The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello to everyone!

I am new to the forum, but not new to Breitling watches. I have had a Chrono Avenger in titanium (sold it 'cause it was too big for me, although a great watch), Prefessional B2 (also parted with it after a few years).

Now I proudly own a Montbrillant Olympus and my Headwind with white dial and black strap is on the way.

I have been looking to buy a Breitling Quartz, one of the Professional line. But there are SO many of them. I have been trying to do some homework before posting this thread, but I just got more confused. One thing I can tell is that I like the B1 because I like the slide-rule.

Any advice on which one is the best as a first Professional? What are the pro's and con's when choosing a watch with the two digital dials?

Thanks!

I had a B-1 once, didn't use it much though. These days, I like the Aerospace Avantage 42mm, as they are relatively simplistic with legible dials...but if you prefer to have a slide rule, you'd be looking at the Airwolf - 43.5mm.

I always considered the Airwolf bezel to be on the large side. But thats just my opinion.

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Oyster Date '78, Blackbird chrono DLC '10, Blackbird chrono' 02, Navitimer Fighters '02, Aerospace Evo , Seamaster Chrono Diver 300' 02, Carrera cbm2110

Well, I really like the new Chronospace design but the size is just too big at 48mm. The Airwolf would be my next choice but the case doesn't sit well on my wrist due to the raised 'fan blade' caseback and 16.7mm thickness. So that leaves the Aerospace which is another great design, clean, easy to read dial and fits just right at 42mm! I like the black dial, when the digital windows are turned off they blend into the dial. Some like the contrast of the black digital windows against the other color dials (white, blue, bronze).
Good luck!

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Chrono Jetstream
Montbrilliant 1903
Aerospace E79362

From my Breitling collection B-1 is the one that gets most wrist time.

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Chronomat :: Evolution Red | Evolution Frecce Tricolori | Longitude
Navitimer :: Montbrillant Eclipse | Old II | Current
Professional :: B-1 | B-2 w UTC
Colt :: GMT

Mmmm, tough call, Bodie or Doyle..................



Stef

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Yep, it's a tough one!

B1 being a discontinued one is hard to get in great to like new condition. The Chronospace is way to big for me, although I love the mesh band and the Navitimer look of the bezel. Airwolf Raven seem like a good size, has the slide rule, but does anybody have first hand info on how the rubberized bezel and pushers stand against scratches?

I was actually going to suggest the AirWolf Raven-- I absolutely love the rubber bezel, although I know I'm in the minority on that one. (I would have bought one a while ago, except it was much too big for my tiny bird wrists.) Can't say how it wears over time, but it feels quite comfortable on and the rubberised bezel feels and looks great IRL, in my opinion.

I’ve been owner of the Breitling Airwolf Raven for 7 months. No regrets so far! Been on my wrist almost permanently this period and no visible scratches detected. Neither on bezel nor pushers. And I’m not being especially cautious. All I’ve noticed is some small marks on rubber strap clasp. Don’t bother me at all.
I wanted a watch with exact timekeeping and chronograph. Makes Breitling a rather obvious choice with quite a number of models with SuperQuartz to choose from.
Of course, if you let in atomic timekeeping as an option, the range is much wider. And a lot cheaper, but that is not my choice. I picked the Raven.

What I like about this watch:
- Exact timekeeping. SuperQuarz are well within the spec +/- 10 sec./year. Mine is about 4-5 secs fast.
- Great look, mine is steel/black dial with black rubber strap.
- Right size for my (not to big) wrist.
- Great readability, white hands on black dial leaves no doubt about the time under any circumstances.
- Easily visible all night long.
- Minute hand does half minute increments, makes exact time-reading easier.
- Big second hand used both for normal timekeeping and chronograph. Very unusual and very practical, most chronographs leaves you with a small secondhand and dial for the normal timekeeping of seconds.
- All hands align well. Not 100%, but good enough for me.
- Very easy to ajust length on rubber strap
- Change of functions done by turning the crown. A little odd, but very convenient when you get used to it after a couple of days.
- Backlight on display when needed. And that is quite often, see below.

