Had a visitor ask me about this watch and since I don’t know much about the vintage stuff, I turn to you guys 🙂 His email states:
“I was wondering where I could get information on my Breitling Chrono-matic 2111 which I recently inherited from my father.
I have not been able to find a matching picture of the model I have.
It has a white face and blue “diamond” with soft edges around the two small dials which are symmetrically lined up. The hands are orange/red. The case is silver. As with the other versions I have seen, it has the crown on the right at “3 o’clock” and two push buttons at “8 and 10 o’clock”. On the back, there is a number, I don’t know if it’s a serial number (1325871). I haven’t dared to open it to look for other information.
I have seen versions with black face or asymmetrical arrangement of the small dials.
I’d like to know what year it is from. I don’t think it’s the classic 1969 I have seen in catalogs, probably early 70s. I’d also like to know what strap would be authentic for it. Mine doesn’t have the original one anymore. My father preferred nylon (!) straps … endearing but I’d like to know what strap was on it originally. Brown? Calf/Aligator?
In any case, if you could point me in the right direction where to get more information, I’d really appreciate it.”
This is the second stop in the Watches of the Carribean series, and buying watches from St. Thomas is different than St. Maarten. Since St. Thomas is a US Virgin Island, US/American visitors import allowances are higher than in other countries. I am not sure about the allowances… you may want to google for more information.
St. Thomas definately had much more to see and choose from than St. Maarten. The most notable of the watch dealers was Azura/Jewels. I spent most of my time there and at Princess World Jewelers, which carried Roger Dubuis, Ulysse Nardin, Hublot and also had a really nice Breitling Cockpit, solid gold bezel with diamonds, Mother of Pearl dial, for more than 50% off!! That location is not a Breitling dealership, however, they had that one, in the back… I really wanted to buy it!!
I spent a lot of time at Azura/Jewels. This first location, which is just called Jewels, carried Chopard, Jaeger LeCoultre, and many others:
I looked around at the JLC stuff, really nice, but still not my style, though the Grand Reverso was kinda cool:
The Jewels by Azura location is the one that has the massive 6 display sized Breitling booth. Check it out:
I tried on one of the small Breitling SuperOcean Heritages, and the new Bentley Mark VI Complications. The guy there, Tom, was really into the newer stuff.. I almost bought a White dialed Chrono Avenger there.. if it weren’t for the fact that the Tour was late and took forever and just took us back to the ship I may have just had to buy it! They also had one of those 8 Days alarm clocks like the Aviation ones for 40% off retail.. but retail is like $1200.
Some more pics:
I thought that the mesh bracelet for the SuperOcean heritage was pretty cool, since its mesh but still uses the Breitling styled clasps, giving it an updated mesh look. The new Ocean Racer rubber strap is nice as well.
A couple of the other booths in the Azura location include Patek Phillipe, Rolex and Omega. I took some pictures of the Omega and Patek booths, which no one was at, the Rolex booth was busy as usual… with the rep being able to rattle off the retail prices by heart. I’m not sure how much they offered for discounts off Rolex… and didn’t even bother asking to try on any Pateks… can’t afford ’em! 😉
St.Thomas has some pretty sweet shops, and I could have spent a full day alone in Jewels/Azura and Princess World Jewellers, but I refrained! Its far too easy to spend your money there… not to mention they have some pretty expensive Cognac there, I saw a bottle of Hennessy Ellipse for $5500US! I’ll take that Breitling instead, thank you very much. Anyway, that concludes the trip to the Caribbean, hope you guys enjoyed the articles, and its back to your regularly scheduled watch programming after this!
Here’s a quick video pass-through of St. Thomas’ Main Street. Not a whole lot to show but it gives you an idea of the amount of watch dealers they have!
Check out the new Corum Golden Tourbillon Panoramique!!! That is a pretty sick watch, and a really slick movement. Very low parts count as well at 168. The movement is a Corum 382, which is a modified LaJoux Perret 7951. Definately the right direction to take with the series! This one down here is technically a “platinum panoramique” I suppose.
