The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Some good thoughts, it's a shame that Sharkman won't be able to participate any further

To address a few specific points, I don't buy the argument that complications immediately equal fragility - JLC alarms, Panerai depth gauges, Fifty Fathoms complications, etc.

Scott, Breitling claimed almost a decade of development went into the B01 which would have aligned it with the very early rumblings from ETA / Hayek, but Breitling claim a lot of things.....

It's interesting that the one idea that really seems to be resonating is the concept of a 3 hander. If Breitling were being honest a couple of years ago when they said that they had one but couldn't figure out how to produce it at an economically viable price point that might be something that they need to revisit. Prices are increasing faster than costs and an in house 3 hand LE to test the market would appear to be rather low risk. Breitling is, and should remain, a chronograph brand, but that doesn't mean that there is no place for a well executed 3 hander.

Really pleased with the debate that this is sparking anyway!

how would you guys feel about a super long reserve?

I think that some of them become gimmicks. The 70 hour in house could be longer - enough for a long weekend perhaps. However, when you get above a week it becomes less relevant to most people and the costs tend to increase significantly. I do think that a power reserve is a useful feature, especially on manual winds.

Power reserve is interesting, though personally not as important. I'm more taken by the idea of an additional complication in the form of a power reserve indicator. A complication would be particularly nice with a larger dial watch. Hey Breitling, think of it like, um, a fuel guage--yeah, a fuel guage.

A couple of people have mentioned this, there are elephants in the middle of the room I think in the form of companies like Nomos and Frederique Constant making affordable in-house three-handers, both hand wind and self wind. Why can't Breitling do something like that in their own unique style? Just please, don't make the sizes in either 44mm or 38. They just blow right over the sweet spot for a lot of potential customers.

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Scott

AP Royal Oak 15400, silver
Zenith Chronomaster El Primero Classic Cars
Vintage gold Corum
Rolex DJ 36 TT, oyster dial, oyster/smooth
Baume & Mercier Riviera 200m, silver dial/aquamarine bezel
Breitling Superocean 57, rose/stainless

I think the 70 hour reserve on the current B01 is plenty of power, I would rather have breitling focus their energy and attention to many other things before thinking about additional power reserve. I wonder why breitling states that the 3 hand is not economically viable. I have a feeling that they used to sell a ton of 3 handers when the steelfish and colt auto II were both in production. If they are able to recapture that entry level breitling with a reasonably priced in-house 3 hand I think they would just kill it in sales. As scott mentioned above, there are plenty of companies that are able to produce affordable 3 hand movements like Nomos and FC. I think breitling should be able to do the same and basically not increase the price of their 3 hand models.

Personally I think Breitling have lost/been losing the plot for years. Their watches in the past 20 years are a travesty when you look at the quality of design they had in their range of vintage Datoras, chronomatic, 806, 808, 809, top time, AVI, Duograph etc etc.
Omega have shown that through using modern techniques and modern movements that have increased reliability you can improve a classic- look at the Speedmaster MK2 and Ploprof.

Current brand Beckham Breitling looks like they are trying too hard, Bling, size being the main selling points. I recently walked down the Place de Vendome in Paris, the Breitling boutique was only there due to the price of the pieces in the window, but with Beckham looking back at you, and a yellow watch the centre of the cabinet it looked like they were only after the "baller" client. In this context they have been successful, I know of a fair few Premier league footballers who love their Breitling- and fair play- but they also love their Hublot and to me this is not how Breitling should be remembered.

As I've said the vintage Breitling range is as good as any other watch company- it really is, why can't they develop a Navitimer that pays homage to the original without making it look cheap (my opinion).

In regard to movement- I am not too concerned whether it is ETA, Lemania, adapted ebauche, or in-house, as long as it is considered and reflects the watch design and function. Personally I think Breitling need to show some respect to their past, and develop a watch that could re-ignite the quality of design that they have historically shown, and utilise a movement that respects that design.

However, though personally i do not fall in love with new Breitlings, I can see where they are coming from in terms of a setting themselves up in a competitive market place- Brand Breitling is different to a lot of watches out there, and a Breitling is recognisable- which means they are doing something right, I just wish they would look at Omega and use their back catalogue. I think this would push Breitling up to the level where it deserves to be.

Finally, got rid of that guy... But I suppose he will just come back as 'Sharklady' or something with his pink boxers( wonder where those went) .

Seriously, good discussion and observations all around. I think Breitling will come back around and reshape their lineup more along their old roots, with added low key complications and materials (they have to be working on this). I will say, one thing that has been mentioned that they have kept doing a great job on is their bracelets and straps, best in the business for my purposes.

I guess I'm optimistic, mainly because I don't see a lot else out there that excites me (in the $3000-$5000 range).

