Hands-on – Swiss Perfect Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph 42 “Norton” Edition Fake Watches UK – A Treat For Vintage Bike Enthusiasts

Breitling announced its partnership with British motorcycle maker Norton in 2018 and the fruit of this collaboration is a double whammy treat for bikers and watch lovers alike. Released in tandem during Baselworld 2019, Breitling unveiled its AAA UK replica Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph 42 Norton Edition watches while Norton revved up the 961cc engine of its Norton Commando 961 Café Racer MKII Breitling Limited Edition Motorcycle. We were lucky enough to have some hands-on time with the watch seriously hoping this might lead to a seats-on session with the bike!

Background

Since he took over best Breitling fake watches in 2017, Georges Kern has been keen on stretching the confines of the brand beyond the traditional aviation associations. He also realised the potential of dipping into archive material (the controversial Navitimer 8 based on the long-extinct Bretiling Huit Department of Aviation Instruments), reinterpreting classics (Navitimer 1 – without a chronograph!) and tapping into the current rage for retro with faithful re-editions of classics (Navitimer Ref. 806 1959). The Premier Collection of 2018 draws on the ‘everday elegance’ of the 1940s Swiss made Breitling Premier replica watches in contemporary codes with watches designed for landlubbers.

The Norton Connection

Cars, planes and motorbikes are perfect partners for sporty chronograph watches, and co-branding can work miracles for a watch brand – if you choose the right partner, of course. Without falling head over heels into branding overkill, cheap copy Breitling’s new chronograph watches manages to evoke Norton’s Commando 961 Café Racer motorbike with its vintage charisma and handsome black, silver and golden colour scheme. With no mention of Norton on the dial, the British motorcycle maker is acknowledged on an engraved plate on the left side of the case and on the caseback with the Norton logo and motorcycle printed on the sapphire crystal.

Balanced proportions

The 42mm case size (height 13.65mm) is a perfect size for this style of watch. It is a sports watch after all but steers clear of the XXL territory that luxury replica Breitling watches was renowned for. The steel case with its screwed-in caseback offers a more than respectable water-resistance of 100m.  For a chronograph it is restrained (no protruding pushers) and comfortable to wear thanks to the smooth, integrated chronograph buttons and short, curved, tapered lugs.

However, the real personality of the watch can be appreciated on the dial, which pays homage to the Norton partnership with its smart black, silver and golden colour scheme. Basically a reversed panda-style dial with a black background and two silver snailed counters (30-minutes at 3 o’clock, small seconds at 9 o’clock), the design is legible with just the right dose of vintage. One of the most salient differences between this Norton chronograph and other members of the Swiss movements fake Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph watches family is the use of Arabic numerals instead of indices. The large golden numerals are applied and hollowed out in the centre – a great design touch that imbues the watch with its distinctive personality and visually lightens the load.

The two horizontally aligned sub-dials create an overall impression of harmony and balance that is further enhanced with design details like the truncated markers at 3 and 9 o’clock to accommodate the sub-dials and the date window that appears above a truncated index at 6 o’clock and features the same background colour as the dial (yeah!). If you look closely, you’ll see how even the rectangular hour markers at 3, 6, 9 and 12 are hollowed out like the Arabic numerals. The hour and minute hands are treated with a strip of lume while the central seconds chrono hand has a red tip. A customary tachymetre scale completes the scenery with the same colour scheme as the sub-dials.

Breitling Calibre 01

Breitling has equipped its high quality replica Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph watches with its manufacture Calibre 01, the same movement it shares with Tudor. Operating at 28,800vph, this ¼ second column-wheel chronograph with vertical clutch offers a very satisfying power reserve of 70 hours and is COSC-certified. Although the Norton bike and logo somewhat obstruct the view of the movement, you can get a peek of the bidirectional rotor and other elements of the automatic calibre.

The Ultimate Accessory

If you can shell out an addition EUR 20,000, you too will be able to complement your handsome chronograph with 1 of the 77 limited-edition Norton Commando 961 Café Racer MKII Breitling Motorcycles. Recalling the classic appearance and style of the great old café racers with state-of-the-art components and engineering, this black two-wheeler has a 961cc engine and good looks to turn any head. Acknowledging the partnership, the Norton bike has a vintage Breitling ‘B’ engraved on the clutch box, bespoke Breitling-designed speedometer and tachometer, and a ‘B’ stitched into the saddle.

Thoughts

This is my favourite model from the line-up of China super clone Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph watches. It is a breeze to read and has heaps of character and style. The design details are thoughtful and well executed and the colour scheme so evocative, that even without the motorbike I would be very happy to wear this on my wrist. The Breitling replica watches wholesale we had at MONOCHROME came with the slightly distressed brown leather strap with white stitching. I know that it is available on a steel bracelet, but it kind of loses its vintage vibe on steel.

Price

Unlike the motorbike, the top fake Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph Norton watches is not a limited edition and retails for EUR 7,800 on the leather strap with folding clasp, EUR 7,500 on leather strap with pin buckle and EUR 8,100 on the steel bracelet.

How UK AAA Fake Breitling Watches’ Georges Kern Is Shaping The Conversation Around Horology

Georges Kern, CEO of Breitling replica watches for sale, does not always have an emollient approach to detractors. Frankly, he doesn’t need to. There’s a pugilist somewhere just below that calm exterior, but you never get the sense of him being a rebel without a cause. He isn’t afraid to fracture status quo, but then again he’s got every reason to. “You cannot argue success. At the end of the day, you can have great theoretical knowledge about the markets and solid beliefs and strategies. But ultimately, you need to be successful,” Kern recently told Business Traveller Middle East when quizzed whether his management approach to being the boss of a 138-year-old watchmaking company could come across as unsettling to the brand’s traditionalists.

