The Breitling Watch Blog

Bremont has been creating quite a buzz with their watches as of late, with guys like Orlando Bloom and Bear Grylls sporting their peices. The new EP120 is based on the EP120 Spitfire plane of WWII fame, with parts from the actual aircraft used in these watches. They will be limited to 120 peices, so acquiring one will not be easy. The rotor is shaped like the spitfire propellor as well, making this a very worthy tribute to the famous plane.

The watch uses the BE-53AE movement and is COSC Certified, with a DLC coated Titanium case. Features a GMT and 30-minute Chrono complications.

Breitling’s legendary SuperOcean in Chronograph configuration, with the unique white dial/blue subdial configuration finally gets a video. The Chrono SuperOcean is a very fine watch, with a very serviceable 42mm size, thick chunky styling, and reliable Breitling Caliber 13 movement. This bad boy has a nice look and cool features like the screwdown pushers, and 500m water resistance. The Professional II bracelet is a nice improvement over the previous Professional Bracelet, albeit slightly (just slightly) less comfortable. Enjoy.

If you aren’t aware, the Olympics started today, and the opening ceremony was absolutely amazing… easily the most impressive Olympics opening ceremony I have ever seen. Beijing has set the new standard by which all other Olympics opening ceremonies will be judged. The official timekeeper, as has been for quite a while now, is Omega.

Omega erected a pavillion to showcase their watches at the Beijing Olympics and it looks pretty cool. I wonder if Omega will put up a similar structure in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics? If so, I will be there!

I wonder if US MADE will ever carry the same prestige that the “Swiss Made” declaration on swiss watches do? Michael Kobold seems to think that its certainly they should work towards, because he’s introduced the first serially produced American watch since the quartz crisis of the 1970’s. Back in the days when Elgin, Waltham and Illinois watch companies had a huge impact on the watchmaking industry. Kobold is bringing America watchmaking back, with the new Spirit of America automatic watch:

Kobold claims that the watch is 87% made in America with the balance of the parts made in either Germany or Switzerland. The watch has a manufacture movement, but also states that it is a based on a German watch movement, called a Caliber Forster 197.

The watch was launched on July 4th, 2008, which is the US Independence day, and coincedentally, the 10 year anniversary month of Kobold. The dial proudly displays “Pittsburgh Pennsylvania” as its region of manufacture where one would typically find the Swiss Made printed.

Watch has a 100m water resistance, case constructed of 316L stainless steel. Movement is a K.2651 Caliber with no second hand. Power reserve of 46 hours. Case diameter is 44m, in the modern-day classic soarway case. Lug width measures 22mm.

Overall, this looks like a killer watch, American heritage or not. This is Kobold’s flagship watch, and carries a retail price of $6250.

Here’s the latest video review i’ve uploaded. This is one of the Tudor Hydronaut Prince-Date. This is a relatively rare watch to find in the North American market as it is not distributed in North America. Tudor is a popular brand in Europe as it is seen as the poor man’s Rolex, with most of its peices quite affordable compared to Rolex prices, while still having the distinction of being assembled and built in the Rolex Factories. The two biggest differences are the ETA base movements and the use of more standard 316L stainless steel for the cases.