The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I'm a former Navitimer 01 LE owner and in the course of building my collection, sold it to another member here. My current collection is in the picture



So the one area I'm not settled on is travel. I'm not a big traveler but still do travel about three times a year by plane and probably 5-10 times by car. And I never know which watch(es) to bring. When I've thought about it, it seems like the perfect travel watch to me would
1. Be one that's versatile so can be worn casually and even a little dressy. So a bracelet works well.
2. Have a GMT or world time feature would be great for obvious reasons
3. Be 43mm or smaller because I have a small wrist (6.5")
4. Have at least 100m WR so I can swim with it (and not leave it in the hotel room)
5. Have a chronograph to time flights, etc. Plus I only want chronographs.
6. Be nice enough that I enjoy wearing it and it has a chance to crack the regular rotation (it is hard to wear a G shock when I have watches like an AP, VC and Panerai), but not so expensive that I'd be a target (like a Rolex) or be devastated if something happened to it.

So to me, the first watches I found that met all of these criteria were the Sinns. Great watches but some of the designs are pretty plain. Then I saw the Breitlings Longitudes preowned from $1500-2500 USD. They checked every box I want. Are there many forum members with these? I know Chronomat GMTs have almost all of these features but are just too big for my wrist. I'm thinking I may have a Breitling in my collection in the near future.


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Wow... Amazing collection you have!


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If you're looking for a GMT that won't break the bank I would go with a Rolex GMT 2 c. If the dial size is too small then maybe the explorer 2

I've had this watch for a while now. Two versions were produced between 1993- 2003: the A20048 and then the A20348. Some of the differences between the two are...

The A20348 is chronometer certified, which may sway your choice a little: if you want a chronometer, go for the later model.
The A20348 has small rings around the subdials
The GMT hand on the A20048 is the same colour as the normal hand but smaller with a little dot, whereas the A20348 is the same dimensions but a yellow colour.
The A20048 offered a greater choice of colours for the dial: eg yellow and red.
The case-back of the older A20048 had a special picture of a globe with a plane flying around it (which I'm sad they dropped for the later one).
The A20048's bezel was painted with black, while the A20348 had a straight, unfilled bezel. I preferred the painted look and fill mine in.




What can i say? It's a fantastic watch. The second time zone is useful: i set mine for home when travelling and when not travelling I usually leave it set at GMT. size is just right at 40mm. It doesn't wear particularly large because the lugs are the pre- Evo short style. The pilot bracelet is beautiful and functional. The crown is small and a bit fiddly. I appreciate the pushers not having the screw- down feature (it's just annoying having the screw/ unscrew whenever you want to time something) but it means WR is limited to 100m. Lug width is 20mm.

These watches are getting on now so service history is really the biggest consideration. I had mine service December last yr and Breitling certainly don't miss you there: $850 here in Oz.

I do like the Rolex GMT but I guess for travel I feel it is too recognizable. The explorers are more under the radar but I still love chronographs. I'll be heading on a safari this summer and we have been advised to not wear jewelry or expensive watches when exploring the cities.



Wow that's great information. Thank you! I did see some pictures and do think that the rings around the subdials look great. Adds depth to the dial. Chronometer certification isn't as important as long as it is at or near COSC specs to me. The model I was looking at was a blue dialed A20048. Yes, service gets crazy when your collection grows.

Tell me about it!



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