The Breitling Watch Source Forums

the Chronomat

The only positive for me is the 42mm size. That’s it. The bezel is an improvement but any bezel would have been improvement over what we’ve seen in the last decade. I’m sorry i can’t see any other positives in any of these releases. The Premier and Mosquito were beautiful designs; these are horrendous for me. I’m not a fan of going retro; let’s move forward. The Premier and Mosquito may have been based on older models but they were evolutions in design; these are not for me. Huge disappointment.

Look at that photo directly above; makes me sick. The crown is awful conical profile stolen right off the Omega Diver 300m helium escape release. No screw down locks on the pushers (a key design element of the chronomat) and that hideous bracelet. Only half the bezel has indices why? My gosh I didn’t think they could scew up the chronomat more than they did during the Buck Rodgers bezel era
But they out did themselves.

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"I don't own any watches, I just lease them"

Regarding the Chronomat: Placing the date aperture INSIDE the bottom sub-dial, where a legible 6 should be isn't a great idea? Said sub-dial now reads anywhere from 1-31 at the bottom, depending on what day it is. Confusing, no?

I could not have expressed my exact feelings better...so I'll "quote" yours.

#FireKern

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Mickey® 

It is obvious that Georges has been reaching out to a new, younger, and "cooler" clientele than what was previously's Breitling's bread and butter. I can deal with the re-issue of the 57 Superocean, but I prefer my Superocean XL more. The rainbow edition is hideous in my opinion. I laugh that certain individuals are speaking out in favor of it when years ago they harpooned Teddy Schnieder whenever he released a colorful watch.

The new chronomat is nice but I don't see myself rushing out to buy one new. The 35 mm Navitimer is only a reduction in size. Does not appeal to me at all and my wife doesn't really wear anything smaller than 38 mm. I won't be purchasing any of the watches new, they will be readily available pre-owned in short order at a greatly reduced price. Georges main concern is pumping out as many watches as possible. He has little concern for those whose consider value retention and is only interested in the bottom line of Breitling, S.A.

My watch fund will now be directed towards watches that hold their value better and/or those with a little bit more of sophistication. I for one have not drank the "Cool Aid"!

No, you just drank the previous flavour of "Cool Aid". These are just highly priced baubles in an entirely unnecessary product category that for the last 40 years have been sold less on design and mostly on marketing. From your commentary you'd think they'd just killed your pet dog.

It they come close to my dog then we will have serious issues. Georges has taken Breitling in a different direction, which is fine, I will not be joining them. You are correct in that they are "highly priced baubles that are unnecessary", sorry if I like my baubles to retain some of their value. If your think previous versions were sold on marketing efforts I would like to know how your classify Georges current marketing efforts?
In the end everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I'm sorry that you and I do not see eye to eye but I like to look at the whole picture and I don't think that Georges is looking out for your and I, only the bottom line!

Only Time and Grey Market discounts will tell but...
It’s my opinion that the direction Breitling is going is a disaster and I won’t be buying. That’s the only way to hopefully get back to the Breitling I love.

The reason great forums like this exist is because of opinions...pretty boring and not much to discuss
If we all agreed on everything!

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Mickey® 

SOH 57 is a nice one.

Navitimer 35 might suit some, especially with gem setting and the price point..

Chronometer B01 42, man! There’s nothing exciting really. I was excited for the bracelet but it’s not pulling any heart strings. The date window in the sub dial has left the dial more symmetric, i like that part. Overall, its not making me run and Pre order one.

I may consider the 2-tone SOH 57 in the future.

But for now, I’m back to watering my lawn.

I've got to be honest guys (and everyone is completely entitled to their own opinion of course), but for probably the first time ever on here I'm genuinely surprised at a some of the hatred (for want of a better word) for the new Chronomat. (Still, it kind of makes a change for me to be on the other side of the fence! There were a number of years I pretty much hated every new release, so this is very much another step in the right direction for me).

