The Breitling Watch Blog

I’ve started shooting my own videos of Breitlings, and this is the first one. The quality is somewhat mediocre… you can blame that on Youtube. I suppose I can start uploading my own maybe, and there is no audio as I do not have a mic at the moment, however that will soon be remedied as I will start posting video reviews with audio soon of all my Breitlings among other watches.

See the Breitling Cockpit Video here.

A little while ago I purchased a bunch of breitling dials off ebay from a seller to make some breitling displays. I wanted something to hang in my house that had some cool Breitling dials on it, and some breitling memorabilia or something, so I decided to snag some of these dials. after looking at these dials I’ve really started to appreciate more and more the precision that goes into creating a breitling dial. I do own the book “Made by Breitling” and it is fanastic for Breitling info, but this really lets you see how they are made. Neat stuff! Check them out.. the black one has some dust on it because i left it out in the air for a couple of weeks!

Alerted by a fellow on good ‘ol Facebook, I was browsing the Breitling website and noticed a larger and more prominent Internet Fraud warning than ever before. It states that 99% of all Breitlings found on the internet are replicas! What!? Really? Maybe…

I’ve bought about 8 Breitlings online and not one of them was fake… except the one that I purchased for the sake of examining. But that’s not to say that I did not see many fake Breitlings with the open heart “tourbillon” movements all over eBay. I think that with a little care and effort you can purchase your Breitling quite safely online without worry that it is fake. I’ve yet to hold a Breitling in my hand that can convince me that it is real, when it is not.

I’ll be posting that replica Chrono Avenger dissection soon!

Breitling SA is trying to discourage users from purchasing watches online in general so that grey markets don’t flourish. That is understandable as it keeps money in their pockets. Presumably they lose a lot of money from these grey market distributors. Even Costco is a grey market seller for Omega and Baume and Mercier! At any rate, there are many respectable sellers out there selling used second hand Breitlings purchased from Authorized Dealers, and great online stores selling authentic new watches such as Jomashop that you really can buy safely if you wish. The forums at timezone also have great honest people selling watches as well.

Keep it safe!

Here is the last of the Formex’s that I’ve had the privy of inspecting. The Formex 4Speed TS 375 Chrono. Velly nice. I recently picked up a Breitling Chronomat Evolution, so that will be up soon too! Keep reading 🙂

So this is one loud, yellow and titanium watch. With the traditional Formex ‘hunky chunky’ bracelet… cuz out here, we’re all about the hunky chunky big watches.. Formex, Breitling, Bell & Ross, you name it.

Quartz chrono again, and with that odd non-quick set date that seems to be all the rage right now. Why? I don’t know. I believe this one may be changeable by moving the hour hand back and forth past midnight to advance date quickly. But being a quartz watch, changing the date large increments isn’t that common a task.

Nice matte, yellow dial. Sharp lettering, none of that cheap fuzzy lettering you get under a loupe with cheap watches.. but its Swiss Made, so its expected! The yellow is not to my taste.. a bit strong. I like the yellow dial on the Breitling Avenger M1 a bit more than this.. paler and less austentatious. The yellow Omega Speedmaster schumacher edition isn’t really a fave of mine either. Not too many yellow watches are.

Check out the fantastically large and thick Titanium bracelet on this Formex TS 375. Far thicker than the one on the GT 325 series, and the AS Series as well. Though I’ve been told the AS Series can have hunky chunky clasps added.

Same back as the others.. but this model is all matte, no polished bits. Nice suspension as always and looks larger than life on your wrist. GUARANTEED to get noticed! Enjoy!

I picked up a Versace Madison automatic a week or so ago, and have been wearing it for a couple of days over the last little bit. This is a very nice watch that deserves a mention in my blog. It won’t be getting too much wrist time for the next little bit as I’ve picked up a Chronomat Evolution and just got it in yesterday! But enough about the Breitling 😉

The Versace has a stainless steel case, stainless bracelet and everything. The bracelet uses screws, not push pins, so it is a nice touch. Multi-link style reminds me of IWC Fleiger and Movado Horwitt bracelets, among others. The dial is very nice, with a matte white finish, and the sapphire crystal is domed and AR coated on the inside.

Nice steel hands and small seconds complication, with date window at 3 o’clock. The word “Automatic” appears on the dial in a somewhat chunky type. Not sure the exact diameter of the watch, but I would put it around 38-39mm. Not small, but not big either. A good size for a dress watch.

The way the bracelet connects to the watch is unique, and gives it a extra “style factor” making the watch seem more of a design-based watch than a movement based product. It does indeed look very good on the wrist, even with the smaller face that I am not used to. The
wide bracelet helps.

The clasp is a friction lock double butterfly clasp, similar to the Breitling Rouleaux bracelets. Holds pretty good, and has the versace typeface deeply engraved on it. Very nice!

Caseback is also engraved with the model number and serial number as well as Versace logo. Four micro-screws hold the caseback on, and beneath it hold the swiss made movement… can you guess which it is?

ETA 2895-1. Not bad. Movement looks stock, and likely has no modifications to it at all. Still a nice movement, 30 jewels, Swiss made ETA, based on the 2892. It kept within about 10 seconds/day… good enough for me. For what this watch is, a designer timepeice made for the fashion concious, not the WIS, this is a fantastic watch. Looks great with edgey clothing styles and that metro-sexual look.

Movement: 7/10
Case/Crystal/Crown: 8/10
Dial/Hands: 8/10
Strap / Buckle / Bracelet: 7/10
Accuracy: 8/10
Comfort: 9/10
Packaging / Manual: None Received
Overall Impression: 8/10