Breitling Colt Chrono II review

[TARDIS]

I have previously owned Oris, Omegas and Rolex, I was intending to buy a pre-owned Rolex Sea Dweller, but I decided to put the idea on the back burner partly due to being unable to find the right one and finances were a little tight. Sea Dwellers don’t come at bargain basement prices.

I was trawling the net recently and came across the official Breitling web site. Having just switched to broadband from a sluggish dial up, I ventured in and discovered a very enlightening site complete with the history of Breitling including short movies and of course their comprehensive collection. This site was presented better than any watch manufacturers website I’ve seen thus far. I visited it several times. I began to research the marque by viewing watch forums that discussed the pros and cons of various Breitling models. I thought that buying a new Breitling now would at least be an interim until late 2007 when I could seriously look for an SD. My dealer was running a special on some of his Breitlings (not Rolex!) and I spotted a very nice looking Breitling Colt Chrono II. I decided to buy it as it was brand new and with a 24 month warranty.

So, here are my impressions of my new Breitling Colt Chrono II:

The outer box is yellow in colour and has the silver edging and the word Breitling and the winged anchor above it and below the year 1884. The inner presentation box is black Bakelite. Bakelite is a synthetic resin invented in 1905 by a Belgian named Baekeland. The was a small yellow card printed in 6 languages telling me about Bakelite and its history. The watch itself sits in this box on a soft black leather cushion. The watch and bracelet were still encased in protective plastic. There was a slim cardboard box again stamped in silver with the make and year 1884, in which were the following:

Authorised Distributors leaflet
Attestation de Chronomètre document
International Warranty (2 years) with perforated serial number and dealer stamp and warranty certificate.



On every document, on the watch dial, the case back and the bracelet clasp, bore the name and ‘1884‘. I wondered why this was such an important year. I found in the history section of the Breitling website, that 1884 was the year that Léon Breitling opened a workshop in St-Imier, Switzerland, specializing in making chronographs for scientific and industrial purposes.


I found the model instruction book easy to follow. The English section follows the French.

Pictures I have seen of this watch to not do it justice. In actuality I found it very pleasing to the eye. One thing I immediately noticed was the crystal which most of the time seemed to be invisible! This is due the non-reflective coating on both sides of the crystal. This procedure all but eliminates reflections and makes reading the time far easier, especially outdoors.




The case is not as big and as heavy as I thought it might be, Breitling do tend to manufacture large models, but the Colt Chrono II is no bigger in diameter than my GMT Master II, maybe a little thicker, but not overly noticeable and according to my wife’s kitchen scales weighs in at 153 grams with the steel bracelet. This is hefty, but doesn’t hold the heavyweight record on watches I have owned, this being an Oris TT Divers at 168gms.



The crown has some shouldering and each side there are the buttons for operation of the chronograph. I have not fully tested the chronograph, just its basic functions and to synchronise the sweep timer hands to the 12 o’clock position. It also has a split timer (another sweep hand) that sits exactly underneath the primary timer hand at 12 o‘clock. The three sub dials measure 10ths of a second, 60 seconds and 12 hours respectively.

This model is water pressure tested to 200m/660feet (20Bar). The crown is a screw in type with two outer positions that click positively for each adjustment function.

The first thing that I discovered was that the hour hand could be moved independently for both time zone and date adjustment without stopping the chronometer, similar to the Rolex GMT Master II. Resynchronization with an internet time source like Greenwich or Time Ticker would not therefore be required each time a time zone or date adjustment was needed to be made; a great advantage since this is a very accurate watch; it being a thermo compensated super quartz movement, which I confess I know little about other than a claimed accuracy of a mere ±15 seconds per YEAR. The power source (battery) is supposed to last 5 years.

The dial is white with the three small chronograph dials being blue in my model. In the event of preferring the stitched leather Breitling strap, these colours would nicely match the blue leather version. I may consider option this at a later date. The dial has the slab type indices and an inverted triangle at 12 o’clock. Luminova tips are on the outer third of each slab. The hands are beautifully crafted, seven in all. The hours and minute hands are both luminous. The lumina is good and I was able to read the time in the dark at 4am. The sweeping hands are finely crafted and have the Breitling ‘ß’ one the base of the primary chronograph hand and an anchor on the secondary so when lined up form the Breitling insignia without the wings. Unlike many other brands of Swiss watches, I noticed the dial at 6 o’clock has no reference to it being Swiss made, this being on the case back in French as is the wording of the model on the dial.



The steel bracelet does not taper in width from the lugs which have a 20mm gap. On the wrist it is comfortable and I needed only to adjust up the clasp a couple of notches for a perfect fit. I do not have a large wrist (19cm), but the watch did not seem too big for me. The bracelet has a distinctive diagonal slant in the links and it is very highly polished. This may require periodic polishing with a jewellers cloth to minimize scratch deterioration. It is dazzling in sunlight! I read that some owners of this type of bracelet prefer to have it polished to a satin finish. That is a matter of personal choice. The bracelet clasp locks securely and has a flip over bar with the Breitling insignia on it with the main part of the clasp having the Breitling wording and again the year 1884 giving a classy appearance.



The case back has information regarding its COSC status of which it well exceeds the required standard of accuracy. The water pressure depth information is also there as well and in the centre area of the case back is the winged Breitling insignia. The rim of the case back has no less than 15 sides. I would guess that its removal might only be achieved at a Breitling service centre with a special tool. The case back is slightly convex, causing it to sit nicely on the wrist and minimize it sliding around towards the ulnar side of the arm.

The case and lugs are highly polished steel, but the bezel which only rotates counter clockwise in positive clicks is finely milled with the numbers and divisions engraved into the metal. The 15, 30 and 45 divisions on the bezel are raised on what are termed Rider Tabs as is the 60 division, but this has no number, instead a recessed luminova dot. The bezel also has a minute ‘ß’ engraved on the rim just past the 11 o’clock position and a larger version on the crown.



Summary:

Obviously this watch is not a Rolex Daytona. I do not therefore draw any comparison with it other than it is a chronograph with similar functions and it costs a just fraction of the Rolex. I consider the Breitling Colt Chrono II good value for money. It is a handsome looking watch and appears to be well built from a very established Swiss manufacturer. My feeling is that a leather strap might be a good optional extra that one could change over from the eye dazzling bracelet! Not everyone has heard of Breitling in my area. I have had to explain to some that Breitling is ‘Brightling’ not Breetling!

It has already drawn some favourable comments from my family and friends. At least I haven’t had anyone say to me “Is that a real one or a fake?”

I have found that it is difficult to keep dust particles off the watch during photography. It was in my garage and we are in a severe drought situation, so there is dust in the air all the time.

I hope you enjoy this review.

Steve