Interesting. hmmm.. Just after I got the 44, lol. The 44 does have a thinner appearance because it's stretched out a bit more but 42 does wear better on my 6.5 inch wrist. Just got back from Las Vegas and went to all the boutiques and also handled the gen superoceans. Came back to find these waiting for me yesterday.
Time for a really long review of the TF Breitling Superocean 44 "Georges Kern" style. I'm doing a long review because TF needs some more thorough reviews.
Ok, 1st I'll admit I didn't have that high of expectations for this watch as for the past several years only have gotten, with few exceptions, well known, mainstream reps from the best manufacturers (VSF, JF, GF, KOR, BP, ZF, Etc.) mainly from Breitling and Omega so don't have all that much confidence in the TF superocean especially after their Avenger Bandit/Chronomat and older superoceans with inaccuracies and bad qc and glaring differences to gens with sub par finishing. Someone did review his older blue and white dial TF superoceal fairly recently and it looked pretty decent. This was kind of the last watch I needed to get to move my attention away from watches to other things rather than occupy brain power waiting for a better version. This was close enough for me I thought. So what did I receive?
I'll start with the good and save the glaring "issue" for last.
Overall I was very very pleasantly surprised (yes two very's) and actually like the watches. They feel very solid.
I expected horrible crystal. Like GF Avenger badit and GF superoceans, the newer 2824 versions with milky, ineffective AR crystal that was always apparent with annoying single sided distorted blue tint glare. The crystals on those watches completely ruined them and I think 10.00 watches have better crystals.
The crystal is actually pretty darn good! No cheap blue tint hardly to annoy me and not a lot of glare. I just looked at my oris with single side AR and it's just as good and with this watch dial design I do not see a lot of reflections and the crystal does disappear in a lot of situations. It does look like the crystal that would belong on a luxury watch. I think I almost prefer it to the older GF crystals which were perhaps more effective at certain angles but would have an annoyingly light blue tint and you can still see a lot of reflections when it's at those angles that do reflect with that same blue tint not like the gens which is deep deep blue almost purple. I have a white dial avenger 43 gmt pictured somewhere here where you can see the light blue tint. I'm spending a lot of time on the crystal because it's one of my things that kind of makes a luxury watch seem like a luxury watch. Some watches can get away without AR. Rolex some look ok but I bet they would look better with AR. Anyway, very happy with the crystal though not like the gen in effectiveness or color but still pretty effective and does not hinder the wearing experience at all.
Moving on to the case finishing. I'd say it's pretty good. The gens I handled all had tape on the sides. If it's like the navitimer 8 i have from ZF or gen superocean pictures I think the gen should have a little more of a coarse brushing that seems to be trendy now (longines spirit seems to have the more coarse brushing, Omega seamasters, etc.). The case finishing is good overall and it feels like a quality watch but I don't think it is genlike but I can't be sure so take that with a grain of salt.
The bracelet is great. No complaints. Good finishing and the adjustable clasp works great. Screws were easy to remove yet also had thread locking compound. Slightly squeaky like a lot of reps.
The watches are 10 seconds and 16 seconds fast respectively for the blue and black dial after about 24 hours. The movements wind very smoothly. Bezel action is just ok. The larger crown does dig in to the back of my hand a little but I noticed that on the 42 and 44 gens I tried on in the Breitling boutiques so that's just the design of the new crown.
The white ring around the dial is not white but silverish just like the gens I handled. It really reflects a nice warm light back. I'm so glad it's not a stark, or true white chapter or flange ring or rehaut, whatever it's called. The "chapter ring" font, well some here have said it looks too bold compared to the gen. I can't remember what the gen looks like and I don't have a gen next to me so I can't tell and thus don't care. I tried reducing the font 10 percent visually and I don't see it making any difference in the "gen wearing experience of the rep"
The bezel font is grayish and not white. Again, a plus for me since I don't like true white numbers on black bezels as it's too black/white or jarring. Too much contrast so I'm glad it's grey more like a submariner color. Bezel action is ok. Not great. The black one is fine and has consistent clicks but the blue is a little inconsistent with click feel. The lume pip, while it may be different from gen looks good. Some pictures way zoomed in looked like it could be rough mine look fine.
As far as case shape accuracy it looks fine. I'm not the type of person that will be able to tell you if the crown guards are a little too long. Unless it's an integral design element or it would detract from the gen wearing experience by being wrong I wouldn't know the difference to be honest.
Now for the "issue" referenced above. So as known TF always seems to get something wrong. In this case it's the inner dial. I specifically asked two different people in this thread through PM if the dials were glossy like the gen or more matte or granular like the green dial gen and both people told me glossy. I don't know if English is their first language but both said yes it was glossy. I would have bought them anyway but both people need to look up the definition of the word glossy because the dials are NOT glossy like the gen blue and black dials. Unless I'm wrong, which very well could be, the dials on the gens I handled for black and blue (not the green) are glossy. Anyway, one would think this would alter what i would call the "gen wearing experience" but I actually like the dials on these. I think the gen would look good with this dial. If anyone owned the Avenger 43 GMT it is that kind of paint. Slightly granular with a nice warm reflection. It actually looks really good and you don't notice it in a lot of angles. It adds a different interest to the dial much like gloss adds it's own visual interest elements. I'm split and could go either way. Sure I'd like it to be like the gen for accuracy but I've had glossy dials and know what they look like and honestly I like it which is weird but I still feel I'm getting the wearing experience of the gen. Plus I already spent the money..... I think it's a difference and not necessarily a deficiency in this case (slightly deficient with the blue dial). The hallmarks of a luxury watch with fairly clear crystal are still met so that's why I say difference rather than deficiency. The blue dial is a little different. It's also not a gloss dial but it is a little dull without the vibrancy of the black dial. I like the blue dial more in gen because it's brighter, more casual and the glossyness adds to that. With that said I still think I might like the blue dial rep better just as a color preference for what the watch is---for me a casual watch but the blue dial is more dull and doesn't give you that "hit" of reflection when the light hits the dial directly like it does on the black dial rep.
I know the dial issue may be a deal breaker for many. Why none of the people that bought one earlier mention it is anyone's guess. Maybe they liked the style, aren't super closely following this watch and didn't know what the gen had. Or because they planned on selling it and didn't want to impact their price is another guess. Well I'm mentioning it.
In conclusion these watches wear great. Best wearing 44mm watch I've ever had. I think the lug to lug is only 51 or so going by memory. If better versions were to come out in 44 like GF or something I'm actually happy with these TF versions and would not buy the better versions so I'm hoping that tells you these are pretty good quality reps minus the dial thing which I could see being a big deal if you weren't completely sold on the superocean to begin with. I was and needed to have these. Even with the dial differences it's only noticeable in certain lighting and angles and for me it's just not worth it in 44mm to upgrade and I think someone that likes these new superoceans would also enjoy these reps and would still get a fairly accurate wearing experience of the gen. I will say if better versions came out in 42mm I will order those because I really want these in 42. Probably blue and orange if possible.
After such a long rambling here are some quick pictures I took in indoor flourescent office lighting .