To me it's a fantastic and elegant return to form, and I personally genuinely struggle to find anything wrong with it at all.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Well I’m struggling to find anything right with it. We’ve been saying for years that Breitling’s direction was in trouble and we’re starting to see hardcore signs of that. Dealers can’t move inventory and preowned values are penny’s on the dollar (and this was pre-covid). I’ve gone to a few Breitling ADs recently, ones I’ve never bought from and they’re offering 25% discount to START to a perfect stranger. Some grey dealers that I’ve dealt with don’t even want to buy preowned Breitlings, even at give-away prices because they don’t sell....and I’m talking about models released in the past five years.

With the exception of a few models, the lineup is a complete disaster with far too many models, far too many retro style pieces and no new evolutions. The B01 based movement is tired and their resistance to invest in ceramics is maddening. Breitling is in big trouble.

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"I don't own any watches, I just lease them"

I've had some time to look at these models and here are my thoughts.

Chronomat - I don't quite understand the bezel on this model. Is there a reason that only half the bezel shows the minute markers? Also, I'm not sure why it would be a polished finish, I would think in the end that would be a scratch magnet. I would've much rather seen the same bezel that is on my Airborne than this new version. I also agree with Serge in that I would have liked to see the screw down pushers and the same crown that we've seen on the previous Chronomats. In pictures, I'm just not a fan of the bullet bracelet. It may wear comfortable, but I don't like the style. With that being said, I also never liked the mesh until I tried it on. I just don't think I'll have that same experience with the bullet. I've never liked it on the older versions and would have rather seem this with the option for the pilot bracelet. It's hard to beat the pilot bracelet on this model, and I don't think the bullet was the answer. I'm glad to see there will be several dial options available. I'm not sold on the salmon dial but most other combos look good. I'm fine with the date placement at 4:30 like on previous models. I think as it stands now, it may be hard to read the date on these new models. I wouldn't say it's a complete swing and miss, but it's also not anything that I'm going to be buying.

Superocean 57 - I like the dial and the retro vibes, but it's a watch I'd buy. It's not because I don't like it, but with a Sub and SOHCII, it just doesn't fit in my collection. If I compare this to the Omega Seamaster reissue, I think I'd buy the Omega first, or even just a regular Moonwatch. The positive is that I like the look on this SO57 with the mesh bracelet and how there isn't a straight link where it meets the case like on my SOHCII. The rainbow version, well, I'm just thankful there are only 250 of them. I also don't understand if the SO57 is supposed to be marketed toward women or what. All of the promo shots on Breitling's website are of a woman wearing them.

Navitimer 35 - I'm fine with this and have no issues with it.

I do like the green dial available now on the SOHCII which I didn't see any mention of. I'm just not a huge fan overall of these watches. I also think it's a bit of a strange time to bring out new releases with everything going on in the world and all other brands remaining silent. I didn't watch the entire video since I skipped through some parts, but was there any mention of the new packaging or blockchain technology?

I agree with your assessment of the timing issue and no, I did not hear any further mention of the packaging and or blockchain technology!

I really like the new Chronomat. Yes it's quite different from the outgoing design but IMO there's nothing wrong with retrospective progression! In fact, I like the fact that it's different!
Whereas I was never a fan of the old Chronomat and roleaux bracelet, I am a fan of this. I love the multitude of dial colour choices. I'm not sure about that cheap clasp though. I've never liked those clasps as I find them not to be as secure and ill fitting.
Otherwise, job well done.

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Oyster Date '78, Blackbird chrono DLC '10, Blackbird chrono' 02, Navitimer Fighters '02, Aerospace Evo , Seamaster Chrono Diver 300' 02, Carrera cbm2110

The first 15 minutes are marked individually, as is fairly typical for a standard timing configuration of the bezel. If the rider tabs are switched to shift into countdown mode, then the last 15 minutes are marked individually.

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Cheers,
Jim