By Jovan Krstevski
For every man out there, there is always a car that they love, I mean we just love automobiles don’t we? Now if you really know your game about cars, you will know that before your lovely car sees production, it has undergone massive tests and revisions which is very important for stability or in human terms, usefulness. In the horology world, there is also the equivalent of an engine tuner used for making adjustments to the motor to achieve superior performance. Here comes the Breitling Chronoworks department filled with exceptional experts in the watch industry. If you like Baselworld 2016, this particular department invokes the same feeling because it is where breakthroughs are made. One example is the Superocean Heritage Chronoworks limited series sporting a movement with a power reserve of an incredible 100 hours. This is very exciting indeed.
Before we droll over the movement and its incredible technologies, I will give a quick rundown of its external features. The case is carbon black which almost quickly tells of its origins, the modern aviation and, of course, automobiles. I can’t really make up my mind since this watch is supposedly nautically themed as what its name implies but it looks more like an instrumentation from an airplane’s cockpit. Well, it is just me but nevertheless, the case design looks amazing. For now, I can’t go further down the minute details except the obvious bezel that looks nice with its clean markers. The crown also looks bigger with a rounder perspective and very utilitarian pushers surprisingly well spaced in between the crown and the lugs. So nobody is complaining for now.
The black dial is also superbly designed with three sub-dials neatly stacked against the main layer on the 9, 3, and 6 o’clock. The applied indices are pointed inwards almost like triangles but not really since they come square from the bezel. The hands are lumed which is nice and legibility is further enhanced by the perfect combination of black and white design. In fact, I honestly like this color combination since it brings forth classic feeling and masculinity on it. The date looks rather sharp though in between 4 and 5 o’clock. Other than this, the legibility is superb and it is very nice to stare at.
The real deal is its innovative movement which sports five major innovations allowing it to achieve 100 hours of power reserve. I don’t know about you but for me this is huge. Imagine not having to worry about wounding your watch for that many hours, that is perfect for stress-free work related travel. Breitling achieves this by using 1. Ceramic baseplate and gear-train bridges (reduces friction without using any lubricant or jewels), 2. Silicon wheels (the caliber is fitted with a center wheel, third wheel, and the fourth wheel in silicon material which is responsible for effectively retaining inertia), 3. Silicon escapement (proprietary design allows for zero power loss), 4. Variable-inertia balance (scientific use of metals to achieve zero inertia loss), and 5. Elastic toothing (using a nickel-phosphorous structure to end energy loss).
Obviously, the underlying technologies are really innovative and I for one am excited to see this in its actuality. I will return with more details on these really innovative Breitling Superocean Heritage Chronoworks limited series watches. For more info, please visit breitling.com
JOVAN KRSTEVSKI – FOUNDER, PROPRIETOR & EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Jovan Krstevski has been collecting watches every since his father bought him an Omega Seamaster back when he was just a teenager. He launched Watchgeek back in 2011, which is now known as WristReview and is one of the most widely read watch blogs on the Web. He quotes ’WristReview is a site to help people find, explore, discover and enjoy wristwatches.’ Besides WristReview, he also writes for a number of publications. Read his articles here
