Breitling has released an all-black model of last year’s vintage-themed Chronoliner. Now the pilot’s chronograph is available in the darker color, how does it compare against the silvered piece?
As modern as Breitling watches are, they also have a firm grasp on their own vintage appeal. I for one am grateful for that, since their vintage revisited watches are among my brand favorites. Breitling knows that even though their watches are eminently practical (particularly if you’re a pilot) there is also room within that spectrum for a touch of stylish preference. And for those of us who love the retro look, Breitling puts out some excellent timepieces that appeal to our love of days gone by.
When Breitling released the Chronoliner last year, it was, frankly, a great example of this kind of thing. The Chronoliner was a panda-dial chronograph with a triple time-zone feature, unusual plunger pushbuttons, and a ceramic rotating bezel. The Chronoliner was inspired by watches from the 1950s and 1960s, but that black ceramic bezel was a nice modern touch. Ceramic is a great choice for watchmakers, particularly when used on elements that get a lot of contact wear and tear. A rotating bezel, by its very usefulness, is going to get a lot more erosion than the rest of the watch case. But ceramic can take that heavy usage in stride. The Chronoliner marked Breitling’s first use of a ceramic bezel, and I personally was happy to see it.
The choice of plunger pushbuttons is a purely stylistic choice: they do exactly the same things that regular pushbuttons do. They neither add to or detract from the functionality of the watch. And I bring them up here precisely because they help serve as an illustration for why I love watches like the Chronoliner. The watch is functional because it needs to be; but it’s beautiful because they chose to make it so. When making a machine that does a job, you don’t need to make it lovely; you do it because it makes the machine that much more enjoyable.
The triple time-zone feature is accomplished by having a 24- hour time-zone scale on the rotating bezel, and another one printed directly on the dial. This makes for a lot of numbers, but it allows a user to track three different time zones at once. Again, this is the kind of touch that a pilot would find useful, and pilots are Bretling’s avowed target market. Of course, a frequent traveller could also make good use of such a system. And let’s face it – busy dials are sort of a Breitling trademark anyway.
As modern as Breitling watches are, they also have a firm grasp on their own vintage appeal
And now we have the Chronoliner in black. How does it feel? Well, for one thing, it’s not just a color change. The carbon-based treatment of the steel makes it black, but also adds a minor enhancement to the material’s resistance to wear. So the black is not only beautiful, it’s slightly tougher. The panda-dial look (white subdials on a black watch face) is gone, but the new black subdials are a slightly different tone from the dial, so that readability is not compromised. (I can hear the design pitch now. “It’s black, but it’s a different KIND of black.”)
Another difference is the strap – a minor change, to be sure, but worth noting. Where the Chronoliner released last year had a steel mesh bracelet, the blacksteel model has a rubber strap that is designed to look like a steel mesh bracelet. I have recently become somewhat less enamored of rubber straps (see my column Passing Time this month) and I greet this development with less enthusiasm than I might have previously.
But really, all taken in all, it is the same watch, and so we can judge it largely on its looks. And I find to my surprise that I look upon it as quite a different watch. I am a big fan of black-on-black watches, and am always drawn to them. And I like the Chronoliner Blacksteel, too. But I find that it has a very modern appearance to me. The appeal of the original Chronoliner was the vintage look, and I loved that. The new black model is a great-looking piece, but to me that retro feel seems diminished. The black makes the new wristwatch feel and look very contemporary. So this is a rare instance of a case where I would say that unless you’re willing to buy two of the same watch (and if you can, more power to you) you should decide what you’re more interested in. If you like the vintage look, last year’s Chronoliner, with its metal mesh bracelet, would be the way to go. If it’s the black-on-black that you find irresistible, than obviously the Chronoliner Blacksteel will have you in its grip. Though neither one is a bad call, I’d say this is a watch where you have to decide which quality you like most. The good news is that either way you’re going to have a fine wristwatch with a great look and vintage touches.
