The Breitling Watch Source Forums

hello
i had a little argue with my friend from the omega forum about the quality and the
look of the two watches....
what is a better watch?
what do you think will look good on the wrist any time?
regards,

There's an omega forum?

Let me guess they backed the PO (which I think with the right options is a fantastic looking watch).

An impartial juror would tell you that this is a pic'em.

Funny this post comes up now!
I was at my AD the other day and was thinking how cheap the Omega PO looked,especially the bracelet! Then I saw the price!! I honestly thought looking at it was going to be in the Baume Mercier ball park, around $1500 not over $4,000!! You can get a heck of a lot of Breitling, the seawolf comes to mind for that kind of money and it is way more substantial. I guess one must be paying a premium for the co axiel movement!
And this by the way from an old omega fan, my first high quality watch was a deville Manual wind back in the early 80's and I have owned two vintage omegas as well. I just can't get over what has happened with omega, the seamaster to me looks cheap as chips, I think if i were ever to get one it would be a deville or speedmaster.
They have just brought out an olympic watch with a red bezel that quite frankly looks cheaper that those $45 metal watches at wal mart!
I gues you can see I am no longer a fan of most omegas, I had no idea their prices had rocketed!

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All the best.
Ian

The Breitling is certainly a better watch in terms of quality (and nothing I've ever heard or read negates that view); if I was to choose between the two it would be the Heritage

I do however think that the two could look good on the wrist anytime...Depends on what you're after and what you like the most

I like the Omega's and have a soft spot for the Speedmaster Broad Arrow GMT.

Good luck!

Like Tunnel Ling said, you'll OBVIOUSLY find opinions here skewed towards the SOH. Personally though I don't see them as direct competitors - the SOH is very retro in styling whereas the PO is Omegas modern take on the dive watch. Personally I think the Steelfish is probably a better competitor to the PO.

You undoubtedly pay a lot for the co-axial movement which is in-house to Omega, but I must confess I struggle sometimes with the prices of the current PO models.

Having said that, I actually really like the solid gold PO Chrono, especially on black croco, and that one is in actual fact very good value IMO for a solid gold watch.

Just as an aside (and sorry for the semi thread hijack) but the new Speedy that Omega have produced with the subdials in the configuration of the Olympic rings is just HIDEOUS! I'm sure it took a lot of engineering to get the subdials positioned like that, but the result is truly grim!

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Driver8

Site Moderator

black SOH is so classic and elegant, does it for me!!

In-house my a$$. Its an eta with a new escapement, with questionable benefits, if any. From what I read too, even the 8500 isnt a real fully in-house movement. Not to take anything away from them, but it seems like a lot of smoke and mirrors.

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-RJ

Well technically speaking ETA is owned by Swatch, as are Omega, and the co-axial escapement is in-house to Omega - i.e. it's not made available (to my knowledge) to any other company......... so it just about qualifies!

Regarding the 8500, I just had a look on the net to back up my comment and I came across this pdf from Omega (page 5) - http://www.omegawatches.com/uploads/med ... ial_01.pdf - and it says, "In 2007, OMEGA launched the Co-Axial calibre 8500. This marked a dramatic step in the evolution of OMEGA’s Co-Axial philosophy. For the first time, the company built the entire movement around the Co-Axial Escapement and every one of its 202 parts was developed and produced in-house specifically for the new calibre. At the same time, the movement’s manufacturing processes was optimized for series-production readiness."

Sounds in-house to me, but I guess it's always possible to say that the parts will still be made by ETA as they are all under the swatch umbrella.

I'm not hugely up to date with Omega as apart from having owned 3 Seamasters I don't follow them particularly closely.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

I think its a matter of interpretation:
(Jean Claude Monachon is Head of Product Development for Omega)

"In an admirable show of honesty, Mr. Monachon also cautioned us that although the calibre 8500/8501 are completely designed and developed within OMEGA Granges, it is dangerous to call the movement completely in-house manufactured. Without the help and assistant of Comadur, Nivarox, ETA and Frederick Piguet - all within the Swatch Group, the success of this calibre and the Deville Hour Vision model would not have been possible. The objective is to manufacture the complete movement and watch within OMEGA premises but at the moment, only assembly is done within the OMEGA compound."

http://www.horomundi.com/forum/showpost ... ostcount=1

I guess at the end of the day, it doesnt really matter either way.

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-RJ

I completely agree on both counts! And at the end of the day it's only Omega, so what do we care anyway?

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Driver8

Site Moderator

As someone who owns both the PO and other Omegas, as well as various Breitlings, I have to say Breitlings are higher quality watches. But as Driver8 said, they are not really competitors.

My Omega PO with the orange numerals is a fun casual watch with a lot of life in it, great value and very good construction, great design, OK finish, but a Breitling are a more serious timepiece. All IMHO of course.

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Certified watch nut.

I agree that it's a little bit of an apples and oranges comparison - I'm not a big Omega fan, although one or two take my fancy every now and then. I do believe that the Breitling is a bit of astep above.

In terms of the whole in house debate, the fundamental problem with these debates is always that there is no definition of what constitutes an in house movement - we all know what COSC certification represents because it's a standard, but that just doesn't exist with in house.

The thing with the Omega that was shocking for me as I have not looked at prices lately is that especially with the PO's they seem to be on par price-wise with quite a few Breitlings. A PO chrongraph is around the same price as a chronmat, at least that is what I saw on Alan Furman's site so I am not sure how the PO can be regarded as a fun little watch for knocking about in when it is the same price and quite frankly looks lower quality!
It is the seamasters that get me though, once my favorite of the omega's then they started the Bond look which again looks so cheap, the bracelet especially! and for the same price you can get a seawolf which is specatacular in quality and looks like it is high end where as the seamaster to be quite frank after having handled one would fall short of a mid range quartz Seiko in comparison!

I just don't get where Omegas are going to with this, obviously the cache of the name still carry's some weight I guess and of course style is a personal thing!

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All the best.
Ian

The PO is fun in terms of its out there styling, not in terms of construction or the such. In fact it will take as much beating and extreme condition as any Rolex or Breitling, but the quality of the finish is not as good as either. At least IMO.

Value wise, a chrono with 300M WR, NON screw down pushers and that domed crystal is quite the achievment at this price point.

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Certified watch nut.

Gotcha, I understand!

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All the best.
Ian