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Clash of the Titans - On the Spotlight: Avenger Skyland

takashi

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4/4/06
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First and foremost, pardon me for the bad and dirty pictures. Gone are the days that I can get enough sunlight to take more decent pictures.

I arranged a group buy from hontwatch for our local Singaporean members and the particular watch model which stars this shipment is Breitling Avenger Skyland in Stainless Steel Bracelet. All 3 watches comes with grey dial.

Just to give you an overview of what the member said:
Caracarnj said, "Instantly fell in love with this watch! My Chopard MM GTXL Chrono is gonna be sitting in the watch box for a long time".
Coolfire said, "For the price, you can't go wrong with this watch".
I said, "Can't resist the temptation, ordered this watch and I am seriously quite impressed."

Unarguably, at less than 250USD shipped (factoring in all the fees), this is one of the replica watches worth buying. It is powered by Asian 7750 Hi Beat rate, has solid construction, extensive attention to details and is very close to the genuine article.

It looks massive on the wrist and generates lots of presence. This particular model comes with mostly polished stainless steel which gives a true signature of what a Breitling shine should look like. Couple that pretty decent AR on the crystal, this watch screams "Definitely a gen!".

As a side note, overly polished parts tend to be a fingerprint magnet especially the bracelet. Furthermore, I should say that this is a heavy watch. To give a better balance on my small wrist, I love to have this watch on strap (I have ordered a gen calf strap for this model).

The grey dial looks amazing. It has similar tone to BCE graphite dial colour, has a pretty detailed subdials. However, it falls short in terms of "sharpness" on the raised numerals. The gen has a very tight tolerance and simply the rep dial is one of the weak point of this watch. Nevertheless, the lume dots look pretty decent on this model and give pretty good luminosity too.

I am glad to see very good datefont on recent Breitling reps. This however, still has the wrong black colour. Gen Breitling uses slightly greyish print (think of it like the dial colour!). So repmakers... Please fix this if you can. No matter which dial colour, the datewheel is grey gunmetal colour (much like the dial), not black.

The only part which I am very disappointed on this watch is the hand set. It's really ridiculous to see that this watch is fitted with very thin hands. As a comparison, have a look at the hands installed on the Avenger Ti. It's of a much better quality.

To say the least, this watch will stay in my collection and it represents another excellent Breitling replica watches that one should buy. I am definitely looking forward to having a Skyland Blacksteel rep on my wrist.

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Importr

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You shouldn't be so modest, those are good pics Taka! :)
Good write up too, I knew you wouldn't be able to hold out from buying one! lol

On a side note, I was comparing (with a loupe) my rep Chrono Avenger vs gen Chrono Avenger; on the gen dial, the numerals look like they are applied, not stamped as on the rep. I wonder if this is the case with the Skyland?
 

takashi

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That precisely is the point... I don't think it's applied though, it's also stamped but with much better precision. If you have a look at the rep, the area near the numerals looks "rounder" than the gen article. On the gen, it's sharp and more refined. Nonetheless, the dial print looks very good too.
 

caracarnj

Getting To Know The Place
26/7/08
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Nice review and great photos again, Taka.

Thanks again for organising the group buy. Look forward to the next company watch!

AP@12
 

lan61t

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if you consider your photos bad, what would you say about mine, hehehe.

great review and wonderful photos, i'm not really into breit, but now i'm interested :)
 

Jurgenk

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Thanks Takashi,

I have to agree 100% with what you said about the dial numerals-- Numerals are applied and have crisp relief on the gen dial, and the rep they are stamped, too high in relief, and with deformation of the surrounding dial area. If they could fix this the rep would be almost completely indistinguishable from the gen, but it would certainly raise the price. I suspect the high price of some reps is due to dial detail. The chopard gtxl chrono for example has complex appliques on the dial surface and that adds to the complexity but also makes the rep very convincing.

also agree about the bracelet, seems to be a magnet for fingerprints and scratches with its polished surface.

the watch case itself is finished beautifully.

a leather or rubber strap would look awesome on this.
 

sconehead

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Thanks Taka, I'll see if I can make a decent image from it. A scale, high res scan would be nice as well though... :)
 

takashi

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i have a bigger one... no chance to scan it again ( you have to wait till I relume another piece).

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guru

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Nice pics Taka, what happened to the sunny sun in Sing? Are you having smoke :mrgreen:

I totally agree on the hands, they are too thin. If you take them off for reluming, you do not get them back on.
I had a problem with my seconed hand from the stop watch, it was not centered and when my watchsmith took it off,
he was not able to put it back on. I have new hands on order from PT. In the meantime my watchmaker replaced it with a
white Sinn hand :) so that I can use the watch.

The case and the metal strap are very nice in quality, the dial needs improvement

Cannot wait to put a 22 mm ocean racer strap on it, I guess it should come out soon.

Have a black Heritage with Ocean Racer on order
 

takashi

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haha. It just happens that my room is in the shade. Ah good idea to replace it with Sinn hands.

Yes, it will look good on rubber strap too. I can't wait for the black Skyland v2. I think I may get it too.
 

guru

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takashi said:
haha. It just happens that my room is in the shade. Ah good idea to replace it with Sinn hands.

Yes, it will look good on rubber strap too. I can't wait for the black Skyland v2. I think I may get it too.

I have asked PT to take a look at it, he is visiting the factory in China and will return on the 29th.
I told him to get me one PVD, if the quality is ok. He told me that the v2 is expected to be out this week.
Let us see, I told him what to look for.

I already have a buyer for my Sinn Skylaender, will post a pic when I am home tonight.