Breitling has enlarged its Super Avenger collection with a dynamic version of the impressive chronograph. Super Avenger Blacksteel Chronograph is produced in a limited series of 3000 timepieces.

This is a COSC certified chronograph based on the Calibre 13 (25 jewels, 28800 bph) providing 42 hours of power reserve. The movement is housed by a steel case of black colour whose diameter is 48 mm. The case is covered with carbon nitride treatment which provides 300 meters water resistance. The dial is protected by antigloss sapphire crystal.

The dial of the new Breitling watch creates a nice contrast with the case treatment. It reveals satin black surface with white hands and hour markers, and sub-dials, with vertically striated motifs. The dial features the distinctive red accents on the hands, 30-minute chronograph counter, and the tachymeter scale.

The unidirectional rotating bezel completed with a luminous dot is developed to provide utmost security and safety when the watch’s owner has to keep track of the critical diving intervals.

This Breitling watch is supplemented with a rubber strap fitted with a tang buckle with black carbon nitride treatment.

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“Vintage is the same classics but not mature indeed and that’s why it is extraordinarily tasty“. This witty saying belongs to one reputable watchmaker who likes to hunt for original ticking paradigms from different periods of time and give them up-to-date lustre. Real vintage has little chance to become classics quickly: it can’t even become mature as very often it’s taken out of old dusty boxes to gratify new generations of connoisseurs and collectors.

Vintage watches have the imprint of their time, whether romantic 1930s or military 1940 or “quartz” 1970s. This peculiarity in some magic way passes on to their owners. And if we take into consideration a strongly pronounced “professional” specialization of such watches which were designed in their time to serve their owners in the most extreme conditions, we’ll understand why watch vintage is so popular nowadays, especially among men. Several original timepieces were chosen for this review as representatives of the “family” of chronometric remakes. And probably they will make someone of our readers to reconsider their watch priorities and to make a final choice in favour of retro style which so fashionable at the moment.

Earth

Among the all “automobile” timepieces Ferrari Chronograph Pink Gold 45 mm is probably the most vintage. For the designers from Panerai it was not just an ordinary project for the Ferrari brand but a real complex task which demanded deep knowledge of automobile history, culture and traditions. They studied thoroughly all the creative drafts of the Pininfarina body atelier and particularly the legendary Touring and Scaletti models which are considered to be the examples of an automobile elegance of the mid 20th century. Under the motto “All great ideas are simple” the designers of Ferrari Chronograph Pink Gold 45 mm used basic geometrical shapes getting them up in full compliance with the then design rules and in the result got an “ideal vintage“. A circle in a square, black in gold, Italian in Swiss – each of these combinations had been accurately estimated and kept in certain proportions. The inscriptions “cronografo” and “tachimetro” in Italian make this watch even more authentic.

But the design is not the only merit of this timepiece. Its golden cover houses a Calibre OP XXVIII based on the transformed Minerva 13-20 movement issued in the 1940s. All in all Panerai managed to find 50 Minerva 13-20 movements and this predetermined the number of pieces in the new collection. Each of the artefacts was disassembled, cleaned, modified and reassembled. The result is amazing: Ferrari Chronograph Pink Gold 45 mm is a really alive watch with the spirit of the eternally young Ferrari.

Air

Long ago, in 1969, Breitling designed the first mechanical chronograph with self-winding which gave birth to the Chrono-Matic collection which in its turn became the portent of the fashion for watches in massive cases. Chrono-Matic 49 is the last generation of the legendary series which combined in it all the merits of the collection. Its creators skilfully used the contrast between the 40-years-old refined shape and massive 49-mm case. The case itself is made in the shape of a circled octagon and is crowned by a black rubber collar. The collar operates the logarithmic scale and plays the role of an element of decoration. The watch is notable for the chronograph pushers. They look very simple. But for this “simplicity” the designers had to sacrifice the level of water resistance which is only 3 ATM.

This model is produced in two steel versions with different dials and in limited edition series in gold. The most striking is the model with light dial supplemented with Aero Classic bracelet: such watches were favourites of air aces, soldiers of fortune and other daredevils. But this watch actually was designed for such brave men.

