The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I recently received my birthday gift, a beautiful Airwolf. I've read some posts on the forum in the past that the Airwolf's second hand doesn't align with the hash marks at certain points around the dial. From my perspective with the watch on the wrist viewed from the 12 o'clock position it does look like to me that from seconds 3 through 27 the second hand is ahead of the hash marks and then is back on mark for the rest of the minute. Then if the watch is viewed upside down (the 6 o'clock mark at top) it looks like from seconds 33 through 57 are now ahead of the mark, where previously they were dead on when viewed right side up and now seconds 3 through 27 are dead on! Then when I rotate the watch counter clockwise 90 degrees every 15 seconds throughout the full minute the second hand is dead on every hash mark throughout the full minute. So, with the watch on the wrist is the misalignment that some are calling a quality control issue just an optical illusion? I've attached some pictures showing the right side up and upside down perspectives of the same second mark.

So for those of us in the wolf pack do my observations hold true for others? Just trying to get to the bottom of this, if it's an illusion or a quality control issue, because I'm getting real dizzy standing on my head every thirty seconds!

Most quartz watches -- even high-end ones, made by Breitling -- may have such alignment issues. Some parts have it, others not. To me it's a bit like scratches on the watch: sooner or later you'll have to get yourself over it (and live with scratches, live with alignment issue), and start enjoying your time piece. Life is too short to get hung up on such small issues. The Airwolf is a fantastic watch, forget about the alignment and just wear it proudly

BTW, my B-1 is perfectly aligned at 12 hours, but looks a bit misaligned on the other markers (3, 6, 9). My Colt II Quartz is not perfect all round, but not too bad. My wife's Cockpit Lady is terribly misaligned, it doesn't even hit the thick black marker at 12 hours when it rolls over a minute. But who cares? Both my wife and I love our Breitlings

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Ingenieur - Speedmaster - Submariner

If I had one, and I needed to time something precisely, I would just use the digital display and not worry about the analog second hand being a wee bit misaligned.

Peace

Mike

The analogue time display still involves wheels and arbors in the movement so there still has to be some play in the movement to prevent the whole mechanical elements from binding. That will result in some 'free' movement of the hands, which is most obvious on a central seconds hand (greatest distance from the arbor) and can result in the hand 'missing' the marker when it ticks.

You should have some ability to adjust it with the crown for a regular central seconds (you'll see the free play when you adjust the time), although that's obviously harder for a chrono seconds.