I originally saw this watch on a couple dealer sites a few months ago and was intrigued. The very first attempt, a very poor showing by ANF incorporated an incorrect case with overall sloppy construction. A little bit later, GF released their Avenger II Seawolf, with a black DLC version having lumed arabic numbers. I tried to find out if this rep was true to a Gen Breitling reference, I could only find a couple news articles about this watch. From what I can tell, it appears to be a limited run of Breitlings for the Hong Kong and Macau Breitling Boutiques.
ex:
http://spiral.my-magazine.me/main/article/17769
http://menclub.hk/watchesandwine/9494
Photo of Gen:
As I have been quite happy with the quality of the GF Avenger II GMTs and fairly impressed with the accuracy of their other reps such as the Diagono, I decided to take the plunge and buy this rep. I sourced this rep from a wholeseller at a great price (<$225 + Shipping). They aren't a TD here, so I won't advertise their name.
Upon opening the package, I was greeted by the silky black DLC coating of this watch. This rep comes upon a decent replication of the Canvas strap on a black coated tang buckle. However, owners of the Blackbird and GMT have reported this strap is not exactly durable. As such, I had a spare Hadley Cordura Kevlar strap, which retains a reasonably close appearance to the OEM strap while being waterproof as well.
The caseback appears to be coated very similarly to the rest of the watch body. I didn't see any misspellings that jumped immediately out to me. I believe the serial XX of 50 is randomized, as I have seen TD photos with differing digits. The left symbol appears to be well copied. However, the right symbol looks a little thinner in my eyes. As I don't read chinese, I'm not sure what they say.
Moving to the crown, the Breitling "B" Looks to be well made. No sloppiness in the engraving. The coating is also applied evenly. When comparing to the Gen photo, it appears the ribs? in the crown are more rounded in Gen. This may be due to the differing focal length of the camera, so I am unsure of the accuracy to gen. The crown does have an O-ring installed and does engage very smoothly with the treads. No complaints there. While winding the crown by hand, the movement does appear to wind extremely smoothly, on par with my Swiss movements. My own timegrapher reports a +1s/d @ 316 amplitude. Impressive quality from GF.
Now for the star of the show, the dial. The printing is all very sharp and the breitling logo appears to be lifted straight from one of the GMT's. The logo is coated black, and has a tendency to disappear in photos. When on the wrist, it is quite easy to see as it refracts light and give a 3D effect to the dial. The dial also seems to have the same grainy coating as the Blackbird, further improving the 3D profile. A major error to the gen is the color of the seconds markers. On the Gen, these are yellow. Here, it's white. I personally think the white markers suit the watch better, and as there are only 50 Gens floating around, it's unlikely to ever be called out.
AR looks to be identical to the GMT. Pictures don't show it too well, but it has a purpleish tint. Does a pretty good job overall, but it's no Prof 2xAR. Gen reflection looks to be similar hue.
Here's a shot of the lume compared to a GF Avenger II GMT (Left) and a H-Factory V2 Seawolf (Right). As you can see, the numbers are all lumed. I think this is a fantastic feature. It's also pretty bright. Not mutant firefly like my G-Shock Gravity Defier, but reasonable for a chinese watch. I wish all of my arabic numbered avengers were lumed like this, I may have to find a modder to do so. I just looks so...right.
Comparison between my GMT and Seawolf. The contrasting yellow really does give some life to an otherwise drab watch. The DLC coating does match the GMT well, which I believe is quite close to Gen.
OG Seawolf vs HK Seawolf vs GMT.
It is a thick beast. Interestingly enough, the case is thinner than the OG Seawolf, but the caseback protrudes so far out, they are the exact same overall thickness. Lugs also spread further before curving down, like the GMT. Very comfortable on wrist.
Casebacks. All of these watches have o-rings on the crown and caseback. I've pressure tested them after greasing and they all max out my tester (6 ATM). Wouldn't hesitate to swim with any of them.
Questions/Comments, please post below.
ex:
http://spiral.my-magazine.me/main/article/17769
http://menclub.hk/watchesandwine/9494
Photo of Gen:
As I have been quite happy with the quality of the GF Avenger II GMTs and fairly impressed with the accuracy of their other reps such as the Diagono, I decided to take the plunge and buy this rep. I sourced this rep from a wholeseller at a great price (<$225 + Shipping). They aren't a TD here, so I won't advertise their name.
Upon opening the package, I was greeted by the silky black DLC coating of this watch. This rep comes upon a decent replication of the Canvas strap on a black coated tang buckle. However, owners of the Blackbird and GMT have reported this strap is not exactly durable. As such, I had a spare Hadley Cordura Kevlar strap, which retains a reasonably close appearance to the OEM strap while being waterproof as well.
The caseback appears to be coated very similarly to the rest of the watch body. I didn't see any misspellings that jumped immediately out to me. I believe the serial XX of 50 is randomized, as I have seen TD photos with differing digits. The left symbol appears to be well copied. However, the right symbol looks a little thinner in my eyes. As I don't read chinese, I'm not sure what they say.
Moving to the crown, the Breitling "B" Looks to be well made. No sloppiness in the engraving. The coating is also applied evenly. When comparing to the Gen photo, it appears the ribs? in the crown are more rounded in Gen. This may be due to the differing focal length of the camera, so I am unsure of the accuracy to gen. The crown does have an O-ring installed and does engage very smoothly with the treads. No complaints there. While winding the crown by hand, the movement does appear to wind extremely smoothly, on par with my Swiss movements. My own timegrapher reports a +1s/d @ 316 amplitude. Impressive quality from GF.
Now for the star of the show, the dial. The printing is all very sharp and the breitling logo appears to be lifted straight from one of the GMT's. The logo is coated black, and has a tendency to disappear in photos. When on the wrist, it is quite easy to see as it refracts light and give a 3D effect to the dial. The dial also seems to have the same grainy coating as the Blackbird, further improving the 3D profile. A major error to the gen is the color of the seconds markers. On the Gen, these are yellow. Here, it's white. I personally think the white markers suit the watch better, and as there are only 50 Gens floating around, it's unlikely to ever be called out.
AR looks to be identical to the GMT. Pictures don't show it too well, but it has a purpleish tint. Does a pretty good job overall, but it's no Prof 2xAR. Gen reflection looks to be similar hue.
Here's a shot of the lume compared to a GF Avenger II GMT (Left) and a H-Factory V2 Seawolf (Right). As you can see, the numbers are all lumed. I think this is a fantastic feature. It's also pretty bright. Not mutant firefly like my G-Shock Gravity Defier, but reasonable for a chinese watch. I wish all of my arabic numbered avengers were lumed like this, I may have to find a modder to do so. I just looks so...right.
Comparison between my GMT and Seawolf. The contrasting yellow really does give some life to an otherwise drab watch. The DLC coating does match the GMT well, which I believe is quite close to Gen.
OG Seawolf vs HK Seawolf vs GMT.
It is a thick beast. Interestingly enough, the case is thinner than the OG Seawolf, but the caseback protrudes so far out, they are the exact same overall thickness. Lugs also spread further before curving down, like the GMT. Very comfortable on wrist.
Casebacks. All of these watches have o-rings on the crown and caseback. I've pressure tested them after greasing and they all max out my tester (6 ATM). Wouldn't hesitate to swim with any of them.
Questions/Comments, please post below.