Water

70 years ago, in 1938, Longines created its legendary watch for the Italian hydragraphic institute. The watch served loyally to the cartographer officers of the national Navy, which came to a bad end during the World War II. But this is another story. What is more important is that the choice of a Swiss watchmaker proved to be one of the few lucky choices made by Italian Navy. And the vintage model Istituto Idrografico R. Marina Watch is the evidence of this. Having produced Istituto Idrografico R. Marina Watch Longines demonstrated to the surfeited with the technical vanguard watchmaking community how the chronographs of the first half of the 20th century looked. They looked really modest, almost classically: circular case without any decorative excesses, lacquered dial, blued steel hands, hesalite crystal, and modest rectangular pushers. Its special purpose is only revealed trough the big luminescent markers easily read during the night raid to the enemy’s rear. Small inscription Istituto Idrografico R. Marina adds vintage spirit to the watch and allows to call its owner a person not alien to aesthetics…

Technorati tags:watch, wrist watch, Swiss watch, chronograph, tourbillion, Armitron, Cartier, Casio, Citizen, Longines, Omega, Seiko, Swatch, Tag Heuer, Tissot, news

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Chronograph is an extremely popular type of movement which is used nowadays by all watchmakers without any exception. Its main peculiarity is that it can fix short periods of time. So how does this movement work? And why chronographs are so attractive?

How did it start?

Once upon a time, in 1720, an English watchmaker George Gram came up with the idea of designing a movement that could fix a period of time with accuracy up to 1/16 seconds. We still don’t know the reason why Gram decided to create a chronograph, but as many other great inventions this one owes its appearance to the master’s craving to stop the time. But the name, derived from two Greek words “chronos” — “time” and “grapho” — “to write”, wasn’t a very apt choice. Strictly speaking, chronographs only allow fixing short periods of time but not record or describe them. That’s why specialists appreciating accuracy of definitions call such movements chronoscopes.

The first chronograph, in full meaning of the word, was created a hundred years later by a French watchmaker Rieussec. He not only fixed the measured period of time but also wrote the result down with the help of ink stylus, which marked the readings by making a black point at the dial.

In 1862 Adolf Nicol made a chronograph which combined three functions: start, stopping and fixing the result and nulling. Up to nowadays these three functions are considered to be basic in the operation of chronographs.

First wrist chronographs were invented in 1910 by Gaston Breitling. They were designed for pilots and were operated with the help of one pusher which either was a separate part of the case or was combined with the crown. The only disadvantage of these movements was that functions of starting, stopping and nulling could be performed only consecutively. Today monopusher chronographs are rare. Most up-to-date movements are operated with the help of two pushers. The first company to come up with this idea was the same Breitling in 1934 dividing the three functions for two pushers: one for starting and stopping and the other – for nulling.

Cams or Columns?

The performance of the three functions is provided by movements of two different types. The first type is the movement with a column wheel which is a tooth wheel which is located perpendicularly to columns creating support points or hollows.

When starting lever gets to them it begins to revolt the chronograph starting wheel. But contemporary chronographs operated with a column wheel are considered to be a tribute to traditions. Cam movements are reputed as much more advanced.

A cam consists of two specifically connected with each other parts: upper and lower switches.

How to install?

Is it difficult to equip a watch movement with a chronograph? Well, not very much. Both cam and column systems can be integrated into the basic movement or can be installed as a separate module. Integrated movements are more ergonomic but they are difficult to assemble and make the price of the watch higher. The advantages of the separate module are lower price and ease of repairing: you don’t have to affect the basic movement if you need to replace some part of the chronograph. A separate module also allows to create combined movements, for example, a mechanical chronograph module can be an addition to a basic quartz movement.

Where to apply?

Chronographs are widely used in aviation and sport. Earlier air navigation was exercised with the help of a compass and a watch. A plain had to fly in a certain direction for a given time, and changing the air corridor pilots had to quickly switch the chronograph to count a new period of time. To make it more convenient a fly-back function was invented. It allowed to null the readings at the moment of starting a new counting. Common two-pusher chronograph required two moves to do that and what is more with full nulling of readings pilots had to keep in mind the time of take-off to be able to return to the airport.

The solution to this problem was found with the creation of split-seconds function of chronographs. Outwardly split-chronographs (or Rattrapante) are notable for two second hands and their movement includes an additional module that moves an additional second hand which helps to fix the time of intermediate finish.

Split-seconds were designed for fixing the duration of two events which start simultaneously but finish at a different time. Usually split-chronographs have one more pusher at 10-11 o’clock to stop the second split-hand while the other second hand is continuing to move. To fix the final result just press the starting pusher.

Very often chronographs are supplemented by tachometer scales and telemeters, sporty models – with pulsometers.

