The Breitling Watch Blog

I’ve been a big fan of Chronoswiss watches since as long as I can remember. They have always struck me as the perfect affordable Swiss Mechanical dress watch for men. I’ve owned a couple of their Kairos models, in the knurled bezel 38mm cases and liked them but always found the larger Timemaster series a bit too clunky-looking for my liking Perhaps its the dial or the onion crown, but they just didnt’ work for me. With the Pacific Collection, I see another Chronoswiss watch that works for me.

The Pacific series comprises the Pacific, Grand Pacific and Pacific Chronograph watches. The Pacific is a 40mm watch, while the latter two are larger 43mm affairs. All feature ETA 2892-A2 movements or Valjoux 7750’s in the Chronographs. I’m quite taken by the dials on these retro-inspired Chronoswiss watches as the markers remind of the ones used by Zenith in their latest watches.

Superb. I can’t wait to own one!

I’ve had this Tag for quite a while, as you can tell since I uploaded the video review quite a while back. I never did post a written review on it, so here it is. It features the high end quartz movement ETA E20.321, which is featured in watches from Invictas to Hamiltons and Accutrons. This instance it is found on a Tag Heuer Aquaracer.

Great black semigloss dial fitted in a robust Aquaracer case, milled from a solid block of 316L stainless steel. The movement is quartz with three LCD screens used to display a number of things including the mode/timezone, seconds as well as time and date. My favourite mode for this watch is to have the analog hands at current time, the lower LCD with the date, the upper LCD blank, and the small right LCD with the seconds. This is my usual setup. It can also be set to display one of two other timezones as well as a Chronograph, Alarm and a Timer.

This version is mounted on the stainless steel aquaracer bracelet. Its also available in rubber. Case diamater is 44.5mm, and case thickness is 14.5mm. Water resistance is 300m, with a unidirectional dive bezel. The crystal is Sapphire, which should be expected.

There’s the push-button clasp, showing the horizontal Tag Heuer branding. Links are pinned together, not screwed. The bracelet is quite nice, however, and wears very comfortably. At the pricepoint, I think its totally acceptable to have pinned links. The higher end Carrera links are screwed.

See above the shot of the solid, robust caseback featured on the Aquaracer Chronotimer. The caseback features a diver’s mask as well as several design features that could be used as notches to open the caseback.

And finally, the wristshot. The Tag Heuer Aquaracer Chronotimer is a great beater watch for those of us that need a high-end quartz for travelling or swimming that we just don’t have to worry about too much. The 300m water resistance combined with multiple timezones, alarm function and chronograph make it a fantastic travel watch. Overall, very pleased with this watch for the money. It is more affordable than comparable watches from Breitling and Omega, and sits right in the middle of the pack above the pricing of similar watches from Accutron and Hamilton.

Rating:
Movement: 6/10
Case/Crystal/Crown: 8/10
Dial/Hands: 6/10
Strap / Buckle / Bracelet: 7/10
Accuracy: 10/10
Comfort: 8/10
Packaging / Manual: 8/10
Overall Impression: 7/10

Video review of the Breitling SuperOcean steelfish. This is the third steelfish I’ve owned, if memory serves. I’ve always liked this watch for its good size, and balanced dial. The lume is interesting and not quite as sparse as most Breitling models, also with a bit of polished elements on the dial it makes it a bit dressier than the standard SuperOcean.

I decided to post this video after picking up a RXW MM25 from a local fellow, built by Rock X Watch, a watch company known also as Ken Trading that made its mark with homages of vintage Rolex watches that were long out of production. RXW followed up with a series of Panerai homages which eventually saw them lose in the Tokyo High court in 2004 prohibiting the sale of their Luminor style watches in Japan. They are still available on occasion on the secondaryt market.

Another video that I have not had the chance to post yet… a review of a Rolex Ladies Datejust that was purchased for a friend of mine. This is a beautiful ladies watch with some fantastic lines and a beautiful mother of pearl dial that just about any lady would be proud to wear. Beautiful two-tone piece with stainless steel and yellow gold dubbed “Rolesor” by Rolex.