Breguet Tradition

[krispee]

Hi all. Showing off my latest watch, the Breguet Tradition.

It has been upgraded with a new strap, designed and built by my own hand. Have been learning to build straps and this is my very first one. Dark blue Ostrich over Lambswool leather, with another layer of Lambswool in between. A three-ply strap with only the small amount of stitching you can see. The Ostrich wasn't the best quality and am still learning my techniques, but pleased enough with it on the whole. Will be building another one soon.
Love this watch, close to the original and very good quality.

Thanks for looking.
Kris.

 

[packerjames95]

How is the power reserve indicator working?

 

[dadog13]

How is the power reserve indicator working?

Yes, fully working PR function

 

[krispee]

Yes, as dadog13 said, fully working PR. It's a very nice looking watch, very pleased with it.

 

[MonsieurMax]

Any chance that we can get a nice wrist shot

 

[krispee]

Any chance that we can get a nice wrist shot

I'll see what I can do, may be a while though.

 

[AriChoresh]

beautiful!
planning on getting the fantasy rep 1423, i think it from the same maker

 

[gclass]

Nice job Krispee,
I had a go on making my own strap. Somehow you end up liking the watch more because you are part of the final look!
Anyway, take a look at JPM, the Italian guy who designs vintage straps for hodinkee and others for inspiration:
https://www.instagram.com/jpmenicucci/?hl=en

 

[d3xophen]

krispee
Can you post more photos bro?
On wrist too.
Want to see real life photo. and want to know the blue and gold and red color to compare gen color.
Are the spot on?

 

[krispee]

Nice job Krispee,
I had a go on making my own strap. Somehow you end up liking the watch more because you are part of the final look!
Anyway, take a look at JPM, the Italian guy who designs vintage straps for hodinkee and others for inspiration:
https://www.instagram.com/jpmenicucci/?hl=en

Yes, some very nice designs there, and he does some stitch-less ones as well. Some good ideas, cheers.

krispee
Can you post more photos bro?
On wrist too.
Want to see real life photo. and want to know the blue and gold and red color to compare gen color.
Are the spot on?

I promise I'll get to it soon, very busy at the moment. Most of everything on this watch is close to the original, from what I've seen anyway.

 

[lorenzodoune]

hello from a returning member and great fan of breguet. i have the black one and will try to post a wrist shot from my side too. i've a 17cm wrist, so not big and the watch is perfect.
something to say about: the whole build for me is very good, quite close to gen.
power reserve: the bad news indeed, it last for me only 26-30 hours max. so, i need to load it once a day. it would be interesting to hear if this is confirmed also from who owns too the watch.
btw, i can give to this breguet a good point, i could say 8/10.

 

[Relo2016]

First, I would lime to apologize for the long post.

I also have the black face version. Everything looks good except the power reserve function. When I got it the first time, I wound it up full to test accuracy. After a day, it lost 2 minutes. Then I tried winding it up full again to test the power reserve. It only lasted about 21 hours and the watch died exhausting the spring tension. The worst part of it was that the power reserve indicator stopped with about 1/3 left before zero. After 2 weeks of use, the watch stops at about 18h after a full wind and the power reserve indicator stopping about half way.

I believe the issue is with the spring and the preload setting right from the movement factory. The spring does not have enough energy to power the mechanism of the watch to the duration similar to Gen. The material of the spring or its heat treatment is not sufficient to maintain original tension which is why the power duration starts to decay further.

The design of the spring is not compatible with the requirements of the movement itself exhibited by the short duration compared to the Gen. Gen has a power reserve of 48H I believe.

The preload is also incorrect to allow for decrease in spring tension. Essentially the watch should stop at the zero of the power reserve indicator with enough preload to allow the mechanism to provide accurate time and zero the indicator repeatedly, not only for the first use.

Sounds like this one has a tail-light warranty.

 

[jm_brc_7057]

First, I would lime to apologize for the long post.