Technorati tags:watch, wrist watch, Swiss watch, chronograph, tourbillion, Armitron, Cartier, Casio, Citizen, Longines, Omega, Seiko, Swatch, Tag Heuer, Tissot, news

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Wristwatches long ago became a full-fledged hero of the famous James Bond movies and more than once saved the Agent’s 007 life. Still in other less heroic films common characters wear quite real watches to which we usually don’t pay much attention.

Absolute Power (1997) became the first film where Clint Eastwood appeared not only as an actor but also as a director. Eastwood’s hero, a hardened safebreaker, in his everyday life prefers Rolex Day Just, but during another criminal job he wears quartz chronograph Swiss Army.

If in two first parts of Batman the main hero managed without a watch, in the third part Batman Forever (1995) Bruce Wayne acted by Val Kilmer replenished his equipment with Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. At the back-case there was a mini-display. And the bad guy Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones)gave preference to Oris Big Crown.

American brand Hamilton, which is today a part of Swatch Group, is considered to be a record holder in the cinema industry because its models appeared in the Hollywood hits more often than others. Hamilton made its début on the big screen in 1961 when Elvis Presley was wearing Hamilton Ventura with a black dial during the shooting of Blue Hawaii.

Everyone has got accustomed to the fact that TAG Heuer’s watches appear as a rule in films about sport, especially about racing as, for example, in Le Mans with Steve McQueen. But another model by TAG Heuer - Kirium - can be seen also in a horror film The Bone Collector (1999) on the wrist of the chief investigator played by Ed O’Neill.

In the film about military pilots - The Broken Arrow (1996) – there were no surprises: John Travolta, an actor and a licensed pilot, wears his favourite Breitling Aerospace.

Omega Speedmaster Professional is one of the most famous watches in cinema. In Apollo-13 (1995) it was even included in the script as it was Omega that saved lives to real astronauts when on board the spacecraft all the devices failed – then the docking was carried out with the help of the mechanical chronometer.

Omega Speedmaster Professional was appreciated not only by astronauts. In the Corruptor (1999) a venal policeman from Chinatown played by Chow Yun Fat also gives preference to this model.

The Daylight (1996) starring Sylvester Stallone is very rich in close-ups of different watch models by different brands. Stallone himself wears Luminor Panerai. Other characters prefer TAG Heuer, Seiko, Casio and Bulova.

It’s interesting to trace the evolution of watches worn by the characters of Die Hard. In the first film you can notice a Rolex on the main hero’s wife’s wrist. In the second film practically all characters – from terrorists to special squad soldiers – give preference to TAG Heuer’s chronographs. And finally in the latest film Bruce Willis wears Breitling Chronomat Longitude.

It’s a common knowledge that Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore was one of the sponsors of the Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). Specially for Arnold Schwarzenegger a model T3 was created. But the first time when the hero was saving the world with Royal Oak Offshore on his wrist was in 1999 in the End of Days.

And finally a recipe of success from Hollywood: in the Wall Street the character of Charlie Sheen enters the brokerage firm for the first time wearing Lorus. But he leaves it already in Cartier.

Technorati tags:watch, wrist watch, Swiss watch, chronograph, tourbillion, Armitron, Cartier, Casio, Citizen, Longines, Omega, Seiko, Swatch, Tag Heuer, Tissot, news

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Pilot watch class timepieces were a success at the exhibitions in Basel and Geneva. The popularity pilot watches is caused by the personal aviation fashion. Breitling Avenger SeaWolf is a watch by a company with an image of the best producer of instruments for the professional pilots. Over decades Breitling has invested millions of dollars to promote their pilot watches. A watch by Breitling wears the legendary actor John Travolta, who considers himself to be first of all a pilot.

The case of Avenger SeaWolf is 44 mm in diameter. Though it is not a chronograph the case features a powerful bezel and a bracelet Professional that are specialty of Breitling’s. The case is made of titanium. Technology used by Breitling specialists and special PVD covering allowed to create a solid case that is lighter and more durable than a golden one. The heart of the watch is automatic caliber Breitling 17 on the base of ЕТ�2894.

Titanium watches are much lighter that steel ones and what is more they exclude the possibility of allergic reactions. The winder is protected by titanium lugs. Avenger SeaWolf features high gloss sapphire glass, large white hands with luminescent covering and distinct marking, Arabic figures that glow in the darc and minute marking of the bezel. The watch is 3000 meters water resistant.

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