 25 jewels. It isn’t really decorated and has a gilded rotor, engraved with the Frederique Constant signature.

Here’s the watch in the oversized leather-look box, which is quite nice for a watch of this price. These can be found online for around $1100, and seems like a decent price given the quality. The casework is excellent and the deep engraving on the caseback is a nice touch. Overall an excellent watch for those looking for a dress watch from a slightly more obscure brand that you won’t see on too many other people’s wrists.

I reshot this Panerai PAM90 video review with my new video camera.. its got some problems with the audio, and it seems like I am getting a lot of “dislikes” on youtube because of this.. This is likely going to send my channel into the gutter for popularity but what can I do. My wife gave me this camera for my Christmas present so I am using it.

Certainly not a new watch, the Manometro, designed and released by Giuliano Mazzuoli in 2004, is a uniquely designed sport watch, modelled after the Manometro Tire Pressure Guage. The watches are handcrafted in with Swiss automatic ETA movements.

The Mazzuoli Manometro measures a healthy 45.2mm in Diameter, and 14.8mm thick. The round, cylindrical case really stands out and is completely recognizable on the wrist. The model I picked up is the white dial on black rubber bracelet and right hand crown. A pretty standard and very wearable color combination.

The gloss white dial is easy on the eyes and relatively easy to read. If the hands were a touch thicker it would be even easier to read. The second hand is a red arrow pointer, that reminds one of the tire pressure guages that the watch is modelled after. The rounded bezel is brushed stainless steel and looks fantastic.

As you can see, the dial is very shallow mounted, giving the watch sort of a top-heavy look. This works for the style and the only complaint I have with the design is the narrow straps. They look a bit disproportioned from the rest of the watch, and mounting and switching them is not that easy.

The crown is placed at 2 o’clock and cut with the Guiliano Mazzuoli logo and also very oversized, which works really well with the overall design. Kudos on the crown design and placement. One of my favourite parts of the design, in fact.

Finally a wrist shot to round of the quick shot mini-review here. The watch does measure an imposing 45.2mm, but since there are no lugs at all and a very narrow strap, the watch actually wears a bit smaller than you’d think, even with the cylindrical case. But, it does wear chunky also, so its a bit of an odd fit overall. A chunky, yet underwhelming strap makes the watch feel a bit unbalanced on the wrist, but it has a charm to it that harkens to its Italian design and heritage making it a great character piece for those who prefer the road less travelled.

Just posted a video review of my Spitfire Pilot’s Chronograph from IWC. This is the 42mm model ref 3717, which is a current model. This watch is unique in that its mounted on a Doppelchronograph bracelet, with different endlinks to make it fit. They give it a really cool somewhat more vintage look. The Spitfire Chrono is one of my favourite understated watches on the market, with the ability to dress up or down. Looks especially good with a suit on crocodile.