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PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:28 am 
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Spoke to Andrew Michaels (Breitling AD) and they said the Aerospace Avantage and before that the Aerospace.... is their best selling Breitling by far.

Image...... And history.

The Breitling AA (Aerospace Avantage) is currently the only watch in the Breitling range that continues to use titanium (also produced in a magnificent but expensive 18ct Rose Gold)
The original intention in the 80's was to produce a lightweight highly legible and efficient multi-fuctional pilots watch and it was originally badged "Navitimer".... And nearly 30 years on, they're still being used by many military air forces and commercial pilots around the world. For Joe Public it's for people who want something that's quality, lightweight, is useful and a bit understated.

It has also been caught on the wrist of a few A-Listers..... In the wild, and not as product placement.


Looks.....

Simple is better. Black, Blue or Silver dials, and now the addition of Copperhead bronze. A band of concentric circles tramlined beneath the markers. Twin digital apertures Straight hands filled with lume, sword edge angled tips. Printed Gold Breitling "Wings" logo.

In it's relatively short life, the dial lettering and markers have changed quite a few times,

"chronometre certife"
"chronometre aerospace"
Batons to numbers
Polished font change
Addition of pinstripes and concentric circles
Slate grey dial discontinued
.....although instantly recognizable as the same watch.


Movement.....

Breitling calibre 79 Superquartz. Ana-digital
Reliable and efficient with a longlife 3-5 year battery life.
Multi functional with minute repeater, 2nd time zone, chronograph, countdown timer, alarm, calendar and backlight.

Feel.......

The Pro 2 bracelet on the AA is very smooth and comfortable. The Glass as with all modern Breitlings is dual AR coated which makes it nigh on invisible at times, a very clean looker.*
The lume on the hands is brilliant. The lume on the markers less so.
The weight of the watch is there, but being Breitlings lightest model at 38g (without bracelet) you hardly notice you're wearing anything. The Aerospace Avantage at 10.4mm is also the thinnest gents wristwatch Breitling produce, great for wearing under a shirt cuff. The bezel has a nice positive click and uni-directional

Packaging......

Gone are the old nightmare faulty hinged boxes of the late 90's early 2000's. These boxes have changed through the past six or so years, but unless you have an early one, you'll be having a very nice box indeed.
You don't wear a box, so its a bit useless in a review really, but nice to keep for that "complete package".


Prices.....as of November 2012

Current priced from £2,440 to £17,630

£3,100 GBP on the Pro2 bracelet as pictured.

As with most luxury watches you'll take the hit, if you buy new and want to sell within a few years.

If you buy on the second hand market.... the world is your lobster. You can find most AA's *similar to that pictured below for under 1500 GBP which is really the only way to buy. With an RRP of 3,100 it's a no brainer.


Overall as an everyday watch.......

I like the fact the Aerospace Avantage can be picked up and goes with anything, and can be worn for any occasion, even if *leaning more towards the tool watch category. *It doesn't shout at you, but its a quality product through and through.
And to swim with ?*It has a 100m WR rating which is going to be fine for pretty much most of us.*


A great, great watch.

Image



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PostPosted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 2:00 pm 
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Surprised but not surprised he says it is their best seller. I have the Emergency, B-1, X-33 and the Aerospace Avantage. The Aerspace is by far my favorite and most comfortable to wear. Sounds like I'm not alone.

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PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:12 am 
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Thanks for a well written review.

As a previous Aerospace owner, and current Aerospace fan, I agree with all of the review. My Aerospace was the 2nd Breitling I bought and was only sold as a move to an all mechanical collection.

There is one part of it that does warrant mention though that is not covered. Titanium. I currently have an Avenger Seawolf Ti and, along with the Aerospace, they have been the most fragile of watches. There is much written about the durability and toughness of titanium. It my experience it is nonsense. I will say that titanium watches damage much more easily than any grade of stainless steel. I refinished my Seawolf with steel wool as recommended by a jeweller, and it did a very good job. I tried the same on stainless steel (some old cutlery) and it didn’t mark it. If it was more resistant to damage I’d wear the Seawolf a lot more than I do.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 5:33 pm 
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Thanks for a very good review! Love the dial on the watch in the picture!! :shock: When was that one produced? Is it called something special??


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 7:15 am 
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Fralle wrote:
Thanks for a very good review! Love the dial on the watch in the picture!! :shock: When was that one produced? Is it called something special??


Ah, never mind :oops: looked in the chronologs :lingsrock:


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:08 am 
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Great review and great picture!

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 10:44 am 
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B'ling wrote:
Thanks for a well written review.

As a previous Aerospace owner, and current Aerospace fan, I agree with all of the review. My Aerospace was the 2nd Breitling I bought and was only sold as a move to an all mechanical collection.

There is one part of it that does warrant mention though that is not covered. Titanium. I currently have an Avenger Seawolf Ti and, along with the Aerospace, they have been the most fragile of watches. There is much written about the durability and toughness of titanium. It my experience it is nonsense. I will say that titanium watches damage much more easily than any grade of stainless steel. I refinished my Seawolf with steel wool as recommended by a jeweller, and it did a very good job. I tried the same on stainless steel (some old cutlery) and it didn’t mark it. If it was more resistant to damage I’d wear the Seawolf a lot more than I do.



Are you speaking of damage, or just scratching? From what I know, titanium is lighter and stronger than steel, but has unique oxidation properties that create a "film" on the surface that can be easily scratched away. I'd be surprised to hear if you have had actual damage to the metal.

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PostPosted: Fri May 10, 2013 3:56 am 
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Great review. Even tho i keep saying I'm a mechanical guy I am drawn to the Aerospace.


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 1:50 am 
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just one question, did the minute hand point correctly to the marker?


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 2:42 am 
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koala_sy wrote:
just one question, did the minute hand point correctly to the marker?

To try and avoid you posting the same thing in every thread mentioning the aerospace.......

There is necessary play in the running train of any analogue watch to avoid binding. That results in some free movement of the hands which is more noticeable in the minute hand because of its length. It can be eliminated by the way you set time but that is only ever a temporary fix because the play still exists and some variance will occur.

Please do not spam post the forum with multiple instances of the same post.


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 1:24 am 
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Roffensian wrote:
koala_sy wrote:
just one question, did the minute hand point correctly to the marker?

To try and avoid you posting the same thing in every thread mentioning the aerospace.......

There is necessary play in the running train of any analogue watch to avoid binding. That results in some free movement of the hands which is more noticeable in the minute hand because of its length. It can be eliminated by the way you set time but that is only ever a temporary fix because the play still exists and some variance will occur.

Please do not spam post the forum with multiple instances of the same post.


Even the new watch's minute hand still can not align with the marker, I like the looking of this aerospace evo so much, and I plan to buy one, I found that I could not find out even one watch with its minute hand point correctly to the marker and every 30 seconds the minute hand will jump, so it either should point to the middle between 2 markers or point to the marker correctly, but it can not , if you had one , you can check this out easily. This issue so far never be fixed...not only myself have this issue...


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 4:24 am 
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Same answer. Without play the running train will bind and the hands won't move at all - a somewhat more significant issue.


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 7:33 am 
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It's really not a big deal, how often do you stare directly at the watch dial and notice the markers are off? Does this make it hard to read the time accurately? Are any of the other functions hindered by this so called "problem?"
The Aerospace is a great piece, and hopefully you can look past this, and just enjoy the watch.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



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