The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Found them Bronco! Thanks!

Hi. New to the site. I noticed where you have the B&R phantom. I too have several Breitlings(chrono Evolution, Aerospace) but have been looking at the Phantom lately. How is the lume on this watch? Can you actually make out the time at night? I tend to wear my watches to bed so this is a big sticking point for me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am up in the air over the phantom or the BR03-92 with white numbers.

in the middle of the night with no recent light charge, the Phantom is hard to see. You can see it but not that well. Of course I am spoiled by the lume on my Breitlings, expecially the Steelfish. They are readable even after no light source for a long time. If you will look, I did post a "group shot" of the collections lume. This will give you a little comparison. I did charge the whole lot prior to taking the picture, with a 75w bulb.

As far as a practical night visible watch... not really. And I would tend to say that about all the Bell & Ross's because they all have the same lume treatment. But as far as a cool and comfortable to wear watch.. the Phantom is bad @ss and I dont regret getting it at all.

As far as lume power; Breitlings are pretty good, Panerai are real good, Ball is super good (they use gas filled tubes) and Bell & Ross is just so-so.

Hope this helps.

Scott

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Breitling Steelfish(black)
Breitling Steelfish(silver)
Panerai PAM 312
Bell & Ross BR03-92 Phantom
Steinhart BreitlingSource LE #5/15

Great. Thanks for the info. Let me ask one question that might help me decide between the phantom and the White numbered one. Is the lume relatively close on both of these models? Someone told me that the white isnt much better than the phantom similar to you stating they are both so-so. If that is the case then I am sold on the phantom. When you see pics of the BR03 with a lume shot they look like they are glowing. Hard to tell because people usually charge them up then take the pic.

I guess where I am also curious is if you are in a bar or just somewhere relatively dark in question, can you even tell the time? I agree the phantom is kick ass and looks great. However, the last thing I want is for someone to ask me the time and not be able to tell them when I have a watch on. Worse yet, me have to ask someone the time when I am wearing a watch.

Let me be a little clearer. The only time I would imagine you would have a tough time seeing the lume would be in a really dark room, mainly when the lume hasnt seen light for a while (ie waking up in the middle of the night, ect) In a resturant or bar... I dont think you would ever NOT be able to see the time. In fact it is even cooler when your out and a friend ask the time and you whip the arm up and the BLACKNESS consumes the entire face of this watch. It has a great wrist presence and everyone who sees it instantly loves the watch.

In regards to other Bell & Ross's, the white or orange hands are obviously going to be easier to see than the blacked out Phantom, but the lume power in total darkness isnt going to be any different. It just might seem that way becasue the lighter hands already look brighter. Alot of the time people taking pictures of thier Bell & Ross's use a UV light on them prior to the lume shot and of course it will be glowing, but in the real world.. their lume power isnt near the lume power of a Breitling and the others I mentioned.

Hope this helps.

Scott

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Breitling Steelfish(black)
Breitling Steelfish(silver)
Panerai PAM 312
Bell & Ross BR03-92 Phantom
Steinhart BreitlingSource LE #5/15

Great collection Scott, thanks for posting. I'm still envious of your Phantom, and the pair of Fishes (or just Fish?) work well.

My BR-01 is the white-numbered version and, to be honest, its lume isn't particularly good either. I couldn't care less though, I love it.