Breitling Service & Collection Impressions

Recently took my father's Aerospace with me to get it serviced here in Vienna. Having had a very positive experience previously, I thought it would be a breeze this time, too. I explained the problem, and they promised to get back to me with the necessary next steps / a cost estimate within a day. Which they did - I got called by the watchmaker the next day and he verified the issue and explained the solution to me. In fact they were about to sort it and return the watch free of charge, as it was really trivial - something I greatly appreciated. Still, I wanted the battery changed preemptively and the water resistance to be checked, so I decided to book it in for service anyway. Even here they did a very fair thing in advising me to go for the small package, instead of the large one (which shold only be taken, if there is something really wrong with the watch).

A week later the watch was ready for pickup. All I can say is wow! I know it is a quartz but the whole process, from advice, to customer contact, to final execution was flawless. It came delivered in a service box / pouch, which is definitely not of rare material or intricate craftsmanship but it protects the watch, can be sed as a travel case, if necessary, and is a nice touch for a service that costs next to nothing. It all certainly got me thinking about another Breitling So I browsed their current collection a bit...

Most modern Breitlings I find a bit on the large side for my wrist, so went for the 1915 monopusher and the Transocean, which I have wanted to try on for a while. Even thee, at 43mm are hardly tiny The 1915 monopusher is quite a charming, vintage inspired piece, with some decidedly modern touches. It has their in-house movement, which is thoroughly modern and has a good power reserve. Here it comes in a hand wound variety, which is nice in principle, as the caseback is transparent and this way you get to see more of the movement but the finish is fit for purpose, rather than intricately artistic, so I guess one will not admire the movement on a constant basis. The case also comes in the same thickness as the automatic one (economies of scale?), so it is basically the Breitling01 movement without the rotor and with some other small adaptations.

It wears a bit larger than my LUC Chrono One (more so than the 1mm would indicate) but is still doable on my wrist The strap is nice and very supple, which definitely helps. As for the chrono operation, the pusher is quite hard, when compared to the Chrono One, and requires a good deal of force to operate. It lies flush with the mini crown guard so as not to snag on clothing but I would have prefered a mushroom shaped one on such a tribute piece. The lume is vintage tinted, which I am still not so sure about but the date is simply disturbing - no need for it on a limited edition handwound chrono, IMHO...

The regulr Transocean was next. I find the model - at least on pictures - to be the best balanced current producton one from Breitling (in my opinion at least). The dial is ver clean and has all I would want in a chrono and no more. No rotating bezel also makes the watch a bit less sporty, which I approve off The size is exactly the same as with the 1915 but this time with an automatic movement and a much better integrated date.

I have to ay I prefer the standard Transocean, it is for me a much more coherent watch. Not sure there is a place for it in my collection at the moment but I find Breitling did a good job with this one. Now if only they got their act together and integrated the new movement into the 38mm two subdial version, I'd be sorely tempted. And if they stopped with the nonsense of calling it a female only watch