Fresh from the Showcase here at SwissWatchExpo, I've got two really great watches.
I'm a huge Breitling fan.
Anybody that knows me knows that Breitling is sort of my cornerstone.
It's how I started out in the watch industry.
It was one of the watches in the watch companies that fascinated me most at the very first,
because there was so much detail to know about Breitling.
Breitling was, and still mostly is, a private company not attached to the big three, as
you may imagine.
Not a Swatch company, not a Richemont company, but a stand-alone company.
It is obviously incorporating all of the family values of what you would imagine a traditional
Swiss watch company to embody.
Throughout the years, they've maintained a very specific product line.
They've maintained their design aesthetics.
They've stuck to a single theme.
The land, air, and sea theme is something that's really big with Breitling, remembering
that Leon Breitling was a really big influence in the company.
He was a pilot.
He ensured that Allied Forces during World War II received all the parts that they needed
for different various projects.
Mostly for aircraft parts and things like that.
A true hero in the world, let alone in the watchmaking industry.
What I've chosen today are two watches that throwback to a very unique history in the
Breitling lineup.
They have a lot of little details in them that you should be aware of.
Now, I happened to be wearing one of the Breitling Chronoliner.
It's the blue version.
They no longer make this blue version.
They only have the black version.
If you want to get the blue version, you have to step up to the in house B04 movement.
It's also a gold watch.
The price is right around 34,000.
It's a pretty big step up into an investment.
But today we have something that's in red gold from Breitling.
It's the Chronoliner.
This particular watch came out a few years ago.
It was, I think late 2017, early 2018.
This particular watch is made of solid gold in the casing and the buckle.
What's really great about Breitling, if you know anything about Breitling, if you don't
know anything about Breitling, all of the straps are available for this watch.
This watch, you can get the rubber straps for, the leather straps for.
But one thing that you don't have the option of is, you do not have the option of a metal
bracelet.
Why?
Because you don't want to mix stainless steel bracelets with a gold body watch.
There's inherent issues with attaching steel to gold, and you just don't want to do that.
When you have this watch, you have the choices of all of the different color of leather bands,
plus all the rubber straps that go with it.
Now, why is it important that they have the rubber straps?
Well, first of all, this particular rubber strap, the Milanese style rubber strap, is
a very soft pliable version of the rubber.
It's very thin so it's lightweight.
It wears very well.
It's very smooth when you wear it.
This is also a watch that is capable of diving and swimming in.
It's 100 meters water resistant.
It does not have a screw down crown, but it's very capable.
Obviously you don't want to push the pushers for the chronograph underwater, but it is
capable of using for swimming and summer activities.
One of the other things about this watch that's really cool is it has kind of a domed crystal
to it.
It's not flat, so it gives it some sort of depth.
It gives it a little bit of magnification on the dial as well.
You have the date, you also have a ceramic bezel, something that you don't find.
This is a 46-millimeter watch, and it does not have a metal encasement with a ceramic
insert.
This is a full ceramic bezel on the outside of this watch something that you rarely see
on other manufacturers,
Again, sort of a Breitling thing.
The dials on this watch, interesting thing about this, this is a 7754 Sellita movement,
Valjoux 7754.
It is of course modified by Breitling so it does have all the attributes of the Breitling
forte in their durability.
That's really important because, one of the things that you'll find, this is a four Hertz
movement, so it'll stand up to shock and vibration and things like that.
It's a very durable watch and it does have, of course the GMT function.
It has the long GMT hour hand with the red tip on it so it's easy to see against the
dial.
It's it's really long, it's great.
It extends out to the outside edge.
It's not short and dainty.
It's very bold and expressive.
The other thing is you with this ceramic bezel, you can turn that bezel.
This watch is capable of keeping track of three different time zones in one.
You have your standard, our hand, you have your standard GMT hand, plus you have the
turnable bezel to be able to do different time zones with a very quick look.
This was originally of course a pilot's watch.
One of the things that is really cool about this particular piece, and one of the things
that's cool about Chronoliner in general, is that this one has the sticker still on
it so this watch has been very well taken cared of if the protective stickers are still
on it.
But there's the double jet logo, which was the late 1960-ish style logo for Breitling.
It was a very short lived logo, but it is one of my favorite logos.
