REPOSTING IN THE RIGHT SECTION
Dear All, as promised, here is the Airwolf review, i hope it will be of help and of course comments are more than welcomed.
Breitling Family:
Professional series
Presentation (Quote from Breitling official website):
A top-flight chronograph. Keeping its fingers firmly on the pulse of the needs expressed by aviation professional, Breitling has developed the Airwolf. Designed in a resolutely functional spirit, this chronograph is an impressive instrument making the most of the possibilities afforded by electronics.
Technical Data:
Caliber: Breitling 78
Movement: SuperQurtz™, thermocompensated quartz electronic, analog and 12/24 hr LCD digital display, display backlighting (NVG – night vision goggle – compatible), EOL – end of life – indicator.
Chronograph: 1/100th second, max. 99 days, 23 hrs 59 min. 59.99 sec, with split times.
Calendar: Digital, perpetual.
Case: Steel
Water resistance: 5 bars (eq. to 50 meters).
Bezel: Bidirectional with pinion mechanism (slide rule), compass scale.
Crown: Non screw-locked, two gaskets, integrated pushpiece.
Back: Screwed in, with sound signal resonance chamber.
Crystal: Sapphire, glare-proofed both sides.
Diameter: 43.5 mm.
Thickness: 16.70 mm.
Weight: 106.70 gr.
Interhorn width: 22.20 mm.
Versions:
Dials: Blue, slate gray, or black.
Bracelets: Professional II
Straps: Leather (green, blue, black, gold, or brown), Croco (blue, green, camel, black, gold, burgundy, or brown) or Diver Pro (blue, or black)
Packaging:
The Airwolf comes in a Bakelite® presentation case. The least that could be said about is that it is elegant and aesthetic. The elegant Bakelite case comes wrapped in an outer cartoon with a black lid showing a blurred image of an aeroplane engine which looks very nice. That top lid rests on a yellowish base that hosts the Bakelite case. Taking out the Bakelite case reveals the underneath compartment that includes all the instrument’s documents (user’s manual, warranty, COSC certificate, slide rule manual, and of course this is where I keep the payment receipt
). Opening the Bakelite case reveals the inner leather pouch that serves as a protective cushion for the Airwolf. This is a brilliant idea as well as it could be used as a protective case for your Airwolf while travelling light and you do not have space in your suit case for the hefty Bakelite case. Opening the leather pouch there you find the stark beauty of the Airwolf resting around a soft black cushion.
The Watch (Opsss…! I mean the professional instrument)
The version I am reviewing is all steel, blue dial with Professional II bracelet.
The Looks:
The moment you lay eyes on the Airwolf one is captivated with its radiating beauty and the sheer power that it reflects.
The bidirectional bezel is brushed which gives a very nice contrast with the polished case and bracelet. It has a 360 degrees marking and main marks for the four main directions (NEWS, this is not the breaking news of the day, that stands for North, East, West and South
). The blue dial has a central radiating decoration of wave like peaks and troughs that add to the beauty of the Airwolf. The dial has two openings hosting the digital display (the functions of which will be detailed latter in this review). The outside perimeter of the dial exhibits the fixed part of the slide rule used for a multitude of functions in conjunction with the sliding part of the slide rule with the rotation of the bezel.
The hour positions are all luminous with 3, 6 and 9 big digits in the respective locations of course
. The hours’ and minutes’ hands are sleek with a very simple design yet practical with luminous tips (wide enough to be visible in dark environments). The second hand is literally a thin needle exhibiting the traditional Breitling hook near the center and a very elegant red tip that enhance its visibility.
The crown is embossed with the B logo and has a non-sliding rugged holding feel. The two puchpieces are well in place with the case and the crown.
Turning the watch exposes the back-case, which for me should be nominated to the Oscar of best back-case design. It has a turbine like design which is very much matching the spirit of the watch as an instrument for professional pilots and in the same time it acts as a resonance chamber to enhance the audibility of the different sounds and alarms this watch can emit.