I also have the black face version. Everything looks good except the power reserve function. When I got it the first time, I wound it up full to test accuracy. After a day, it lost 2 minutes. Then I tried winding it up full again to test the power reserve. It only lasted about 21 hours and the watch died exhausting the spring tension. The worst part of it was that the power reserve indicator stopped with about 1/3 left before zero. After 2 weeks of use, the watch stops at about 18h after a full wind and the power reserve indicator stopping about half way.

I believe the issue is with the spring and the preload setting right from the movement factory. The spring does not have enough energy to power the mechanism of the watch to the duration similar to Gen. The material of the spring or its heat treatment is not sufficient to maintain original tension which is why the power duration starts to decay further.

The design of the spring is not compatible with the requirements of the movement itself exhibited by the short duration compared to the Gen. Gen has a power reserve of 48H I believe.

The preload is also incorrect to allow for decrease in spring tension. Essentially the watch should stop at the zero of the power reserve indicator with enough preload to allow the mechanism to provide accurate time and zero the indicator repeatedly, not only for the first use.

Sounds like this one has a tail-light warranty.

Hello.

Everyone. My first comment in here. Its a nice forum with a lot of good comments and much knowledge.

I have a silver one and used it for about a month. And it's the exact same problems with the power function:

1. The power reserve indicator stops little further than half-way.
2. And also the power reserve has deteriorated, from being 1,5 day in the beginning it now has to be wound twice a day as it only keeps power for about 18 hours or something. I think you are totally right, that the spring is of bad quality.

Other than that its a great watch. In my humble opinion it's a good replica, with some obvious tells though:

1. the angle of the balance wheel on the left side is different from the gen.
2. on the back side, the bridge on the left, has a rectangular side in the rep, while its pointy on the gen.

Other than that its visually almost perfect.

Regarding straps, many people are asking about that on the forum:

IMO the strap that comes with the rep is like plastic and you will immediately think it's a rep. I've changed it to a Hirsch London Matte Medium Blue 22mm/18mm with silver buckle. Now it looks so much more expensive and the quality of the rep and beauty of it stands out.
It cost me 245 euro with delivery. Bought it from watchstyle.com. I tried a Hirsch London strap in 20mm/16mm, which didn't fit. The perfect one would be a 21mm/16mm. Which was difficult to find in 115mm/75mm lengths, as a 120mm/80mm would be too big for me. I couldn't order a camille fournet, as they didn't have it, and i didn't want to wait for weeks.

I took the watch to a watchmaker for strapchange, he didn't realize the watch was a replica. He complimented the watch!

It's a great buy.

 

[krispee]

Hmm, interesting problem you guys are having. I'll try and observe the power reserve myself but it's harder for me because I only wear the watch periodically. The other problem is that the strap I made isn't exactly right so am in the process of building another, a process that has taken way too long as other projects have intervened, ending in me forgetting. Hopefully will get to that this week and will also test the PR, although the fade that you are guys are experiencing will be harder for me due to my infrequent wear. Perhaps it depends on where the watch was purchased?

The straps on reps are always universally awful. Best to get new but I do draw the line at buying a strap too expensive. I have made my own and intend to do that going forward, you get what you want and it's not as expensive and more fun.

It's always nice to hear reps getting a compliment from a watchmaker.

 

[jm_brc_7057]

Hopefully will get to that this week and will also test the PR, although the fade that you are guys are experiencing will be harder for me due to my infrequent wear. Perhaps it depends on where the watch was purchased?

Probably true, as its not everyone reporting this issue. Mine is stopping halfways and has to be wound twice a day. If deteriorates much more it will be useless. Hence i am going to rotate more so i don't wear it alot.

 

[krispee]

Probably true, as its not everyone reporting this issue. Mine is stopping halfways and has to be wound twice a day. If deteriorates much more it will be useless. Hence i am going to rotate more so i don't wear it alot.

Well that sucks really, sorry to hear that. I guess you take the chance on reps, never can tell. I have a Breitling Navitimer that I bought so many years ago now, without a single issue or problem. A great watch that hasn't even seen a watchmaker.

