BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
The Breitling Chronomat is a sporty workhorse watch, and that, I believe, is one of its best attributes. The fact that it gets down and dirty and also looks good doing it is a plus, though. For the end of 2022, we have a new addition to the collection in the form of a GMT.
An essential of any sports watch range, GMT watches allow the wearer to work out the time in multiple timezones provided they know how many hours their travel time is from their home time. These watches keep their 60-minute graduated bezels with unidirectional ratcheting. Coupled with the 200m water resistance, these watches can clearly still be used as diving watches.
Presented in a 40mm x 11.7mm stainless steel case, this watch is smaller than the majority of the current Chronomat lineup, which is made of big, bruising chronographs. I like those watches, as I’ve said before, but I can totally see the appeal for most. In nearly every article where I check the comments (which is most of them), there are comments saying a watch should be 40mm, 38mm, 36mm etcetera all the time. So, here’s the one for you!
A range of Chronomat GMTs is available in different dial colours. These are black, white, green, blue, and anthracite silver, all of them feature a red GMT hand which stands out, it also has a lumed tip for easy nighttime reading. All dials have the same finish, that is, a sunburst finish which will allow light to radiate outwards from the centre. I would’ve liked to see some offset sunrays coming from the Breitling logo or the date window at 6 O’clock. We don’t see offset finishes too often, and they look very contemporary, which this design could use.
Inside all the watches is the calibre 32, which is based on an ETA 2893-2. It has a beat rate of 4Hz and 42 hours, and it’s hidden behind a closed caseback as well. I really love the steel roller bracelets that these come on. Having had the chance to play around with them I think they’re very high quality.
I’m pleased to say that none of these is a limited edition and they come at a price of $5600 before tax.
Visit Breitling here.
