babola

No freakin' way! Full stop! Your best bet would be the 'diamondcastle' on ebay once (and if) he ever gets them from the Breit service centres he's dealing with. But be warned, most of his dials come with imperfections, some easily noticeable by the naked eye some not. Stop wasting your time, have a beer and forget about it. ;-)

The hand is crooked, it's two-part construction, tube and hand that's pressed onto the tube and tube top that's press-rounded on top of the hand. While the tube appears Ok, the hand itself seems to have detached from the top of the tube and twisted. For someone like The Zigmeister this could be a simple fix but for most of the others without appropriate skills and tools, it would present a challenge. I still stick to my original suggestion...first Hont for the hand, then watchmaker for install ;-)

I wouldn't do anything with the watch if I were you, meaning I wouldn't send it back yet. This is of course under assumption you have an access to a local watchmaker. Contact Hont and ask him to send you a replacement chrono hand. He has a good plug in with both the makers of V1/V3 and V2 Skyland Avengers and getting a spare like this would be a doddle for him. Then get it installed localy by a watchmaker. I'd only resort to sending it back for such a simple fix if I couldn't do it myself or find a watchmaker in my area that would do this. Good luck!

They've been probably spending some time with Panerai designers of late...

Guru has posted on RWI (under Breitling section) few more pics of the new SA he snapped while at Basel show. For me, the latest dial hasn't been thought thru very well from design point of view. The numerals style and shape are taken from SABS, and then even more enlarged so they're almost touching at some dial areas (7&8, 10&11). IMO for the large numerals to work on current SA dial real estate the chapter ring should have been made with lesser bevel, i.e. more perpendicular to the dial. That would have allowed for numerals to be pushed more towards the bezel, or dial edge and the whiole look would retain the balance current SA stick and numeral models have. While a good fit on existing models, the oversized Breit logo doesn't work on this dial at all, it looks rediculous. ...sorry...

Dave, not sure what to think about the new dial, the numerals are almost touching each other, the wings seem the same size as before but appear larger since they're now squashed in-between the DW window, bottom of the top subdial and number 2. Let's wait for more detailed dial scans. One thing's for sure, the new dial will be a child's play to reproduce by current SA rep maker (Hublot maker). cheers and thanks for the heads up!

Spoke to my Breit AD few months ago re batton-dialed SAs...he said the overall World-wide sales of new SAs dropped 60% since the batton dial intro, and most of the people opted for the old-style numeral black dial/silver-subdials SA model. I'm sure the whole economic downturn would have had a great part in it, but still. The "new" updated SA model direction kinda supports his statements.

Yes, it's a Swiss ETA6497-1 based E-series mov't allright, but unfortunately the bridges deco seems to have taken a step back...rough as guts. And the bevel on winding gears is just rediculous, sorry.

You need to pop it off with the bezel opener or pocket knife blade. The trick is to replace it back so it's even and doesn't leave gaps between the bezel and the case. What ever you decide, don't take it to a garden variety type watchmaker down the road to replace the bezel, as most of them will use innapropriate bezel replacement tool since majority don't have appropriate dyes large enough for Fiddy bezel/xtal assembly. If you're not handy around watches etc, I'd leave it to one of the modders here.

Don't fall for that one...

Very nice, love it!

I don't believe so. All the pics of the gen graphite BCE I've seen, and the one my AD has on display at the moment have the rings around the middle and at the edge of a main dial.

Mate, those were the things I personaly disliked about the latest release of BCE, but those are also things that don't bother 99% of rep brotherhood, and the watch was actually nice, no issues at all...standard V3 rep. So rest assured, you didn't buy a lemon from me Had I not urgently needed the funds back then, I would have probably kept it That, plus the fact I like the black dial with silver subdials model better. Hope the watch is still going strong!

It was simply a misinterpretation of a rep by Pamfried. The watch is nothing to write home about, it's just a new version of an existing model. Who makes it and where I don't know and don't care, but hate when someone calls something 1:1 with the gen and himself knows well that couldn't be further from the truth. Well, he's dug himself a a big hole now, and instead of attracting potential customers he's achieved quite the opposite. Someone floated asking price for this rep being $450...rediculous...anyone here can buy a watch that sells in vicinity of $250 from MBW, but it takes guts and stupidity to ask 80% for re-sale.

Briefly owned a graphite dial BCE V3 with updated DW, sold it few weeks after I got it. I don't want to sound negative and put you off it, because all in all it's a nice rep, but for my picky nature it was just a little too much off. The concentric 'graphite' circles on main dial were sporadic and broken, mainly dotted instead of continuous, you could see that quite well under an angle in either daylight or incadescent light. Lume was pretty badly applied on stick markers, it was green when non-charged (C5) and should be white (C1). The xtal sits quite high up over the inner (fixed) bezel line, and the rider tabs almost scratch it as you move the bezel. I was unable to squeeze a hair (literaly my head hair) in between the 15 and 45 rider tabs and the xtal, and that was a pretty much bad sign from a get go, for me. I heard later that mine wasn't an exception and the other V2/V3 BCEs had this issue as well. I'd just add shallow bezel numbers engraving on rider tabs, and sometimes non-centered numerals. If you're thinking of buying a new, make sure tghe dealer of your choice sends you the picture of it, so you can check for this. All in all good rep, but could be tad better, not in the class of SFSO or Skyland Avengers yet, IMO. babola

Let's not jump into conclusions yet, Andrew calls both V2 and V3 Blacksteel models "PVD", although we know the V2 isn't PVD. So before someone acquires one and confirms the actual finish with the dealer/factory etc, let's keep the hope up ...oh, and the cheaper "V3" model Skylands have many things going for them, not only the dial print.

Definitely Jimmy's CG...Angus' 111E is wrong shape. Gen 44mm Luminors never came with flat-top CGs.

you got me there...2009 model it is...

Weird, all that great detailed comparo and the important fact that one is S/S and another Ti was omitted ...and hands on AS aren't plastic, they're painted metal, and has a triangle lume marker @12 o'clock. @Siesta...I originaly thought you were inquiring about diffs between the Avenger Skyland and original Avenger Seawolf Chrono that came with B13 automatic movement, not the SuperQuartz model of late. The rep of the latter doesn't exist yet.

Yeah, the V3 $180 Skylands are now gone (unless D4M organises another crazy group buy deal any time soon)...they start about $210 these days. So if the more expensive V2 that sells for about $270 now, costs $420 in 'blacksteel' version, the cheaper $210 V3 would be just about right at the $350+ range, but let's wait and see

One of a kind, excellent result!

Nice one, they even fixed the font on caseback txt engraving...finally

Agree, my guess is around $350-380 mark.

Yup, you're right, it has all the tells of a V1&V3 S/S skyland from a non-Hublot maker...better defined crown, wider lugs, wider numbers and hash marks on bezel, longer chrono pushers, lighter red colored hands, exposed metal on stem posts on three small register hands, B13 mov't engraving on the mov't rotor, slightly worse lume dot on bezel 12 o'clock rider tab....etc I'd say you're pretty much on the money with your guess...let's just hope the price will also follow lines of a more affordable V1/V3 S/S version.

Freakishly close, my friend! ...sureal to say the least!