Five years ago, Kern began the process of pushing 1:1 UK Breitling fake watches towards a more evenly distributed focus on its sea- and aviation-inspired watches. “Today, when you look at our segments with the air and sea and the logos we’ve used, we are more faithful to Breitling than we’ve ever been. Why? Because we addressed the story and history of Breitling. We are covering what Breitling was in its totality much more than what it was in the last 20-25 years. Earlier, the high quality replica Breitling Navitimer Pilot’s watches was a pillar of the brand, and it remains so. But we returned to what the brand was 70-100 years ago to include products like the Premier, SuperOcean Heritage and Chronomat which we relaunched successfully,” says Kern.

One way of building a strong narrative around the Grenchen-based watchmaker is simply by shining a spotlight on its illustrious history. Take for example the fact that the Breitling Cosmonaute was the first Swiss wristwatch in space in 1962. As Kern explains, Scott Carpenter – only the fourth American in space – was training in Australia when he saw the Australian Air Force pilots wearing best Breitling Navitimer copy watches and he knew it was what Project Mercury needed. Carpenter wrote to Willy Breitling explaining that timekeeping was his specific responsibility for Project Mercury. He needed a reconfigured Navitimer to retain the circular slide rule for calculations. Carpenter wanted a watch with a 24-hour indication and also one that would read like an instrument in his capsule. Breitling developed that timepiece which went on to become the first Swiss wristwatch in space.

This year, Breitling decided to revisit that story and issue the perfect replica Breitling Navitimer B02 Chronograph 41 Cosmonaute Limited Edition watches that features the B02 movement. “There are watches that are icons and which are commercially successful, and then there are watches which are icons but which were commercial failures. The Navitimer was always successful and the Navitimer’s existence as part of our collection was never threatened since it was always a commercial success. It is today, with the Chronomat, the most commercially important line we have,” says Kern.

In June, Breitling followed that up with new Swiss made fake Breitling SuperOcean collection watches. It is an extensive offering – four sizes (36, 42, 44 and 46mm), three case metals (steel, bronze, steel-gold), two strap options (rubber and metal bracelet), and six dial colours (white, orange, turquoise, black, blue and green). Add to that a robust Caliber 17 movement. “We had in the Sixties a diving watch called the Slow Motion which was very much an instrument for diving with big hands and big indexes. So, we took the Slow Motion and added modern features to it, but kept the same broad design elements including a ceramic bezel and the square blocks on the hands,” explains Kern about the new collection. The standout piece of the new collection is the 42mm Kelly Slater edition limited to 1,000 pieces with an orange dial and olive-green rubber strap.

The path to growth

Last year, CVC Capital partners sold a minority stake of Breitling to another private equity firm – Partners Group. Breitling has maintained its independence and isn’t part of any watchmaking conglomerate. As Kern says, cheap Breitling super clone watches will have roughly 250 boutiques by the end of the year and is opening nearly two boutiques a week this year.

The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) said in a recent report that exports of Swiss timepieces in the first six months of 2022 grew nearly 12 per cent year-on-year, with a total export value of CHF11.9 billion. One of the world’s biggest markets for luxury, China, accounted for CHF1.105 billion of that amount – a contraction of over 26 per cent. While China remains key for luxury players, Kern says that top Breitling replica watches is expanding in that Asian country but isn’t overly reliant on it, and hence relatively insulated from what is happening there at the moment. “China still represents a small portion of our business. We’re growing strongly, but we don’t have our fair market share in China yet if I compare it to the US, Europe or the Middle East because we just started to build our presence there four-five years ago. We are opening 25 boutiques in China this year. We will have roughly 60 boutiques in China, but we should be able to quadruple that number. You don’t have an established distribution network of retailers in China like you might have in Dubai with Seddiqi, for example,” notes Kern.

A market that he is bullish about remains the Middle East. “As a region, it’s smaller than Europe, but it’s growing and is a substantial market. For us, the key markets are Europe, the US and the Middle East. We have joint ventures in Saudi Arabia where we have opened a huge boutique in Riyadh earlier this year and are opening more boutiques in the kingdom too.”

Over the last few years, Breitling has been active in the auction market, snapping up some of its historical timepieces. For example, in 2019, Gregory Breitling acquired a Cosmonaute which was once owned by astronaut John Glenn. Kern adds, “[Acquiring watches at auction] is something we need to do ourselves in the future because we want to build a museum and work on our history. We have a clear focus to buy special Breitling fake watches wholesale that were once part of our collection, build a museum and publish books around our brand. Gregory Breitling is very supportive of this initiative, as is Fred Mandelbaum who is probably the biggest Breitling collector in the world. Sooner or later, these [historical] watches will be available in the museum that can be viewed by our customers.”

As Breitling forges ahead, sustainability in the watchmaker’s operation – be it reducing its carbon emissions or the use of plastic – is a subject that Kern is personally involved with. However, the one aspect of sustainability that he is perhaps most actively engaged with at the moment revolves around the sourcing of materials. “We want to ensure that the consumer has total transparency on where and how we source our gold, diamonds, steel or rubber. This is why we’ve introduced the blockchain, not only for authenticity and traceability, but also for the consumer to understand where the materials are sourced from.” Kern’s taking the long road when it comes to future-proofing replica Breitling watches shop site, but then again that’s the only way to ensure that no one argues its success.