 

[jm_brc_7057]

Well that sucks really, sorry to hear that. I guess you take the chance on reps, never can tell. I have a Breitling Navitimer that I bought so many years ago now, without a single issue or problem. A great watch that hasn't even seen a watchmaker.

True that. My Breguet was bought in Turkey. I don't know if that has something to do with it. As it can be some other manufacturer or something. Although it's looking the same as the V2 rep on TDs.
But i guess that's the risk we take.

I don't know if it's possible to change the spring or spring barrel.

 

[krispee]

True that. My Breguet was bought in Turkey. I don't know if that has something to do with it. As it can be some other manufacturer or something. Although it's looking the same as the V2 rep on TDs.
But i guess that's the risk we take.

I don't know if it's possible to change the spring or spring barrel.

Depends on where you bought it from. If you got it from a respectable Rep dealer (mine was from Mary) they would repair it for you. It would take a while but I've had a couple of watches repaired before that way no problem. I even got a couple of extra lug screws for the Breguet from Mary. If you got it from Turkey then I'm not sure.

 

[KilowattHour]

I have this watch (v1, RG, dark dial) ever since it was released, and can confirm that the PR indicator is a bit wonky. However, in my experience at least, the watch has *huge* power reserve. 65+ hours is what I measured, which confirms what they advertised. I simply ignore what the PR indicator is showing, and keep winding it for about 60 turns. It lets you wind it even though PR hand has long reached the maximum, and there's clearly some over-wind protection in place, as you can keep winding it infinitely.

After I wind it that much, the watch runs almost three full days, even though the power reserve shows that it's empty after only about 30 hours. So I think this is a problem with the power reserve indicator gearing being mismatched to what spring can actually deliver, rather than the power reserve being low. Another thing I noticed, is that power reserve indicator sometimes gets stuck half-way, but the watch always keeps running for 60+ hours regardless. In my experience, if I wear the watch, the PR indicator never gets stuck - it always reaches the end (after about 30 hours) but if I keep the watch in the box, face up, the PR indicator often gets stuck half way to empty. It seems like moving the watch around helps the PR indicator get unstuck. Other than this oddity, the watch is surprisingly well made, and I thought it was also fairly inexpensive, considering how unique it is.

In terms of looks, my only complaint is that the gold plating seems a touch too copper-y, and not enough gold-y in terms of hue. I've no idea what the gen looks like in terms of gold hue, so maybe my complaint is totally off base, but I've noticed that all the reps made in the past year or so seem to have switched to this new hue, which IMO looks less appealing than the RG hue they had before. Before, they had this rich gold hue to it, and now it's more copper-like. I've even seen the two identical ALS tourby replicas side by side, one bought in 2016, one in 2018 - the new one has this 'new' RG hue, identical to my Tradition, and it looks somehow cheaper than the older one. This annoys me enough that I've considered asking someone to re-plate the Tradition, to make it look as good as it can be. But I've no idea who to ask, or if it even can be done. If anyone here has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it.

 

[Doud]

Another thing I noticed, is that power reserve indicator sometimes gets stuck half-way, but the watch always keeps running for 60+ hours regardless. In my experience, if I wear the watch, the PR indicator never gets stuck - it always reaches the end (after about 30 hours) but if I keep the watch in the box, face up, the PR indicator often gets stuck half way to empty. It seems like moving the watch around helps the PR indicator get unstuck.

I've even seen the two identical ALS tourby replicas side by side, one bought in 2016, one in 2018 - the new one has this 'new' RG hue, identical to my Tradition, and it looks somehow cheaper than the older one. This annoys me enough that I've considered asking someone to re-plate the Tradition, to make it look as good as it can be. But I've no idea who to ask, or if it even can be done. If anyone here has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it.

Funny you mention this, I used to own a gen Breguet with power reserve (an older model, not a tradition) and it behaved exactly like this, off the wrist the power reserve would sometimes get stuck midway. The watch was automatic though, not manual.

As for the copper color I have noticed with a lot of rose gold reps that they have this strong copper tone at first then with age it kind of fades away and the gold turns a bit more yellowish and more gen like, maybe this is what you noticed with the two ALS.