Breitling

I8A4RE

Does havivg David Beckham as a brand ambassador cheapen the brand and make you think twice about buying one. Me, personally, yes because he seems to be too much of a tabloidish celebrity & too showbiz, cheap to me.. Having John Travollta as a brand ambassador made some sense with his links to aviation.

If in wrong thread please move accordingly.

Doc Daneeka

Countdown is on for number of posts before someone points out how Breitling have hijacked the aviation thing... (see what I did there :-D)

Homer

believe it or not Ronan Keating is a brand ambassador for IWC but that didn't stop me getting my Portuguese?!

Wibbs

3... 2... 1... Breitling have hijacked the aviation thing! No but they really did...

Homer wrote:

believe it or not Ronan Keating is a brand ambassador for IWC but that didn't stop me getting my Portuguese?!

True and the Big Pilot he is often seen wearing was an homage to the navigators watch commissioned by the Nazis back in the 40's which they naturally avoid mentioning like the very plague. Ronan and Adolf. Not such a great mix for brand advertising in fairness.

Eoin

First off, I do like a good few of their models, and a Navitimer would be high on my list if I could afford it. But they've always struck me as a bit of a "bling" brand, so the likes of Beckham wouldn't put me off.

Wibbs wrote:

True and the Big Pilot he is often seen wearing was an homage to the navigators watch commissioned by the Nazis back in the 40's

Would that not have been commissioned by the Luftwaffe?

Wibbs

Eoin wrote: »

Would that not have been commissioned by the Luftwaffe?

Well at the time they were pretty much one and the same thing E. I mean the ME109 and the Stuka were also commissioned by the Luftwaffe so... Some reckon(IMH totally erroneously) that Goering had a hand in designing the previous standard pilots watch. Wouldn't put me off mind you. I've had an original B-uhr that the big pilots was based on(though it really was a BIG pilots, 50mm across, hence I sold it on. DOH! Investment wasted, though I did get a car out of the sale so...). Plus I have and regularly wear(am now as it happens) a 1930's Zenith pilots watch that was worn by a pilot in that air force. The Ronan association might be more of a worry. Ah no, I'm not comparing him to the nazis.:pac:

Bullseye1

Well in fairness Hugo Boss designed the nazis suits too but it wouldn't put me off wearing a nice HB shirt.

Do you have some pictures of those early navigator watches W?

Eoin

Wibbs wrote: »

Well at the time they were pretty much one and the same thing E.

I wouldn't really agree, but that's a topic for a different thread and a different forum!

But for the purposes of this thread, is it any different to a watch brand that were used by the Wehrmacht etc? I wouldn't have thought there'd be any real negative connotations.

Deep Thought

I feel that Breitling are a bit bling...

However, recently saw the Heritage 46mm in white and its stunning..

Would Beckham put me off?? probably...but thats because I am not fond of Beckham rather than Breitling..

However..please note, if someone wants to give me a Breitling, I would not care if the Teletubbies were ambassadors...I would take it in a jiffy

DT

Wibbs

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Well in fairness Hugo Boss designed the nazis suits too but it wouldn't put me off wearing a nice HB shirt.

Or driving a BMW or Audi etc. Yea it's just a bit in the past at this stage alright.

Do you have some pictures of those early navigator watches W?

The pre war ones came from various manufacturers and were popular throughout mainland Europe with various air forces and as private purchases. The UK and American pilots watch style was generally much smaller in size. They were of a very similar pattern;

Large case around 40mm, usually(except among the cheaper marques) containing a large pocketwatch movement for accuracy. One piece ribbon lugs, turning bezel with pointer and large onion crown so they could be wound wearing gloves. The general idea was that they would be worn outside flight suits.
This is Zeniths one with the sub second(that belonged to Louis Bleriot IIRC) which inspired one of their new watches(I prefer the old though)

Here's my centre second version from 1935 in the middle.

The sub second was by far the more common, but I've even seen them with no seconds and even one ladies/boys size.
Here's Adolf Galland, a famous German fighter pilot and commander of WW2(his book is a great read BTW) wearing an example;

Looks like one of the Omega ones to me. They would have looked odd at the time as fashion was for much smaller watches for men. I have to say though they look bulky they wear much smaller than they look.

Then they required dedicated navigators watches so set up the B-Uhr standard and sourced them from four(IIRC) makers. Here's the IWC one. The original "big pilots" watch;

Though a better description would be the "effin huge pilots watch" as you can see here with one in use by a chap in a Heinkel bomber by the looks of it;

60MM across. Gorgeous watches though and very accurate.

In general the German fighter pilots wore chronometers, bought as private purchases such as this Tutima;

Eoin wrote: »

I wouldn't really agree, but that's a topic for a different thread and a different forum!

But for the purposes of this thread, is it any different to a watch brand that were used by the Wehrmacht etc? I wouldn't have thought there'd be any real negative connotations.

No I agree 100%. It would have no issues for me at all. Dodgy regimes just mean more scumbags and gangsters get to the top, but the same ratio of sound people exist. I would have issues with buying such watches from the former soviet sphere of influence though. Most if not all were stolen from their previous owners at the point of a gun or worse. Many Russian soldiers were walking around with arms festooned in watches acquired in this way. That's just me mind you.

fishguy

Wibbs,

You sure that Tutima is a chronomerter. Or you wanted to say chronograph. From my experiance with WW2 watches, pilots worn chronographs, and mostly private purchases, like Zeniths, Landerons, Venuses, Angelus pieces. They were only 30-38mm in case diameters usually compared to the watches worn by navigators 40-50mm.

But about the original topic.

As Breitling say: We make watches for professionals, so why Beckham??? Not a pilot, not a diver just a celebrity...

I had two Breitlings in the past but I flipped both of them. They were way to blingy for a toolwatch they pretended to be.

g.

Wibbs

fishguy wrote: »

Wibbs,

You sure that Tutima is a chronomerter. Or you wanted to say chronograph.

Yea rookie mistake

It so depends on the nationality too. You see British pilots wearing tank style watches. The American stuff tends to be small, even tiny like the Longines Weems. The hour angle is a decent size however. The Europeans seem to go for much bigger watches for pilots and more chronos like you mentioned. Certainly judging from the print ads of the time and reports of individual air forces or squadron procurements.

Deep Thought

Hi

Whats the name of the Adolf Galland book ?

DT

Wibbs

The First and the Last (The Rise and Fall of the German Fighter Forces 1938-1945) by Adolf Galland

ThebitterLemon

fishguy wrote: »

Wibbs,

You sure that Tutima is a chronomerter. Or you wanted to say chronograph. From my experiance with WW2 watches, pilots worn chronographs, and mostly private purchases, like Zeniths, Landerons, Venuses, Angelus pieces. They were only 30-38mm in case diameters usually compared to the watches worn by navigators 40-50mm.

But about the original topic.

As Breitling say: We make watches for professionals, so why Beckham??? Not a pilot, not a diver just a celebrity...

I had two Breitlings in the past but I flipped both of them. They were way to blingy for a toolwatch they pretended to be.

g.

"not a diver....."?

I thought all soccer players were "divers" at some point!!!

smurfjed

I wouldn't have purchased one because Beckham advertised it, nor would it put me off getting one. I got one because i liked the style and the wife allowed me to spend the money

smurfjed