The bracelet is the standard professional II bracelet with three rows of diagonally aligned links that looks very elegant, masculine and professional especially in the polished style. The bracelet has a double clasp lock for extra protection. The main clap has the engraving of Breitling 1884 and the secondary clasp has an engraving of the Breitling wing logo.
The Core:
The Airwolf inner core is the B78 movement. The base caliber for the B78 is the ETA E20.341 (in the ETA Thermoline series), which uses a single 32 kHz crystal adjusted with a thermistor. It runs with a CR 2320 lithium battery. For more information for those who are interested in more technical jargon please visit the below links, I hope they will serve the purpose.
http://www.breitlingsource.com/details/B78.html
http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=2087
http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=42026
http://forums.timezone.com/pdf.php?th=633273 (be ware of the lengthy PDF file
)
http://donindiano.lanetcie.com/watches/ ... 1/movement (nice link where you can see the B78 movement and even can hear it if you wish!
)
Technical experts please feel free to add amendments to the above links
The Functions:
As mentioned earlier, the Airwolf has two LCD displays, both are electroluminescent. One LCD is on the upper half of the dial, while the other (no surprise) is on the lower half. In that, it resembles other Breitling models like the Aerospace and the B1. in the normal display, the LCD digits are have a golden yellowish illumination. if the crown is depressed (pushed) then the LCD displays illuminate with green flurescent like effect which is compatible with night vision goggles.
Rotating the crown (both clockwise and anti-clockwise) changes the function of the display. Rotating in a clockwise fashion displays the different functions in the following sequence:
Time: displays the time in digital format on the lower LCD (one has the option to choose between 12 hrs or 24 hrs format) and the upper LCD indicate am/pm in case of 12 hrs format is chosen. Pulling the crown while this function is selected allows for setting the time. Once you set the digital clock, magically the analog clock synchronize with it and you can see the hands dancing to the right position .
Alarm: displays the set time for alarm on the lower LCD along with the on/off indicator, while the upper LCD shows AL for alarm and the am/pm indicator in case of 12 hrs format.
Date: the lower LCD display the date (DD.MM.YY or MM.DD.YY formats are available) and the upper LCD displays the day. Pulling the crown allows for setting the date.
Chronograph: selecting this function drives the second hand to the 12 hours position and as long as this function is selected the second hand will serve as the chronograph second hand. Once you switch to any other function the second hand will be back to its normal function and will keep up with watch ever was missed . The upper display will show CHR to indicate chronograph. Once the count is stopped, the upper LCD will alternate its display between the numbers of day (up to 99 days) and the closest to the 1/100th of a second. The lower display hosts the count for hours, minutes and seconds in the HH.MM.SS format.
Timer (Countdown): the upper display shows TM to indicate timer and it displays the days component of the countdown (a max of 99 days). The lower display hosts the hours, minutes and seconds components of the countdown in the HH.MM.SS format.
Second zone time: the upper LCD displays T2 to indicate second zone time and it also shows the am/pm indicators if the 12 hrs format is chosen. The lower LCD displays the time of second zone which could be programmed either to 12 or 24 hrs format. Of course, pulling the crown in this position allows for setting the second zone time.
Second zone alarm: same as alarm function (upper display however will show AL2 to indicate second alarm) but here it is related to the second time zone. If one adjusts the second time zone to be exactly as the local time then this will serve as a second alarm for your local time, which could be handy in lots of situation where you might require double alarms (maybe for lazy birds that require a snooze alarm in the early morning wakeup calls
)
UTC: the upper displays UTC for GMT time and the lower display shows the GMT time. It goes without saying, pulling the crown in this position allows for setting the UTC/GMT time.
Tone/Language: this function let the user change the different tones and alarms and the languages as well. The upper display will show TON\L to indicate tone and language. Available languages are (English, French, German and Spanish) and there are different tones to play with.
Off: The display is off and this is to be selected if one is opting for saving battery life (which I think is rated for 2 to 3 years).
Have I forgotten to mention that of course as it is a chronometer it is COSC certified (oh…! I guess I have mentioned that indirectly by referring to the COSC certificate among other documents that comes with this instrument
).
The Conclusion:
In a nutshell a master piece and love at first sight
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