The Breitling Watch Blog

Breitling for Bentley Grand Complication – Walter Owen Bentley

The Breitling Source — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:17:47 +0000

Breitling will introduce the Unique Single production Breitling for Bentley Grand Complication pocket watch, dedicated to Walter Owen Bentley, the founder of the prestigious Car Brand.

The movement consists of almost 700 parts, and was built from a 19th century watch movement blank. The watch features perpetual calendar (displaying the date, day, month, leap years and moon phases), minute repeater striking the hours, quarters and minutes on demand.

The watch case is 18K Yellow Gold, and features a sapphire display back revealing the one-of-a-kind movement.

Selitta SW500 Movement

The Breitling Source — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:11:36 +0000

Selitta launches their brand new SW500 Movement in time for Baselworld 2010. While Selitta has a reputation for somewhat inferior quality movements based on ETA designs, they have certainly captured the hearts of budget Swiss Watch aficionados worldwide.

The ‘new’ SW500 movement is essentially a copy of the Valjoux 7750 movement, similar to how the SW200 is a copy of the ETA 2824. The specs for the movement are as follows:
-25 jewels
-28,800vph
-42 hour power reserve
-Day/Date
-Chronograph

All of which are indentical to the ETA/Valjoux 7750. I’m sure we will see this movement become the new staple for entry level swiss chronograph watches, just as the SW200 has become the new staple for non-chronos.

Ocean7 LM-6c Chronograph

The Breitling Source — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:36:43 +0000

Ocean7 makes a very nice looking watch, and I greatly enjoyed the Ocean7 LM-6c I had while I owned it. Great hunky-chunky look, and fantastic curved crystal. Lume was not the greatest, but I’m not really picky about Lume. The skeleton hands look pretty awesome on it too.

I owned it for quite a while, and then decided to sell it recently. I found out that when I bought the watch, the price was $1599, and then now the watch sells for $899, direct from Ocean7. For a company to drop the price so much is pretty drastic, and not much of a service to their customers. But, if that’s how they want to do things, I guess that’s that.

The Ocean7 uses a Valjoux 7750 movement, likely not modifed at all. It is completely swiss made with your typical 316L stainless steel case and Sapphire Crystal. Water resistant to 500m. Its a big watch at 44mm, with 24mm Lug width and includes both the steel bracelet and the strap. Overall a very nice watch for a very reasonable price, especially since the price reduction.

Eterna Madison Eight Days Spherodrive!

The Breitling Source — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:07:52 +0000

One of the new models from Basel that I am excited about is the Eterna Madison 8 Days Spherodrive. I have had a soft spot for Eterna watches for a long time, and my small collection of Eternas is evidence of that. I have been impressed with the companies creation of new in-house movements (They did create ETA, after all), and have used their signature ball bearing innovation to make the Spherodrive.

The new Eterna Madision 8 Days Spherodrive uses their handwound caliber 3510, and the watch measures 53mm x 38mm, a very healthy size. Its also a beautiful dial and movement, with all screws and screw holes and edges beveled from what it looks like.

Baselworld 2010 fever begins…

The Breitling Source — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:17:57 +0000

With Baselworld 2010 just over a month away (Mar 18-25), watch fever has hit a lot of the forums with hot discussion on what the new models will be, spurred by the pre-release materials that various watch companys have released to the public.

Watch brands that will be featured at Baselword include Rolex, Breitling, Longines, Hamilton, Harry Winston, Epos, Ulysse Nardin and Omega among many others.

Breitling Colt GMT+ Rubber Released..

The Breitling Source — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:11:59 +0000

As some of you may know, the Breitling Colt GMT+, while released quite a while ago, is now being shipped on an Integrated Rubber strap. With the growing trend of Rubber straps, its not surprising to see more and more watches available with the options. Check out the pics:

Panerai Jupiterium Solar System Clock

The Breitling Source — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:43:09 +0000

Panerai released an amazing clock at SIHH 2010 named the Jupiterium. The Clock is based on Galileo’s interpretation of the Solar System, and was unveiled at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm. The Clock shows the position of the Moon, Sun, Jupiter and the Stars as viewed from Earth. There are Three of these clocks in existence.

The clock has a 40 day power reserve, and has the time mounted on the wooden base. The ironic thing about it I suppose is that the Earth appears in the centre of the clock, when Galileo was in fact the first person to suggest that the Earth was NOT the center of the solar system. This clock conveys their relationship rather than the position of the different celestial bodies.

Gucci Straps on eBay

The Breitling Source — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:57:38 +0000

In Case anyone was wondering about the various Gucci Straps that have shown up on eBay in the last year or so, I have posted a Gucci strap Review on Strapaholics.

There have been many styles of straps with exotic hides such as Ostrich and Crocodile and many basic Leather straps, most made by famous French strap maker Camille Fournet. I have purchased several of these straps and all have been incredible buys for the money. Not many places offer top quality French-made calf straps for $15 and Ostrich and Crocodile for $30-40!

Pic from Strapaholics Review:

IWC Portugieser Yacht Club Chronograph

The Breitling Source — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:45:52 +0000

Woo! I love this new Portuguese from IWC.

Beautiful thicker 45.5mm Case, with 14.5mm Thickness. Sapphire Crystals front and back, with a 60m Water Resistance. The sapphire back gives a beautiful view of the IWC Caliber 89360 with pellaton winding system, and finally a Date on the Portuguese! Only thing I’m not sure about is the Rubber strap, red second hand and Yacht Club written on the dial.

The IWC caliber 89360 is designed completely in-house with 40 jewels and a 68 hour power reserve. The Caliber 89360 puts the hours and seconds counters for the chronograph on a single subdial at 12 o’clock for easier reading. Date is at 3 o’clock

SIHH 2010 Starts – Tons of New Models!

The Breitling Source — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:56:43 +0000

With SIHH starting, there are tons of new models introduced. Some of the most notable in my opinion are the offerings from Cartier’s new Manufacture In-House movement department. They have some new models out including the Cartier Caliber and The Cartier Rontondo Astro.

The Cartier Caliber Collection. Beautiful watches from Cartier with does a fine job of combining the signature Cartier look with new and modern looking cases and dials. 42mm and available in steel and gold.

The Cartier Caliber 1904PSMC. Cartier’s first completely in-house designed Automatic Movement.
27 Jewels
28,800bph
48 hours power reserve

Cartier Rotonde Astro Tourbillon. In-house caliber 9451MC manual winding movement with Tourbillon complication.

Some very nice pieces from Cartier for sure. Also a really neat looking piece that will obviously cost two arms and six legs from Panerai..

Panerai Radiomir Tourbillon GMT Ceramique PAM348 with the in-house Panerai P.2005/S movement.

Another Panerai is the Mare Nostrum Re-Issue in a HUGE 52mm Size. Very cool looking:

Keep your eyes peeled for more new models from SIHH 2010!