The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Dear Breitling maniacs

I used to be a watchaholic, then paused for familiar and financial reason, and now am back for a new personal flagship watch: A Breitling with the B01 movement. Now, since I have been away from the news/inputs about watches and since I know, that the B01 caliber had some issues in the beginning back in the 2010s and 2011s, I just wanted to know: Have the problems been solved? Is the B01 caliber considered as being robust and tough and reliable?

I appreciate your replies very much. Certainly I will be happy to join the community after my purchase, including enthusiasm and plenty of wrist shots :-).

V.

There have been fewer reports of problems in the last year or so, so it's fair to assume that some of the early issues have been addressed. Not sure that there is enough evidence one way or another yet of it being "robust and tough and reliable", that only comes with time. However, in house movements are now coming with a 5 year warranty as long as seals are inspected regularly in that period so that helps with peace of mind.

Welcome back!

Just checked the time on my B01 LE which I last wound 4 days ago, 0 time gain/loss...

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Breitling Chronomat 01 Limited Edition
Breitling Navitimer 01 46mm

Thank you so much, guys. That's helpful. Seems that the B01 has been enough real-life tested in the meanwhile.
I am heading for the Chronomat 41 with sierra silver dial and leather strap. Cheers. V.

@Chronomat01LE: 4 days is way beyond specs, could you translate this to hours plz? I mean it was a full 96 hours, or? Just to gain a clear picture wether this "more than 70 hours" is a pure underspecification or your watch is an extremely "strong" one...
@vorollo: the Chronomat 41 is on my short list too, the Blackeye-Blue dial though. Might wait for a few minor caliber changes... (day-date, vertical date window instead of the oblique one, fly-back, some silicone escapement parts, maybe balance bridge some day...)
Best,
Robert

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Chronomat 41 BEB, Steelfish Chrono BEB, 2x Grand Premier, Chrono Cockpit 39 mm, Aerospace Avantage 79362
IWC 3706, 3705, 376706, 371928
Sinn 103 plexy
For sale: Sinn 356 II, Porsche Design Titan Chrono Valjoux
Wanted: Breitling Blackbird 13353 on bracelet

@Robertus: Well yes, full 4 days might be a bit over the top. I think, the first and the fourth day in his calculation are just partly calculated.

The blackeye-blue dial is great, however blue is - for me - not a favourite color on watch dials (I prefer more the grey/silver hues). I also love the blackeye-grey dial, but I slightly prefer the sierra-silver dial. The Breitling silver dials are much better readable than one might suggest based on the catalogue pictures. Depending on the view angle and the light conditions, silver delivers even a higher contrast to the polished hands than any other dial color shade.

Another plus in favor of the sierra silver: It goes very well with black, but also with honey/brown leather straps. Not very well with bracelet, but I am no bracelet guy anyway. If I were the bracelet guy, I probably would prefer blue dial color tones too.

Are you going to wear your Chronomat 41 with bracelet?

@Roffensian and Robertus: Are there any further models / features forthcoming for next spring release for the Chronomat-line? (in terms of design, but also in terms of technical features etc.)

Best, V.

@vorollo: I'm a bracelet guy and I surely will wear it on the pilot - but I'll try it on my Breitling milanese mesh too. The new style of the case between the lugs should give a great fit with the mesh. I will add the Ocean Racer clasp to the Pilot - it needs only a small mod by the watchmaker. (I have one Pro II. and one Pilot with the OR clasp - looks and works well.)

Regarding dial colors, I have great problems reading my CSO I. blue dial when hands are above the silver subdials. In daylight or complete darkness there is no problem but in twilight it is impossible. So my choice goes to dark dials, and my sweet spots are blue and blue/black colors generally. Not to mention that Breitling is the brand that makes the most beautiful blue dials ever - I have seen lots of blue dials by other good brands, believe me!

Regarding new designs and caliber mods I cannot tell you anything as I'm no insider. I only wish that Breitling will be clever enough to fill these market gaps:

I cannot name a manufature chronograph movement with the (very useful!) day-date feature, one has to go back to the ETA-Valjoux 7750 (or the LWO 5100...). That is the issue with my CSO too.

