The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I have a Tag that my wife bought me for my wedding gift in 1999. I had it cleaned and serviced once, but that was obviously not enough. It is in need of repair, and I am really itching for an automatic and an upgrade. My wife really likes the all green Rolex Sub, and it is my favorite of all the Rolexes. While trying to see what all is out there in the world of fine watches, I've fallen for the SOH 46 and really like the limited with the green bezel. I'm 90% sure this is the way I want to go, but I'm a little worried about how it will hold up to my abuse. I really want a watch that I can leave on me 100% of the time. I wore my Tag while digging in the yard, building a stone outdoor fireplace, kayaking class 5 craziness (too old for that now), playing golf, playing tennis etc... I work in an operating room every day, and there I am consistently around flouroscopes and other radiology devices, lazers, and a ton of electric equipment. When I am called to the MRI suite, I take off my watch outside and leave it in a locker that is obviously a safe distance away from the magnet as far as having it pulled into the machine...but I have no idea what a safe distance is in order for it not to magnetize the hairspring of a watch.

With that said, somebody ease my mind here! If I go with a SOH 46, can I play golf, hammer nails, handle my magnetic money clip, play guitar in a room full of big amplifiers, and work in the OR suite environment of a hospital in it???? Do I need to be looking at something more along the lines of the Ball Engineer? Thanks

Two controversial topics - magnetism and shocks (especially golf).

A mechanical watch can be magnetised, no ifs, no ands, no buts. All hairsprings these days are designed to be resistant to magnetism, but no mass production watch is truly unaffected (there are a few totally silicon hairsprings, but not in mass production yet). Some watches put the movement in an iron core to protect it further. The bottom line is that the magnetic forces in an environment drop off very rapidly when you get away from the source of the magnetism - I wouldn't put a watch on a big speaker when playing your guitar, but being in the room shouldn't affect it - and that would be the same answer for most mechanical watches.

In terms of shock, well all watches are designed to be shock resistant to some degree, although scientists will tell you that golf can inflict greater g-forces than watches are rated for. That's the theory, many people will tell you that they golf in a mechanical watch without any issues - there are several threads here that you can find with thesearch function. Hammering is probably less shock than golf, so that should be fine if you have to hammer with a watch on - personally I prefer to take a watch off when doing that type of work. Regardless, a Breitling will not be more or less at risk than any other mechanical watch.

Welcome to BreitlingSource.

I really enjoy my SOH 46, but I do not consider it an all in one watch. JMO It is just too big for me to wear daily, but if you have larger wrists this may be possible.

I cant help but think if I had those same requirements I would be looking at a Milgauss GV.

All Breitlings will be pretty tough; they're well made watches. In the end, it's your watch so you can wear it doing whatever you like. But the fact that you ask the question probably means you'll never quite have peace of mind doing some things while you wear it.

The SOH is a polished watch (not brushed) so it will show up scratches. It's also a bit of a hybrid; not quite a dress watch and not an out and out sport watch. So it's not really the kind of watch that looks good with marks all over it. The discontinued Steelfish or Seawolf are the kind of watches that look great as they wear (i think). It's also fairly large and so tends to get knocked on things.

Personally I'd keep the Tag as your beater for the rougher situations and then wear the SOH when its less likely to cop a hammering. You won't have to baby it, but for your own peace of mind you can be selective.

In regards to golf, don't do it! I played with my CE a few times and it started running anywhere from 30-45 seconds slow per day. Learn from my mistake!

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Past: BlackBird, Navi World, SA, Rolex DJII, IWC Yacht Club
Present: CE, DSSD
Future: Changes daily

Wear the Tag doing all that physical stuff. Wear the green ceramic Sub the est of the time. Du-ude, your wife is all set to let you score an $8500 watch! Don't get a Heritage. At least a new Navi if you are set on Breitling.

Just my opinion.

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SHARKMAN

From a post I wrote on another forum...

Shock Resistance?....
Viewed a program on the Learning Channel about building and testing watches. The watch illustrated was a Tag Heur "Carrera" and the program showed the process start to finish. At one point, after the movement is encased, the watches are given a drop test from three different heights to simulate a range of possible "G" force acceleration imparted on the piece. The description was thus...


150 G = Swinging a golf club.
500 G = Playing tennis.
1000 G = Accidentally banging the watch into a wall.

Having watched the program I can feel better about forgetting to remove my watch during a round of golf if I ever do that (forget). I've always erred on the side of prudence and removed the watch first but hey, that's just me... Anyway, remember to have your wrist over a bed or couch when you put a watch on or remove it. An accidental fall of 3 1/2 ft. to a hard surface will indeed impart potentially expensive damage to your watch. Ask me how I know...
Best,
Ron

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"The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea"...

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Hi ron,

Didn't you have an accident with your B1 on the golf course?

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Al

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"

I assume there are no magnetism risks with a quartz?

Well significantly less. There's no hairspring in a quartz watch and that's what usually causes problems. There are other parts that can become magnetised, particularly in an analog quartz, but there is unlikely to be any practical impact on accuracy.

Sub-C over SOH any day of the week, including Sundays and holidays. As an alternative, have you considered the Milgauss? It's designed to resist magnetism, and the black dial/green crystal model is a handsome piece. Still, if it were me, I'd take the Sub.

Dag-nabbit this is messing with my head. I was in Augusta Ga yesterday and had the SOH black with mesh bracelet on one hand and Green Ceramic Sub on the other. Simply put, the SOH is just a much better looking watch to me. I'm having a difficult time wanting to spend 4 grand more for a watch that, while beautiful, is not as beautiful as the SOH. What is wrong with me?!

If you like it better, then that's what you should get. I'm curious, though - have you compared the black SOH to the black Sub, or just the green Sub?

Smart man, that. The Milgauss is stunning, but I'd go the white dial.

Whoa now, hold on.

150 Gs swinging a golf club assumes a nice full swing without an abrupt ground impact (involuntarily burying the club head into the ground).

A full swing that blasts dead into the ground (particularly hard ground) stopping the momentum of the club, can produce considerably more Gs than a walking (<6ft/sec) wall strike because the starting velocity is much greater and therefore the delta V is much higher over about the same duration. (if the swing is not truncated the impulse is much, much longer thereby dramatically reducing the Gs due to the delta V occurring over a couple seconds rather than milliseconds.)

An average golfer's swing is about 85mph which is 125 ft/sec. So the starting velocity is TWENTYONE times greater than a watch hitting a wall at walking speed(4mph). If the end velocity for both is zero and the change in velocity occurs in about the same duration, the Gs for an abruptly stopped golf swing is many magnitudes greater than striking your watch on a wall.

There are other factors such as the amount of force absorbed by the club head and shaft, collapse of the wrists, etc...that would decrease the forces on the watch in the golf swing scenario. On the other hand, golfing results in repeated exposures of high Gs. It is reasonable to assume a cumulative effect of repeated exposures over time.

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SHARKMAN