The Breitling Watch Blog

Breitling released a bang-for-buck watch made of Breitlight® which is essentially a exclusive polymer (plastic) blend that looks to contain some carbon, fiberlgass or graphite in it to strengthen it. It also happens to give it a look similar to Forged Carbon, which is very cool. Its funny though because at $2000 it is considered a budget luxury watch, but I remember not long ago we could get a Colt Automatic in Steel for around that price! How things have changed.

Breitlight® is described as a state-of-the-art material, as most high-tech polymers are, but it really is just a cool-looking, very rigid plastic. It is probably not too different from Luminox’s Carbon reinforced polymer cases, though it does look a bit different. I would like to see Breitling add a Professional III bracelet made from Breitlight® to the watch. This would make it much cooler in my opinion.

Breitling just announced a new model, featuring their new in-house quartz movement, the B60. This is a thermal compensated SuperQuartz movement, and pairs nicely with the new Chronospace EVO B60, which is a reasonably sized 43mm Titanium chronograph. This is a no-nonsense watch, for the watch enthusiast who wants a reliable, lightweight quartz chronograph watch and still cares about style.

I think its a great addition to the lineup, and really fits in as Breitling slowly evolves its brand to appeal to a more active sportsman’s tool and instrument watch company. The Navitimers are still the heart of the company but the sportier watches are bringing a different clientele. I’m not a quartz guy myself, but there are times that I can see how having one would be useful. One of the things that I don’t like about quartz watches is the unpredictability of when the battery will need to be changed.

Been a while since I posted a review.. been very busy with work but have still picked up a few pieces that I should have done some write-ups on. This is a watch a picked up some time ago but just never had the time to post… its a very sweet watch. I keep saying I feel like James Bond when I wear it…. It was introduced around the time the movie Spectre came out, and a Limited Edition Bond version was released with it, featuring a textile Nato strap.. very cool. This one is on leather but also came with the bracelet. The case measures a very nice 41mm in diameter, and a very healthy 14.65mm thick – perfect dimensions, IMO.

The dial is a matte black with antique lume indices that are inset into the dial. The indices are entirely made up of luminous material, there is no metal or anything. The watch is a re-issue of 1957 Seamaster 300, which you can see a neat comparison of the two side by side that Omega does on their marketing page whenever they re-issue vintage pieces. This piece features the Liquidmetal® ceramic bezel. This technology allows Omega to embed metal numerals into the ceramic bezel – the special metal fuses seamlessly with the Ceramic, and is harder than stainless steel.

Here’s a shot of the crown side of the case, with Omega’s characteristic brushed sides which continue on this Seamaster as well. As many of you know, this is one of those features that looks great, but the watch polishing place always charges extra to do it because its not as easy to touch up! The bezel has some grooves in it, making it much easier to turn than the regular Seamaster 300m Diver. The crown actually features matching sized grooves and gives the crown sort of a cog-like relationship with the bezel.

Tried to score a nice macro beauty shot of the dial, but the depth of field is a bit small.. still looks good though. The sapphire crystal is slightly curved and has anti-reflective coating inside only, and not on the outside. Usually this means you won’t see the blue tint that is on the crystal, but the crystal isn’t quite as anti-reflective as if it were on both sides. You can see the inset indices really well here, and what’s also pretty cool is while the antique lume looks sort of yellow in the light, it glows a neon blue in the dark. I forgot to take a lume-shot, but they are readily available on Google image search as well as Omega’s marketing page. Of note, the minute hand and lume-dot on the bezel are green lume, not blue lume like the rest of the watch.

The beautiful exhibition case back shows off the fantastic Omega Calibre 8400 that is the soul of the watch. This spectacular movement features Omega’s Co-Axial escapement, anti-magentic properties up to 15,000 gauss and two barrels providing up to 60hrs of power reserve. It is also a certified chronometer, like most of Omega’s movements. The movement rotor and bridges are finished simply, but nicely. I always like exhibition case backs, and am very happy that this one provides a nice wide view of the whole movement.

In conclusion, I am really happy with this timepiece. This is a great piece of Omega History, modernized for our hipster generation. I love the retro look of the 1957 re-issue, but with the new in-house Omega 8400 movement, ceramic bezel with Liquidmetal® numerals, and awesome anique lume that glows neon blue. Its just such a successful merging of old & new. Highly recommend this if it suits your tastes!

General Specs:
Case Diameter: 41mm
Case Thickness: 14.65mm
Material: Stainless Steel
Movement: Omega 8400
Power Reserve: 60 hours
Water Resistance: 300m

Breitling has released a new model, which isn’t really new. More like an option on a previous released model from last year, the Superocean 44 Special. Its a nice option for those of us that don’t like the blacksteel cases like myself. I don’t mind the look of blacksteel I just don’t like how it ages after its been bumped and scratched a few times. Overall, not a particularly interesting release from Breitling, but a release nonetheless.

Superocean 44 Special

A diver with a steely temperament
With its sturdy steel case, its ultra-legible dial and its rotating high-tech ceramic bezel, the new Superocean 44 Special plunges securely to a depth of 1,000 m (3,300 ft). This special series with its technical and original style is available in black or blue versions.

Breitling’s new Avenger Hurricane 12H features the world premiere of their Breitlight material (which was premiered before, but they are calling this their world premiere anyway..), which is similar in look and feel to the forged carbon cases out there. This is a pretty sweet case material to finally come out of the Breitling labs.. I just wish it wasn’t a cheesy name like Breitlight… they need to work on their names and take some tips from Apple. Otherwise, this is a pretty significant release from our friends at Breitling and I will be keen to see what other watches start coming out in this case material. The movement is the Caliber B01 and is very similar to the limited edition Hurricane 24H that came out last year… and like that beast this one also measures 50mm in diameter.

Its a sweet looking watch, and I think if this was in a different case shape, maybe something like a Chronomat, with some better mix of materials I would be all over it.

Avenger Hurricane 12H

Homing in on great feats
The Avenger Hurricane takes off in a new version in which the ultra-light, ultra-sturdy case in Breitlight® – a world-first – is teamed with a yellow or black dial and high-performance Manufacture Breitling Caliber 01. A chronograph built for extremes.