The Breitling Watch Blog

Shot some nice photos of my Eterna 1935, and figured I would follow up with the video review I posted a ways back with some photos of this great value watch. Eterna has been making fantastic watches for years, in addition to being the company that created most of the previous generation of ETA movements before selling ETA to Swatch.

This Eterna is like most others, great value for dollar on the secondary and liquidation markets such as eBay. The MSRP’s are high, but if you’re like me, deals can be had on forums as well as on eBay and from luxury watch liquidators.

This particular Eterna I picked up from a fellow on Timezone, second hand. I had purchased a watch from him before and this was the second one. I had seen them all over eBay at one time, but never had the chance to pick up one for what I felt was a good price and had the dial and bracelet combination that I was looking for. I was able to get this one and was really happy since the silver Guilloche dial is fantastic, with the polished stick indices really setting the dial off.

The watch features standard Hours, Minutes Seconds and a Date at 6 o’clock, and the square case measures 29mm x 43mm and is 10mm thick. Sounds small, but its actually not too bad. Very large wearing for what sounds like a 29mm watch. I would probably compare it with most 38-39mm watches for size.

The bracelet is fantastic, and is screw construction, with very good tolerances and fit. Links are two-tone polish and brushed. The clasp is a hidden double butterfly with push button release, and features an Eterna signature on the bracelet section.

The back is a sapphire crystal exhibition back with a view of the Eterna-matic ETA 2824 movement, with customized Eterna Rotor. The caseback is screwed down giving it a bit of water resistance rated to 30m.

There it is on my 6.75″ wrist, which isn’t too bad. The watch looks fantastic with dress shirt and suit and was one of my favourite dress watches for quite a while. Its probably more suited to a dress shirt type of environment as I don’t like how it wears with T-shirts. Overall, a beautifully crafted timepiece which is a steal at secondary market prices as most eterna watches are.

Check out the old video post here if you haven’t seen it already:
http://blog.breitlingsource.com/2011/07/26/eterna-1935-eterna-matic-watch-video/

Been really busy with work in the last few months and haven’t been able to post as much as I would like, but had a few moments and figured I should squeeze out a quite mini-review of my Hamilton Below Zero that I got not too long ago. The model I picked up is the 42mm model, silver dial on tan leather strap. I personally think this is the nicest of the models as the applied arabics really set off the light silver face.

The dial is characterized by the “0” at the 12 o’clock position, likely inspired by the name “BelowZero”. The watch comes in two sizes, 42mm and 46mm mirroring the Bell & Ross instrument watches from the BR03 and BR01 lines respectively. Its no secret that these watches are inspired by B&R, as they bare much resemblance, but they still maintain some identity and manage to look different enough.

As you might notice above, I mounted it briefly on a black sueded Steinhart pilot strap, but decided that I prefer it on the tan. The casework on the BelowZero is a notch above previous Hamiltons that I have owned, which is a welcome treat. I’ve always liked the Hamilton Designs, but felt that they fell a bit short on the craftsmanship of the cases. They could have been done much better for a prominent Swiss Watch company. I feel the BelowZero is slightly above expectations which is what every good watch company should deliver.

As seen above, the back features an exhibition crystal showing off the fairly stock looking ETA 2824 movement. The case is water resistant to 200m, and featured two-toned brushed and polished stainless steel. The bezel is uni-directional, and also features luminova dots so it can be read in the dark. Overall the most satisfying Hamilton I have owned. This is the complete package finally from a company who has some very cool designs but has always dropped the ball a bit when it came to that last few bits of fit and finish. Good Job, Hamilton.

Movement: Automatic ETA 2824 Movement
Case: Polished with Brushed Steel Case, Exhibition CaseBack
Crystal: Scratch Resistant Sapphire
Water Resistance: 200 Meters / 660 Feet Water Resistant
Diameter: 42mm = 1 5/8″ Case

The video review follow-up to the written review posted earlier on the Egard Shade Automatic from new watch company Egard Watches. Very nicely designed, with obvious care put into conceiving this timepiece from Ilan of Egard Watches. Looking forward to the higher end pieces due to come out in the future from Egard.

Just returned from Vacation, and its time to update the blog. Just came across a newish German watch company and they looked pretty interesting to me so I figured I would give them a mention on here. I’ve owned some Glashutte Original and recently picked up a Union Glashutte from when they still used GO movements and so I’m still quite a fan of the German watch companies.

Neuhaus Inventing Timepieces has been around since 2010 it appears, but I have not heard about them until now. They only have one model, the JANUS DoubleSpeed, which they claim to be the most accurate one-hand watch in the world. The watch is based on the ETA Unitas 6498 movement, and features a double-speed single hour hand, which makes it easier to tell the minutes. The drawback to this is that if the hour hand is at 3, it could be 9 – its up to you to know the difference.

Neat watch, with a well thought out design and details. Hopefully we will see more from Neuhaus. See the video below or visit their website here: http://www.neuhaus.com/

Vulcain recently released a sweet re-issue of an old watch from the 50’s, with an updated 42mm case diameter. This watch is the Vulcain 50s Presidents Chronograph. It features a heritage dial, and indeed it really looks like a blast from the past.

This new model from Vulcain is available in Stainless Steel as well as 18K Rose Gold. Both models feature Rose Gold hands, which I think pair up really nicely with the black, antique lumed dial. I am such a sucker for re-issued vintage style watches and Vulcain is a brand of watch I have been considering for a very long time now.

This is truly an outstanding piece that I would love to get my hands on to see in person. I really want one!

CASE: steel 316L or 18K Rose Gold
Diameter 42.00 mm – Length 50.00 mm
Height 13.75 mm
CRYSTAL: sapphire front and back
WATER-RESISTANCE: 50 meters/160 feets
CALIBRE VULCAIN V-57: 13 1/4-lignes mechanical automatic single-pusher type chronograph movement, 25 rubies, 105 components, lift angle 50°
FUNCTIONS: hour, minute, seconds counters at 9 o’clock, date window at 6 o’clock, centre second chronograph, 30-minute chronograph counter at 3 o’clock
FREQUENCY: 28’800 vibrations per hour
POWER RESERVE: 42 hours
DECORATION: Côtes de Genève motifs, blued screws
MOVEMENT COATING: rhodium