The Breitling Watch Blog

Tag Heuer has a couple of new models coming out… both of which I am quite excited about indeed! I’ve always liked the Carerra, but thought it was a little bit small… now Tag has jumped on the big watch bandwagon (well, not THAT big) and released the new Grand Carerra and Grand Carrera Grande-Date. That’s a lot of Grand!

The Grand Carrera is a VERY nice watch, absolutely stunning dial with exposed steel with circular graining on it.. very nice. A large 43mm diameter COSC certified Chronometer… KILLER looks. I love it. Featurs a Tag Caliber 17RS and sells for a cool $4,495. This puppy will make a nice addition to my collection. Oh yes.. Dials in Black and Silver.

The Grand Carrera Grande-Date is ALSO nice.. in fact, nicer i think, but wish it had the 43mm instead of the 42.5mm that it has. This one has an additional color, Brown.. as shown. This guy has the Tag Caliber 8RS, and also has the really nice Applied Tag logo… starting to remind me of Breitling!!! But I love the exposed silver with circular graining on it!! I love it!! This one has a cool big date complication but no Chrono.. and adds a GMT indicator which is housed in a little window… NICE! This bad boy will set you back $3,495 at MSRP.

Both watches are Water resistant to 100m. Get ’em while they’re hot!

I got an email once asking me if the Breitling Caliber 23 had a quickset date, and I replied that it did not. And, it doesn’t, which is odd, since the previous Caliber 13 has one. The Caliber 23 is used in the current standard Navitimer with the 3,6,9 subdial layout.

I got to thinking, about how some of the older non-quickset Navi’s had the ability to let you change the date by turning the hour hand back and forth over the 12 midnight marker and how you could advance the date much more quickly that way, and I wondered if I could do that with my Navitimer. I didn’t want to mess with the date since I would have to move it all the way around to get it back to normal so I tried to look it up online, and found that there were others with this question as well and no answers.

Well I have the answer, and the short answer is yes, kinda. The date can be quick advanced by moving the hour hand to about 8:30pm on mine, then back over 12am.. and the date changes. That is quicker than advancing it all 24 hours. Your watch may not need to go all the way back to 8:30, but mine is about that.

Breitling has finally provided press photos for the new Montbrillant Legende. This model is set to replace the current Navitimer Heritage model which is smaller at 43mm. The Montbrillant Legende will be an imposing 47mm, with an integrated bracelet. This model might have to make it’s way into my collection, as I was eyeing the Heritage before, and also the world. I love the 2 subdial layout with the 6 o’clock date window. Powered by the Breitling Caliber 23 movement, the same one that is in the standard Navitimer model, this model will sure to be a hit!

Available in a variety of case combinations, with 3 dial colors: Silver, Black and Bronze. Silver will be on my wishlist.

Movement: Breitling 23
Diameter: 47mm

For more info: Breitling Montbrillant Legende

Photos:

I’ve looked around at a few places to buy Breitlings online, and between some of the bigger sellers such as Jomashop, authentic watches and world of watches… World of Watches definately seems to have the edge in price. Their selection is somewhat limited however.. with only just over 30 in stock. Their watches are guaranteed authentic with several of the more popular models such as the Chronomat Evolution and Bentley models for up to and sometimes over 30% off the retail price and no sales tax outside of the state.

I think they only sell within the United States, however. Check them out.. here are just a few of the watches they have avaiable:

This watch has been hyped up a lot, using a new Manufacture movement, the ML 128 from Maurice Lacroix. This groundbreaking new movement only has 2 hands and a disc to indicate the hours. Full product shots have not been disclosed as ML slowly is releasing animated shorts and product glimpses up to the unveiling at Baselworld 2008.

This new movement has a 3/4 rotor, and will memorize the time and chrono locations with the hands as the user switches between chronograph and time mode. This is surely one of the most complex complications ever devised!

You can see some of the production hype here at the official site:
http://www.memoire1.ch/