Hey guys. Until recently I had a few extra bucks lingering in my PP account due to M2M sales and finally found out what watches to spend them on. I've always been a fan of the Breitling bezel aesthetic (with the small screws on the side) but had some concerns about how they'd fit my small baby arms as they're all on the larger side of watches. My fears were dissipated when I got myself a Sinn U1 (which clocks in at 43,5 mm diameter) and found out that the 44mm is just about the maximum sweet spot for me.
Fig 1. Watch porn.
Add in the facts from the previous paragraph and you can see how I ended up with my latest purchase: A 7750 Breitling Skyland Avenger v.2.5 and a SOSF 21j. I ended up with the 21j version of the SOSF because I had a bit of a circus play with the TDs here; luckily the end result suits me just fine due to the price point I got them at and the overall quality of the watches is just what I wanted. Something to keep in mind while reading this thread: the SOSF is less than half the price of the Skyland. Now, read on...
Fig 2. Watch porn.
My wrist clocks in at 6.5 inches. The Breitling lug design complements it perfectly; the lugs are curved downwards at a perfect angle to make leather and rubber straps and bracelets look like they're made my for my wrists. The straps you see here are a Buffalo Grain Calf leather strap from CousinsUK on the Skyland Avenger and a Crazy Horse leather from eBay on the SOSF, and later a generic rubber strap on the Skyland. They all are rather cheap but by lord do they look fine.
Fig 3. Watch porn.
I recall that the thread title promised you a comparison or something to that effect. That I will give to you. I am by no means a Breitling, or a rep expert, so take my claims with a grain of salt. I am a easy-going guy so my standards regards to reps being perfect counterparts to their gen brothers might be much more relaxed compared to a true purist. Also this comparison is intended to highlight the differences between a cheapo Breitling vs a posh Breitling and no comparisons to gens will be made. Well, anyways, here's the first picture to analyze:
Fig 4. Frontal view of the specimens.
The watch dials and the bezels! Boy, where do I start...
Let's start with the dial. While they're different watch models there's some things we can take a look at, notably lume and datewheel.
The SOSF datewheel misses its mark by a mile as its just the standard 21j datewheel and the Skyland is, well, as close to the gen as it gets. No contest here, the Skyland wins.
I didn't even take a lume shot since the SOSF lume is probably the worst rep lume I've ever seen. The lume application is perfect though. The Skyland is factory superlumed and very, very well applied so it wins by a long shot. No contest here either.
Bezel. The bezel. Well, I think it's clear that that the engravings on the Skyland bezel look much sharper in the pictures, and so they are in real life as well. The pearl is also much better. The turning action is quite loose on the 21j version, but still fairly good for the price, and, you guessed it, Skyland is just perfectly stiff. Funnily enough the 21j bezel is aligned at 12 o'clock sharp while the Skyland is aligned just a fraction of a millimeter off. Skyland wins again, though.
However, disregarding the datewheel and lume, the 21j SOSF dial is in fact VERY good looking. The hour markers are well aligned, lume is applied perfectly and the concentric circle pattern looks just mesmerizing. You could spend hours just looking at it and thinking about the wonders of life. In fact I'd even go as far to say that the SOSF is more eye-popping than the Skyland, just thanks to the dial. This is the part I much prefer in the SOSF. However the chapter ring on he SOSF is just a tiny bit off, and of course the Skyland wins in the end due to accuracy regards gen.
Fig 5. Side view of the specimens.
Here's a quick pic comparing the thickness of the two models. I included this because the difference is quite remarkable. The Skyland is a GODDAMN BEAST compared to the SOSF! It's like a mountain on your wrist. You will get used to it, though, and you will like it. There's nothing quite like the Skyland out there (well, except the Super Avenger, of course...) so owning this tank is like owning an unique watch. Also note the HE valve on the SOSF; the gen SOSF is rated to 2000 meters while the gen Skyland can go only as deep as 300m.
Fig 6. Skyland Avenger and SuperOcean Steelfish casebacks
The casebacks. The engraving on the Skyland is slightly sharper and shallower than on the 21j SOSF. I don't pay much heed to the casebacks of reps since I spend a minimal amount of time looking at them. The Skyland wins again but somehow I just don't care enough. Do you?
Fig. 7-9. Bracelets
The bracelets! Here's something that even I wondered: the polished Skyland bracelet was dirty when I got it. Yes, the bracelet had dirt underneath the plastic wrapping. I didn't do anything to it before taking these pictures; only the brushed SOSF bracelet was shortened before, and I can guarantee you that it I didn't have to clean it. Well, anyways, the engraving on the brushed clasp is weaker than the polished one; it seems to peter out in the top (look at G of Breitling). The engravings inside the clasp are also different:
Polished clasp (Skyland): "MODELLE DEPOSE" "MANUFACTURE EN SUISSE"
Brushed clasp (SOSF): "REGISTERED MODEL" "STAINLESS STEEL SWISS MADE"
Fig. 10-14. Watch porn
Final verdict? It's hard to decide. It would be even harder if I decided to get the Swissfish or the Clone versions of the SOSF, but I didn't.
I'm extremely happy with both of the watches and will definitely wear them often. The Skyland is much closer to gen, but the SOSF is also a very, very fine watch on its own. Much better than the other cheapo 21j offerings you will see out there.
If you didn't have a SOSF already getting the cheap 21j version is a no-brainer; JUST FUCKIN GET IT. If you can afford the ETA clone version then get that. Don't feel bad about buying the cheaper version; you get much more than you expect.
