Note: This ended up being absurdly long so if you want to skip the text and just check out the pics I won't be (too) offended.
Our story begins in the fall of 1999. My mother informed me of her wish to get me a watch for my 21st birthday. Not knowing much about watches at the time, I poked around a few stores to get the lay of the land but ultimately my search was very brief as I one day set my eye upon a Breitling Blackbird and knew I needed search no more. I didn't know all too much about the brand but I knew the Blackbird was for me. Shortly thereafter, this little guy showed up on my wrist and rarely were we separated.
9 years of daily use took its toll and in my infinite lack of wisdom I had never heard of servicing a watch. Google searches followed and brought me to this fine board. A freshly acquired wealth of knowledge told me what I had to do and, sad as I was to see him go, my little buddy left home for a (well-overdue) appointment at BUSA for a complete service.
During his absence I began to plan my next Breitling purchase, as many hours spent on this and other sites sparked a hunger inside me for a partner for my long-solo companion. My early leanings were towards a Chronomat Evolution (black dial/subs/romans) and I spent some time at Govberg with George trying on pretty much every Breitling they had. Happily, I exercised more patience than I would have thought possible and ultimately concluded that all-polished was just a bit too polished for me.
As I pondered, my Blackbird returned from service and something unexpected happened: Tourneau sent out a bunch of $1000 off Breitling gift cards. While $1000 off isn't much of a discount for most of the models, it's quite a deal on one I had had an eye on.
I hadn’t really planned on picking this up, but 50% off was more than I could pass up. The Colt Quartz on Diver Pro came to me in June. I had been wanting a nice quartz piece and this one sure fit the bill. I figured I would just back off the pricier purchase I had been planning until I could replenish my funds… but sometimes things just work out better than you expect. My mother decided an appropriate 10th anniversary present for my first Blackbird would be...
Thanks mom!
While the story should end here, I ended up chatting with George (from whom the new BB had been purchased, and let me just say all the accolades heaped upon him on this board are well deserved) about my lament that Breitling had seen fit to all but cease producing completely brushed models. This conversation led to talk of the titanium Seawolf and, since I had my saved Blackbird funds burning a hole in my pocket, a call to BUSA confirmed that they had one titanium Seawolf still in stock, but on a Pro1. As I am not a fan of the Pro1 George was able to get BUSA to agree to swap it out for a Pro2 (which they had to repurchase from another AD as they none lying around, oddly enough). A few days later this arrived…
Ain’t she a beaut!
Excessive? Absolutely! But I have no regrets. Each is different and I get a rather silly amount of pleasure being able to pick which to wear each morning. I look forward to having these all for many years to come.
In parting, please enjoy a couple of family photos.
-Henry