At the same time I think that on of the most beautiful dial layouts ever is that of the Valjoux 72C movement (Breitling used this for the Datoras of the '40-s). Follower is the ETA-Valjoux 7751, unfortunately with minute counter placed to 12, thus dial symmetry ruined.
Now there is only one modern watch with sporty looks and good diver's possibilities, that offers a (beautiful blue) dial layout very similar to this: it is the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Chronograph Complete Calendar. This watch has unfortunately many prohibitive downs as well: an enourmously high price, is produced in homeopathic quantities, has a 45 mm large case, does not have steel bracelet option, has a superfluous moonphase feature and has a FP base movement with some controversial fame and disproportionately small size to the large case.
The Omega Speedmaster Day-Date would be something similar, the RRP is fine too, case size is fine too, but: 1. still uses the 7751 base 2. has almost no lume on the hour markers and very important too: 3. no 60 minutes count-up turning bezel.
So all these speak for the need of such a watch to the market: wearable size (at least as an option) of the Chronomat 41 mm, manufacture caliber (base B01 is fine), simple full calendar complication like that of the Valjoux 72C or the ETA-Valjoux 7751 (latter with automatic month change) and steel bracelet option. Breitling could ask for a 1.000 Euro bonus over the Chronomat 41 and I'm sure many would be glad to pay this - me too...
So my "dream-watch" is a Blackeye-Blue Chronomat 41 with either a day-date or (even better) a simple full calendar module on the Pilot bracelet. An upgraded escapement (silicone parts, free balance spring with micro adjust screws, balance bridge) may be a dream "over the roof"...
I'd be happy to see the same classic dial layout in the 40 mm Montbrillant B01 too, hopefully with a nice blue dial as well (partly as an option for those loving the 43 mm Montbrillant Datora (ETA 7751) too - but the Chronomat 41 has to get this complication first
Sorry for the very long reply...
Best,
Robert

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Chronomat 41 BEB, Steelfish Chrono BEB, 2x Grand Premier, Chrono Cockpit 39 mm, Aerospace Avantage 79362
IWC 3706, 3705, 376706, 371928
Sinn 103 plexy
For sale: Sinn 356 II, Porsche Design Titan Chrono Valjoux
Wanted: Breitling Blackbird 13353 on bracelet

"I have great problems reading my CSO I. blue dial when hands are above the silver subdials. In daylight or complete darkness there is no problem but in twilight it is impossible."

You name it. But that's the problem with dark/bright mixed dials and not the problem of silver dials in general! The visibility contrast has to be searched either on the dark or on the bright background, which is a huge challenge for our human eyes. But if you stick to an uniform silver or black (blackeye-blue is fine too) dial, then your eyes find the right angle for the best uniform contrast easily. Same for the silver dial. The ONLY small advantage of the black dials compared to the silver dials is, that the bright lume body color might be an advantage if the light conditions are neither sunny nor twilight but something in between during misty-shady-dim-shining weather conditions. There the silver dial is a slight disadvantage, because there's no real contrast to be found. Believe me, I have studied all types of visual conditions :-).

I agree with you on the blue Breitling dials, although I loved the blue dial of my previous Omega 2500-calibered Aqua Terra. This blue was magnificient too.

Regarding the Blancpain Chrono. I've never liked this brand too much (maybe because it's Swatch, although I admire N. Hayek and his son), but this Chrono is gorgeous (if I neglect the huge size).

Regarding your suggestions for new features: The Chronomat 41 is already quite thick, isn't it? Compared to the reduced diameter it's even thicker. Together with your mentioned features it might additionally grow another 1 mm or 1.5 mm in thickness, don't you think? Quite bulky?

That's guesswork. Breitling has been expanding the calibre offerings based on the B01 - manual wind, GMT, true world timer, but who knows what comes next. From day 1 Breitling claimed that the B01 was configurable for a 3 / 6 / 9 or 6 / 9 / 12 subdial layout but we have yet to see that yet.

"From day 1 Breitling claimed that the B01 was configurable for a 3 / 6 / 9 or 6 / 9 / 12 subdial layout but we have yet to see that yet."