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Chrono Jetstream
Montbrilliant 1903
Aerospace E79362

I agree, but if you looks at the vintage 'showcase' pieces they allow their AD's to display , or even supply to their AD's to display , there's a 99.9% chance they screw up any re-issue very badly . Breitling has proven that they dont care about their heritage and legacy on more than a few occasions and display franken pieces as 'genuine vintage' . That hurts their credibility more than they realize when trying to do a re-issue of a classic piece

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"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

All I want for Christmas are some proper-sized 3 hand/date models. It's 2014 and I thought by now the Superocean would have an in-house movement, a decent dial, and a ceramic bezel w/ a dive pearl; a watch that I might buy over a Sub and save 3 Grand too boot.

The Galactic with a proper Breitling SS bezel. Compared to Cockpits, how many Galactics do you see here - it's rare. I agree with Serg the Heritage models scream, "Ceramic bezel (or a nice sapphire covered bezel.)."
Just that little touch and I would have a difficult time not owning a SOH44 or the chrono version.

Finally, a little more balance between polished and brushed, so we need to see more brushed options.

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SHARKMAN

There's so much good sense in this thread - [design] exploiting their design heritage; [dimensions] less obsession with bling/size; [materials] grade 5 ti, and ceramics, more brushed steel etc etc - and a fairly high degree of consensus. There you go Breitling, there's your focus group findings...

I don't think they are familiar with this "focus group" concept you speak of.....

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

So, having only known about Breitling since last fall and this having been the first Basel I'd seen, I can say that Breitling showed nothing that even remotely piqued my interest. While I'm not sure the style of Omega's Seamaster 300 Master Co-Axial is exactly my style, I can say that I was very interested in the Master Co-Axial movement. It interested me enough that I'll head out to the local AD to check it out when it is available. The only recent model from Breitling that I'm really interested in finding is the Chronospace Automatic, and it doesn't even have an in house movement. Frankly, I find Fred's photos of vintage watches much more interesting than anything I saw at Basel.

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Milgauss 116400GV
Navitimer AB012312
Speedmaster 3570.50
Frederique Constant 306G4S6

WTB/TF:
JLC 1548420

well said.

well, no surprise at all what I think Breitling should do instead of launching boring JAWs and behemoths - these, and not the surviving nice classics shape the image of the company today.

some of you "don't care about vintage" and heritage, but that seems to be a minority here and among the wider WIS crowd. Just posted my Unitime I wore to a wedding yesterday on a WIS fb group and got asked again where all that elegance went (and some rather unflattering comments about the current lineup) .....

Breitling was an industry leader for much of the 20th century; the first wrist chronograph, the first 2-button, the first "smart watch" chronograph (yes, that's what the 1942 Chronomat was), one of the first waterproof 12h bezel aviator chronographs, one of the most elegant world time watches ever manufactured, (one of) the first automatic chronographs, the first 20atm automatic chrono divers.

now ?


Breitling World Time watches, Basel 1952 vs Basel 2014. enough said.

There's been a lot of great input into this thread, and unfortunately I've had a huge amount on my plate lately, and not had a chance to contribute to it.

I mostly agree with Roff's original statement of -



I totally agree they need to do more on the in-house front, but IMO (and while I'd personally like to see an in-house perpetual calendar, or an in-house mechanical alarm, etc) I don't think that Breitling NEED to produce those kind of super-high-end movements to achieve greater credibility. To create haute horlogerie movements would be an attempt to compete with the likes of Patek, Lange, etc, and I don't believe that Breitling necessarily should do that, or indeed that they want to do that. Their "Instruments for Professionals" moniker and ethos positions them resolutely below the higher echelons, and there is nothing remotely wrong with that IMO, nor is it meant in a derogatory way when I say that. However, what they DO need to do is create additional but simple in-house base movements. Reusing the B01 time and time again with (as Roff says) a few modules bolted on is not going to cut the mustard for much longer. As others have said, they need to create and wheel out an in-house 3 hander..... and then start putting that in a revised range of SO's for example. If they had a number of unique, but not overly complicated, in-house movements and then put them in a range of PROPER tool watches that professionals (and not just professional hip-hop artists) could use, then they'd be onto a winner. There is (as far as I know), no single brand out there devoted to making professional watches while equipping all of them with COSC in-house movements. That's be a niche that Breitling could carve for themselves and be thoroughly proud of.

The other area they could make huge improvements is in the area of case materials. Now I'm not saying Breitling should necessarily have a bronze model in their line-up, but even the likes of small boutique brands like Steinhart are now producing bronze cases. Tiny boutique brands like H20 are using Grade 5 titanium ; other brands like Ocean 7 are making ceramic cases.... the list goes on. Why aren't Breitling looking at these options? Instead of that we get the same tired DLC options again and again and again.....

To me, credibility is not just driven by high-end haute horlogerie movements, but by a carefully managed brand identity and a small (but perfectly formed!) range of in-house movements in a coherent range of models that support the brand identity. I'm thinking kind of like Rolex but aimed squarely at professional pilots and divers. What would be not to like in that?

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Driver8

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