This could Breitling have done better:
- Lower display has not a very great readability, but backlight compensates.
- Crystal tends to dim a bit. Needs cleaning often. No scratches though.
- Slide-rule is of no practical use except if you are a hawk-eye with your headlight permanently on. Numbers are far too small to read with normal sight and light.

If slide-rule calculations is of importance, check it out before you buy!
As aesthetics though the slide-rule works fine with my taste.

All in all a full recommendation from me!
But that is of course based on my personal needs. And as the Raven fulfills them, I don’t hesitate paying $ 4000 when getting what I want. Even if it’s a quartz.


Features:
- Breitling SuperQuartz (caliber 78) +/- 10 seconds/year accuracy
- Chronograph with split times and 1/100 sec.
- Two alarms. I don’t use them, but they sounds loud enough to wake you up from normal sleep.
- Slide-rule for aviation- and math.-calculations.
- Analog and LCD 12/24-hour display.
- Countdown.
- Second timezone.
- UTC-time.
- Low battery indicator.

Go for it!
jel

Thanks!

Very useful information! I am actually starting to incline more and more towards the Airwolf Raven.

I know this may sound like a stupid question (my local AD does not have them, so I can't check myself) but what color are the digits on the screens? What color is the backlight and does it serve to light up the whole dial or just the digital displays?

The slide rule is just for fun, I am not a pilot and actually a cell phone calc will do the job faster and easier, but I do like the busy look of it, it adds to the "instrument" aura of the watch.

What do you mean by "crystal get dim"? Is it from fingertips, body grease and stuff or is the AR coating gets scratched easily?

Thank again for the great review!

Digits on the screen alters from gold to gray to silver depending on the surrounding light and viewing angle.
The Breitling homepage
http://www.breitling.com/en/intro.html# ... olf-raven/
gives a rather correct impression. But the brightness and clarity isn’t as good as the picture indicates. Digits are not unreadable by any means, but tricky in low light. Especially with interference from the hands.

The backlight serves the displays only, not the whole dial. I think I prefer it that way, with backlight the digits get a clear green color and is VERY visible unless in direct sunlight. Backlight is activated by pushing the crown and stands for about 5 seconds after pushing.

The display can be turned completely off when not in use. Saves some battery time, and makes the watch look completely analog, at least from some distance. That's if you got the black dial.

“Crystal get dim” means, as you indicates, that fingermarks and similar things on the crystal is a bit more visible than on my other watches. I think. But perhaps I’m overstating that detail. The crystal itself still look mint condition when cleaned.

I’ve not used the watch for swimming or diving, so I don’t know if there are any questions about the waterproof abilities. But for all normal everyday activities it has been my permanent mate for seven months. And case, crystal and bezel so far shows no sign of it. Even the rubber strap looks nearly as good as new.

I bought mine from an authorized dealer. And I’m glad I did. The same day I got it played around with the crown and functions. Quite normal, it’s what you do when you get a brand new watch. Somehow I was a bit hard or clumsy when I pulled out the crown. It got a little bit bent and would not longer rotate freely for changing the functions. Big disappointment, was this the Breitling quality?

Of course I was the first customer in the shop next morning. And to my relief it was an easy fix and replacement. 15 minutes job at no cost. So take care when operating the crown and use a authorized dealer, it makes life easier when in trouble.

The crown has behaved perfectly since, but has not been pulled or push a lot either, as I don’t use any other functions than the chronograph very much. And since the watch runs very precisely, it did not need any adjustment until changing from Dayligth Saving Time in october. After some trial and error I managed to set the new time without consulting the manual. It is done in the digital display, and when done, the analog hands synchronizes nicely up to correct time!

jel
happy Raven-owner

You've been most helpful, Jel-the-Happy-Raven-Owner

Looks like it's gonna be Airwolf, but if by any chance I grow some wrist space over the Holiday Season I may go for the Chronospace

But the thread is not closed yet as I am still a couple of months from the purchase and would appreciate any feedback from other Breitling Professional owners!