This watch matches well with the Golden Bridge watches offered by Corum:
They are all beautiful watches featuring sandwiched Sapphire Crystals, Anti-reflective coated both sides. All Manually wound as well.
Some specs on the Tourbillon Panoramique:
Size: 38mm X 53mm (its a big one!)
Water Resistance: 30 meters
Optional: Diamonds – 225 Pave Set 8.4 Carats
Strap: Croc with Folding Clasp
When we think of large watches.. some of the names that come to mind are Breitling, Panerai, Zenith, maybe Bell & Ross with the BR01 instrument watches. Is the big watch trend here to stay? Sure looks like it to me… watches are only getting bigger and bigger, with Omega’s 49.2mm Railmaster leading the pack (i think).
Other Factors that Affect Perceived Size
Keep in mind that sometimes bigger isn’t always better, and its not always about diameter. Wrist presence is a combination things including Dial Color, Case Thickness and Bezel Thickness. Take for instance.. a Breitling Super Avenger.. perhaps one of the most famous and popular Big Watches out there currently. Two identical Super Avengers, one with a white dial and one with a black dial when worn on the wrist, have a completely different presence. The white on my small 6.75″ wrist looks overwhelmingly big, while the black suits me.
This can happen with so many different watches out there. Recently I purchsed a Breitling for Bentley Motors with a white dial. This watch is actually slightly larger than the Super Avenger (48.7mm over the SA’s 48.4mm) but the watch seems much less obtrusive on the wrist. This is due to the thickness of the watch and the presence of the bezel. The sunken dial gives it more depth and the height of the case makes the watch stick out a mile from the wrist.
Above is a Bentley 48.7mm and a Chronomat 44mm
44mm, 46mm or 48mm? Which One is Best?
Like anything out there, its personal Preference. One thing I’d like to say however is that you shouldn’t base it on diameter only. There are many watches out there like the Chrono Avenger, the SuperOcean Steelfish and The Chronomat Evolution that are all 44mm watches, but each of them wears differently. And remember, just because the black face seems to look good, doesn’t mean the white face will too.
Panerai’s and Breitlings and Omegas are all available in many different sizes, so don’t just go with the bigger is better philosphy. For example, I’ve always liked the Omega Seamaster watch, and having seen the Planet Ocean, I wanted one. I figured that it would look great at ~45mm, since other 45mm watches looked good on me and so did the 42mm Seamaster. I was wrong!
The Planet Ocean has a very long Lug-to-lug length, which gives it a very elongated profile on my wrist, making the endlinks ont he bracelet stick out oddly from my wrist. The 42mm Planet Ocean suits better, however still has that elogated look that I’m not so fond of.. so for me its the Chunky Seamaster Chrono.
Panerai’s at 44mm wear very large. You will find that a 44mm Luminor Marina wears bigger than a 44mm Chronomat Evo. This is partly because of the thin bezel and partly because of the somewhat square face, giving it a bit more wrist presence. The Crown protector also adds a bit of width to the overall look of the case. The 45mm Radiomir’s are even bigger looking without the crown protectors.. but I am not a fan of the wire lugs.
Your best bet if you plan to buy online is to go to a dealer and try on the difference sizes and brands of watches, taking note of how they feel and look on your wrist.. and remember switching between a bracelet and a strap changes the presence of a watch as well. A bracelet will make a watch wear slightly bigger as well quite often… and will also make a heavy watch feel heavier.. obviously.
Baume et Mercier is making a stab at the higher end market with a new addition to the lineup – The Classima 8690 in a limited edition of 176 peices.
This watch is cased in rose gold with an exhibition caseback showing the modified dubois-depraz movement. It is an ETA base, and looks to be similar to the Breitling for Bentley Flying B. I wonder if its the same modified base movement? This is a nice upscale jump for B&M and is the right direction for the company.
Buckle and Case are all 18kt Rose Gold, Strap is Crocodile. Sunray black dial with Superluminova Hands. Water Resistant to 30M. Case Diameter is 39mm.