I wish we could see that double jet logo on a lot more Breitlings.
Maybe in the future, we'll start seeing some of those.
But the double jet logo exists on the back.
Why?
Because this particular watch is a throwback, sort of between the original Navitimer, and
sort of the idea of what you find in the Superocean.
It incorporates a couple of different themes throughout the history of Breitling.
It throws back to some of their original, Montbrilliant styles, as well as the Navitimer
style.
You get a really large seconds hand for the chronograph.
You get a really large minutes collector for the chronograph, and then you get a smaller
style hour collector for the chronograph.
It sort of gives the dial, if you look at it aesthetically, it may look and appear,
at first glance, that it's unbalanced.
To me, it's just very bold and expressive, and it really focuses your eyes on what you
need to see on this particular watch.
Unlike some of the other chronographs where you're hunting to look for the minutes, because
let's be honest, the most important things on a chronograph for most watches are the
minutes collector and the seconds hand on the chronograph because most people don't
time in terms of hours on a chronograph.
It's more minutes and seconds.
This particular watch also has a unique, because it's a solid gold clasp, it's a much thinner
clasp to keep the costs down.Because as you can imagine, if you had to replace this clasp,
but it was as large as the Superocean clasp, this clasp would cost thousands of dollars
as opposed to this particular one here.
Now, let's move on to the Superocean Heritage Chronograph.
The reason that I chose it is because these two watches are very complimentary of each
other.
This happens to be a steel and gold version, as opposed to the solid gold version.
But if you notice they're both that red gold.
They're both in that beautiful dial.
I don't think that you can really have one in mind without considering the other.
If you want something that's more of a diver's watch with a screw down crown, of course,
this particular watch is it.
It does have the ceramic bezel, but this one is encased in red gold.
You have the 18 carat red gold base with the ceramic insert.
Now, each one of the chronograph dials, and when we zoom in, you'll be able to see it
just a little bit better.
Each one of the chronograph dials here has a very small outline of red gold in it.
You're keeping up that same similar theme of the Chronoliner here.
It's all a little bit elegant.
It's just a little bit higher end.
You go from the air model to the sea model, and in some ways, land and sea for this particular
piece.
Now I also have a Superocean Heritage, and I love mine.
The new details on this Superocean have the sword style hands.
You'll notice that this is the new generation because, you have the sword style minute hand,
but then the hour hand is triangulated with a center divider.
That's how, you know, one generation from another generation.
It's a very interesting piece.
This one also has that really nice mesh style Milanese style rubber strap on it.
But the difference between the Chronoliner and this one, you can do the metal mesh bracelet
on this particular watch in the stainless steel, because the body of the watch is stainless
steel.
That's something you should keep in mind when you're looking at these watches, if you're
thinking about getting a bracelet.
To recap, the gold model cannot have a metal bracelet, unless it was a full gold bracelet,
which is not available for this particular piece at this particular moment that I'm aware
of.
This one in the stainless steel can have the bracelet.
That's an important difference.
Now, each one of these models is very unique in their own right.
The reason that I chose them is because they're elegant.
The elegance of these two watches is far above and beyond now be wearing my particular Chronoliner
with a NATO strap, which I bought externally.
Breitling now offers a NATO strap for all of their watches in their own make and model,
which you can also buy for the Chronoliner, the solid gold.
Now, to be clear, this particular Chronoliner is very rare.
I mean, extremely rare.
We've got two of these here at SwissWatchExpo, give us a call because you definitely want
this in your collection.
$17,990, this was a $24,000 watch, this watch is relatively unworn.
You have to have one of these in your collections.
If you don't know about the Chronoliner, you want to know more about this Chronoliner,
give us a call, give me a call here at SwissWatchExpo.
I'll be happy to talk to you about it.
I get really excited about the Breitlings because they're cool watches.
They have a lot to offer in terms of style and aesthetic.
By the way, just to point out, I've read all the blogs on the Chronoliner.
I've seen a lot of things about what people have to say about them in terms of aesthetic,
and believe me until you have this watch on your wrist, stop reading those blogs.
Stop listening to other opinions.
You need to have this watch on your wrist.
It is absolutely gorgeous.
SwissWatchExpo's Fresh from the Showcase.
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