The Breitling Watch Blog

Since I picked up that Silver Navitimer in Toronto, I’ve been wearing two Navi’s…. one of them is a Black model with the Valjoux 7750 style layout, using the Breitling Caliber 13 movement. I think I will be getting rid of this one… If anyone is interested, my asking price is $2300US Shipped + paypal fees 😉

Anyway, this is a great watch… very classic, and the colors Black with white subdials and outer ring are instantly recognizable as a Breitling Navitimer. What better way to start off a Breitling Navi collection right? I am hoping to snag a larger Heritage in either white with black subdials or black with white subdials… this one is dubbed the Old Navitimer II, and is a 2002 Model. COSC ceritfied with all boxes and papers. I really liked wearing this one with a suit, and it keeps time to within 2 seconds a day.

Band is well made, but will need to be replaced. Has a quickset date which is a plus. The new model does not!

Beautiful back and excellect construction… I will be buying more Navitimers in the future. Possibly a Navitimer world or maybe a Heritage next. I also want a Chrono SuperOcean or Chronomat Evolution soon! So many watches, so little time. Keep ’em sharp!

The Navitimer keeps great time, within COSC specs… has a great curved Anti-glare sapphire crystal, and looks fantastic on the wrist. The packaging, as with all Breitling watches is very nice. Though I really like the newer style Breitling pacakging that includes the travel case!

Movement: 9/10
Case/Crystal/Crown: 9/10
Dial/Hands: 9/10
Strap / Buckle / Bracelet: 8/10
Accuracy: 9/10
Comfort: 8/10
Packaging / Manual: 8/10
Overall Impression: 9/10

Toronto was a great success, and I managed to procure the Breitling Navitimer with Silver face and Arabics and the custom knife that I’ve been waiting 2 years for! A very spectacular peice, I must say. Designed and built by Kirby Lambert of Regina Saskatchewan. I have 6 knives from him. Enough chitchat… here are the pics!

First we have a fantastic knife by one of the hottest Canadian knifemakers around, Kirby Lambert. It is based on his Spearpoint model, and has Devin Thomas Reptillian Damascus Bolsters, Mammoth Ivory handles that I scored from Tony Painter of the Yukon several years ago, and a very nice Hamon on the 1050 Tool Steel blade.

The next item i procured is a silver dial Navitimer… very rare arabic dial. I simply LOVE THIS WATCH. I did try on a Bently Motors T that I loved even more, but the price was over double, so I had to pass.

Enjoy pics of the Navitimer Silver:

In the upcoming Month I will be adding to my current collection of watches. There are 3 watches coming in, a Breitling Navitimer, Sinn 6100, and an Eterna Airforce Chronograph…. all will be reveiwed soon!

I will also be reviewing knives in a new Knife Blog that I will be starting very shortly. Keep you eyes out for that! If you have any interest in custom and production knives, it will be something that you will enjoy. This weekend I will be at the Canadian Knifemaker’s Guild show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I’ll have some pics up of that and perhaps some converts will come out of that! Custom knives are a truly beautiful thing to behold… the craftsmanship that goes into them is phenomenal.

Other than that.. I will be trying out some new watches like the Invicta Bell and Ross BR-01 homage watch… that will be interesting.. not as nice but should definately give me an impression! See you all in a few days!

Right after shipping off that Formex, I just got another watch in! Got this one off of a forum from a REALLY swell guy… sold it to me for such a great price and included Express Shipping all they way to Canada. Got off easy with no duties/taxes too!

Anyway.. here is the wonderful watch from ball:

This is truly one of my favourite watches I’ve received in a LONG time. When i play with it and wear it I get almost as giddy as I do when trying on a new Breitling! Ball watches have been around a while, making watches for the adverse conditions of the railroad building trade I believe. Their new watches have cool Tritium tubes in them to make the indices glow super bright for 25 years!! This one contains an Swiss ETA Automatic movement… the 2893-2. This movement is based on the ETA 2892-2 but wiht the addition of a GMT hand module.

This Ball I purchased is indeed used, and is an older one with the older packaging.. i believe newer models have a white box.