The v2.5 Skyland is... Well... It's perfect. It's everything you can expect from a replica watch. Awesome AR, awesome datewheel, awesome bezel, awesome lume application, awesome everything. It's almost boring in how it's just so... Perfect. Funny, that.
Fig 1. Watch porn.
Add in the facts from the previous paragraph and you can see how I ended up with my latest purchase: A 7750 Breitling Skyland Avenger v.2.5 and a SOSF 21j. I ended up with the 21j version of the SOSF because I had a bit of a circus play with the TDs here; luckily the end result suits me just fine due to the price point I got them at and the overall quality of the watches is just what I wanted. Something to keep in mind while reading this thread: the SOSF is less than half the price of the Skyland. Now, read on...
Fig 2. Watch porn.
My wrist clocks in at 6.5 inches. The Breitling lug design complements it perfectly; the lugs are curved downwards at a perfect angle to make leather and rubber straps and bracelets look like they're made my for my wrists. The straps you see here are a Buffalo Grain Calf leather strap from CousinsUK on the Skyland Avenger and a Crazy Horse leather from eBay on the SOSF, and later a generic rubber strap on the Skyland. They all are rather cheap but by lord do they look fine.
Fig 3. Watch porn.
I recall that the thread title promised you a comparison or something to that effect. That I will give to you. I am by no means a Breitling, or a rep expert, so take my claims with a grain of salt. I am a easy-going guy so my standards regards to reps being perfect counterparts to their gen brothers might be much more relaxed compared to a true purist. Also this comparison is intended to highlight the differences between a cheapo Breitling vs a posh Breitling and no comparisons to gens will be made. Well, anyways, here's the first picture to analyze:
Fig 4. Frontal view of the specimens.
The watch dials and the bezels! Boy, where do I start...
Let's start with the dial. While they're different watch models there's some things we can take a look at, notably lume and datewheel.
The SOSF datewheel misses its mark by a mile as its just the standard 21j datewheel and the Skyland is, well, as close to the gen as it gets. No contest here, the Skyland wins.
I didn't even take a lume shot since the SOSF lume is probably the worst rep lume I've ever seen. The lume application is perfect though. The Skyland is factory superlumed and very, very well applied so it wins by a long shot. No contest here either.
Bezel. The bezel. Well, I think it's clear that that the engravings on the Skyland bezel look much sharper in the pictures, and so they are in real life as well. The pearl is also much better. The turning action is quite loose on the 21j version, but still fairly good for the price, and, you guessed it, Skyland is just perfectly stiff. Funnily enough the 21j bezel is aligned at 12 o'clock sharp while the Skyland is aligned just a fraction of a millimeter off. Skyland wins again, though.
However, disregarding the datewheel and lume, the 21j SOSF dial is in fact VERY good looking. The hour markers are well aligned, lume is applied perfectly and the concentric circle pattern looks just mesmerizing. You could spend hours just looking at it and thinking about the wonders of life. In fact I'd even go as far to say that the SOSF is more eye-popping than the Skyland, just thanks to the dial. This is the part I much prefer in the SOSF. However the chapter ring on he SOSF is just a tiny bit off, and of course the Skyland wins in the end due to accuracy regards gen.
Fig 5. Side view of the specimens.
Here's a quick pic comparing the thickness of the two models. I included this because the difference is quite remarkable. The Skyland is a GODDAMN BEAST compared to the SOSF! It's like a mountain on your wrist. You will get used to it, though, and you will like it. There's nothing quite like the Skyland out there (well, except the Super Avenger, of course...) so owning this tank is like owning an unique watch. Also note the HE valve on the SOSF; the gen SOSF is rated to 2000 meters while the gen Skyland can go only as deep as 300m.
Fig 6. Skyland Avenger and SuperOcean Steelfish casebacks
The casebacks. The engraving on the Skyland is slightly sharper and shallower than on the 21j SOSF. I don't pay much heed to the casebacks of reps since I spend a minimal amount of time looking at them. The Skyland wins again but somehow I just don't care enough. Do you?
Fig. 7-9. Bracelets
The bracelets! Here's something that even I wondered: the polished Skyland bracelet was dirty when I got it. Yes, the bracelet had dirt underneath the plastic wrapping. I didn't do anything to it before taking these pictures; only the brushed SOSF bracelet was shortened before, and I can guarantee you that it I didn't have to clean it. Well, anyways, the engraving on the brushed clasp is weaker than the polished one; it seems to peter out in the top (look at G of Breitling). The engravings inside the clasp are also different:
Polished clasp (Skyland): "MODELLE DEPOSE" "MANUFACTURE EN SUISSE"
Brushed clasp (SOSF): "REGISTERED MODEL" "STAINLESS STEEL SWISS MADE"
Fig. 10-14. Watch porn
Final verdict? It's hard to decide. It would be even harder if I decided to get the Swissfish or the Clone versions of the SOSF, but I didn't.
I'm extremely happy with both of the watches and will definitely wear them often. The Skyland is much closer to gen, but the SOSF is also a very, very fine watch on its own. Much better than the other cheapo 21j offerings you will see out there.
If you didn't have a SOSF already getting the cheap 21j version is a no-brainer; JUST FUCKIN GET IT. If you can afford the ETA clone version then get that. Don't feel bad about buying the cheaper version; you get much more than you expect.
The v2.5 Skyland is... Well... It's perfect. It's everything you can expect from a replica watch. Awesome AR, awesome datewheel, awesome bezel, awesome lume application, awesome everything. It's almost boring in how it's just so... Perfect. Funny, that.