... maybe without any augmentation of case thickness?

No idea, they simply claimed that it could be done. I would imagine that it would be within the same thickness because if you designed the movement to support it then you would presumably do so in as efficient a way as possible.

@Roff: haven't heard about the 6-9-12 dial layout possiblity. Maybe a day-date window at 3 is not impossible - you could name the perfect understatement Chronomat then... I'd surely buy one - a see-through case back is highly welcome on this watch, as on every B01-based watch, partly against fakes... (Something in the same understatement direction is the Seiko-based 6-9-12 movement in the Carrera...)
@vorollo: I could imagine a relatively well readable light dial is how Fortis does it with the B-42 diver chrono (blued hands and hour markings), but I do not feel like shifting to Fortis... I'll generally stay with blue/black, blue, or black Breitling dials not only on readability but personal preference reasons. I understand your love for the silver dial though (what about a cream dial? )
Regarding case height I wouldn't worry: I've worn a Sinn 103 St Sa for quite a time with its 41 mm case and 17 mm height: wasn't disturbing. What's more, the CSO I. with the 42 mm case has a height a bit over 17 mm (if I remember well 17.1 mm, despite it was always specified 15.1 mm by Breitling, even on breitlingsource.com!) and that 17.1 mm is not disturbing at all. If the Chronomat 41 will have cca. 17 mm case height (I think possibly even less, today it is 15.4 mm, taken on the peak of the glass) and preserve its moderately sloping case and bezel design, it would not be a problem. There is cca. 1 mm difference between the Valjoux 72 (no date!) and the Valjoux 72C movement heights. What's more if you compare ETA 7750 to 7751 caliber height specs: both have 7.9 mm. So I think that - depending on the caliber structure - with the full calendar extra height of 0 to 1.1 mm the case should arrive somewhere between 15.4-16.5 mm. Perfect.
I myself am not an admirer of Blancpain generally but love their "classic" case & lug design and generally like that specific model. But no way I'd even try to purchase one. Way better waiting for the Chronomat 41 with similar functions...

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Chronomat 41 BEB, Steelfish Chrono BEB, 2x Grand Premier, Chrono Cockpit 39 mm, Aerospace Avantage 79362
IWC 3706, 3705, 376706, 371928
Sinn 103 plexy
For sale: Sinn 356 II, Porsche Design Titan Chrono Valjoux
Wanted: Breitling Blackbird 13353 on bracelet

What I meant was for the last 4 days since I last wound my watch, (I should say 5 days now, as I just checked the time on my watch again again) I checked the watch time against my phone time everyday a few times, and so far it is 0 time gain/loss. I wound it from a complete stop on Mon, and wore it for that day, Tue I did not touch the watch at all as I was at home the whole day, Wed, Thurs and today I wore the watch during the day for about 10 hours, and left it in the watch case after I reached home of course. So it was not a case of leaving the watch untouched all the way that's why it's still moving. The bottom line is so far it did not miss a beat. Of course it is not always 100% accurate like the last few days, there were times when it gains 1 sec per day and I did experience it gaining up to 3 sec in one day a few times, but 90% of the time it's either on the dot or 1 sec gain.

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Breitling Chronomat 01 Limited Edition
Breitling Navitimer 01 46mm

Beyond a point accuracy has nothing to do with the individual calibre, more the individual movement (i.e. specific to an individual watch) and the watch's environment. Any mechanical Breitling could exhibit similar degrees of accuracy, and every mechanical Breitling is certified to the same COSC standard.

True, Roff. My 4.5 years old Breitling Colt II shows similar accuracy and continuity (it has never been serviced so far, however I haven't worn it regularly, approx. 2.5 years totally). As usual and as in the beginning +0 sec on average. Sometimes -1, sometimes +1.5 / day at the highest. And this is the 2824-2 from ETA, admittedly somewhat tuned to perfection by Breitling.

@Robertus: Cream dial is nice too. There are some beautiful watches with a cream dial out there. But the sierra silver dial from Breitling also shows some creamy hue, it's not pure silver, it's something between silver and cream. Well, maybe the blackeye-grey dial will finally convince me... We'll see...