Comes with plenty of links, and a half link as well. A decent sized manual that i have not yet need to consult. Out of the box the watch is keeping time within COSC standards, which is very good. This watch just sits on the wrist really nicely and looks really darn good to boot!

All three hands and all hour indices have the tritium illumination from the tubes. The Second hand and GMT look the same in the dark, however you can tell the difference by the fact that the second one moves a lot quicker. Dial is a nice matte black finish with painted lettering… not quite as nice as the Breitling Dials, but still quite nice indeed. Bezel is very cool as well.

The back of the watch has a very neat engraving/stamping of a submarine, and mentions that the watch is good to -40degrees celcius… a nice feature as it does get cold in Canada!

The bracelet is very well made and I highly recommend the watch in general. Sapphire crystal, Solid stainless bracelet, very robust case and unique styling. It is a lot more streamlined than Breitling watches are, which tend to sit ON the wrist, rather than AROUND the wrist like the Ball.

This Ball also has the signaure ball crown lock which flips up when you release it and pull upwards. A neat feature, but more of s styling gimmick than anything else… kind of like Panerai’s crown protector!

Movement: 8/10
Case/Crystal/Crown: 9/10
Dial/Hands: 8/10
Strap / Buckle / Bracelet: 8/10
Accuracy: 9/10
Comfort: 8/10
Packaging / Manual: 6/10
Overall Impression: 9/10

I just got a new Formex 4Speed GT325 watch, and I really like it. However, I like the watch better when it is not on my wrist, so I have traded it for an Eterna Airforce Chronograph with a Valjoux 7750 movement in it. Hopefully this Eterna will suit me better than the Formex did.

Here she is:

All that aside this is a pretty nice watch. The bracelet is “hunky chunky” as one of my friends likes to call it. He owns a couple of Formex watches himself, and is completely addicted to them. Its funny because I’d always wanted one, but never bothered getting around to buying one until I showed them to him and he bought one on the spot almost!

The watch has a “suspension” system, which means the head will bob up and down depending on how much pressure you apply to the caseback. This is supposed to make it more comfortable… unfortunately i think this is a gimmick since it doesn’t really seem to make a difference and the watch is somewhat uncomfortable. Bracelet is made of Titanium as is the caseback, however the suspension system and the bezel are both Stainless Steel. The quality of the bracelet is not the best… I would say that it is adequate for a watch in this price range, but it is not up to the quality standards of a Breitling, Omega or Ball. It is similar in quality to an Tag Heuer Aquaracer or Formula 1 maybe.

The watch comes with all sorts of nifty extras… a Lanyard with Formex writing all over it, TWO extra straps.. one in black Leather with red stitching, and one in Reb Rubber. Also comes with two sets of allan keys for adjusting the straps and changing out the bracelet and sizing. The Box itself is kind of a cheap aluminum wrapped around big foam peices… but looks cool enough and suits the watch.

The crystal is sapphire, and it says so somewhat cheesily on the bright red dial. I’m not sure if the red dial was a bit of a turn off too… perhaps I should have gotten blue. It doesn’t really matter since I’ve got a trade deal on it now. Dial is sort of a Matte color and looks sharp under a 10x Loupe. There is absolutely no debris in the case, so it looks good. Chronograph pushers have to be pushed way in to get it going, which is a bit funny. The date is set by turning the hour hand around 24 hours, there is no quickset date in this ETA movement. Manual is very limited, includes the ETA printed manual that comes with the movement!

The movement kept accurate time. It was not off by anything after a day, but it is a quartz movement.

Overall, the watch is a nice watch, but really not for me. It is for racing enthusiasts and people that like hunky chunky watches and flashy colors. It definately fits the theme that it is chasing, but to me in the end it lacks the refinement and class that I look for in a watch. As evidenced by my friend, there are people that will really like this watch, I’m just not one of them.

Movement: 5/10 (its a quartz)
Case/Crystal/Crown: 7/10
Dial/Hands: 7/10
Strap / Buckle / Bracelet: 6/10
Accuracy: 9/10
Comfort: 5/10
Packaging / Manual: 8/10
Overall Impression: 7/10