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SuperOcean Abyss 2010 review


importr

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In 2010, Breitling produced another revamped watch, as part of their often criticised New Wave campaign.

It was called the SuperOcean Abyss. A medium size diver watch intended to replace the entry-level medium sized SuperOcean.DSC_0159.jpgDSC_0168.jpg

It is often thought that the Abyss was the successor to the SuperOcean SteelFish X-Plus, but comparing the two smaller SuperOceans, you can

see where the bloodline comes from.

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The purpose of this review is not to establish whether it looks like a Breitling, but whether it is a good replica or not.

For a while, I had been pondering about buying the genuine (on a bracelet) for some time, but due to its mixed reactions I held off.

Not long after this 'Best Edition' replica was released in late May/early June 2011, I knew that I wanted one. In fact, I bought two!

I decided to go with Puretimewatch.com, as they seemed to have an extended period of newsletters, which I appreciated.

As it happens, the order was completely fuss free and easy. :) Thanks Puretime!

Now, I bought Abyss Silver and Abyss Black. Simply because I felt that watches with brightly coloured dials or bezels have very limited wear, rather like the Pumpkin PO/Sub LV.

In my gen & rep collections, I tended to just buy them for novelty.

Anyway, on with the review....

As with the sales video, when the watch was presented, I immediately felt that this was an item which was finished to a very high standard.

No rough edges, casting marks or grainy screwthreads. All of the hallmarks that genuine Swiss watches possess by right.

The weight of the watch feels good, as does the smooth but positive 120-click bezel. Extremely gen-like.

In the photo below, you can see that the manufacture period is now believeable!

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Every edge has either been chamfered or radiused and polished, the attention to detail is very impressive.

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HEV is nicely finished and unobtrusive.

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Crown features a correctly weighted 'B' logo, not too feint or heavy. Crown tube has external threads, time will tell if this strips easily or not.

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Caseback is polished to perfection. No sharp edges whatsoever. Feels very comfortable on the wrist.

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The bezel is inlaid with a hard rubber compound, and then brushed to create the circular grain. It is then fitted to the case.

Comparing it with the genuine, they are for all intents & purposes, identical. Pushing your fingernail into the rubber inlay will not dent it.

If you scratched it with a harder object, then I'm sure it will be marked. It has 6 tiny screws set into the side of the bezel.

The double AR coatings are excellent, true to Breitling: with the blue/purple hue.

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With the dial, I have tried over and over to find a fault with it, but I can't! Maybe soon someone will do a fancy overlay to prove that something is

1000th/inch off scale. The only tiny flaw that i could see was that the graduations on the rehaut are a hairs breadth lower than the gen, which of course is centralised.

This is not seen so easily on the black rehaut, but it does exist on all of the reps that I've seen so far.

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In direct light, the dial itself has a metallic sunburst effect on it, as per the gen. Thankfully, not a flat black paint, in the same way they repped the black Navitimers.

The applied indices are metallic but sandblasted matte. It looks like they are laser cut, not cast, as the edges are very clear and defined.

The wings logo is nice and sharp. Not lumpy and rough like on some reps.

Dial printing is sharp too, perhaps maybe not quite as bold as the gen, but i'll let you decide on that.

Staying with the dial, I'll report on the lume. On the rehaut and hands, it is very good for rep lume. It looks almost like a modded watch. What really lets it

down is that the lume applied to the cardinal markers is about half as bright! Seems like they were made in separate 'factories'. If there's a mod needed, then this is it!

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Now to the rubber strap. It is quite obvious that the Makers would have bought the genuine Abyss with rubber strap, possibly because the bracelet was not yet available.

The fitment, detail and flexibility of the strap is awesome, but what needs improving is the actual compound. It is not as dust repelling as it should be.

You may have noticed that in some of the pics above, there is still some dust on the strap. It isn't as dust repellent as the rep 22mm UPO strap or the rep Ocean Racer, which I think are as good as gen.

However, the buckle is a true work of art! The wings logo has been set into the buckle, but still offering a slight relief to it, as per the new generation of Breitling clasps and buckles.

Underneath, it has been loving brushed to perfection. All edges are soft and smooth. Top marks for this one!

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So, the burning question is - How does it wear?

Simple answer: Easy and very well!

In a nutshell, if you like the 42mm Planet Ocean or SMP, then this 42mm case will be ideal.

If you prefer 44mm and above, then this is not the watch for you.

My slim wrist is 6.75", I can and do wear PAMs & Skylands, but that is realistically where I stop.

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To summise....The lume on the cardinals is the only real letdown. For the rest of it, this is one impeccably made replica watch. Perhaps it was made by the SOH factory? The details are 99% there. The feel and satisfaction of having a very good replication is there. I don't get this Out-of-the-box-near-perfection feeling with many other reps.

If you like the styling, then I would highly recommend that you get one. :)

EDIT (19th June 2011)

I opened up the casebacks on both watches to check the movement. They are both fitted with the asian clone ETA 2824-2. Some nice detailing

going on in here too: perlage and cotes d'geneve. The signed rotor finishes it off.

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Referring back to the rubber strap and it's dust repellency (or lack of): after 36 hours of use, and with a light smear of residual silicon grease (was greasing the gaskets), it turns out that the rubber is not so bad after all! It doesn't attract the dust so much now. Maybe it just needed wearing in. Still not as good compound as the UPO strap, but better than I first believed. It also has a distinct coconut/vanilla aroma to it.

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Very nice, I am so close to putting money down for the black one, but now I've seen pictures of the different coloured bezel it really adds something to the watch.....now split between yellow and black :whistling:

Great pictures and the AR looks very true to the gen!

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Thanks for all of the comments so far :D They are appreciated.

I understand that while the design of the watch is loved or loathed by Breitling fans in the gen and rep fora, there is no doubt in my mind that the watch itself represents a positive step forward in repping techniques and quality from our rep makers.

The design is not one that we associate with this luxury swiss watch brand - normally we are used to seeing guilloche and batons, lots of highlights and reliefs - but the very understated (or underwhelming!) simple dial and bezel can be classed as functional (to be diplomatic).

The casual subtlety of it suits me for daily wear, and as I mentioned in another post, is fine for a daily beater. :)

Looking at the watch again, in bright sunlight, it is quite a featureless dial. The applied numerals and Wings, sunburst reflection, actually saves this from being a complete disaster. I do think that to people not normally swayed by Breitling busy-ness, that this is a quality timepiece well worth a try. It is often said that Breitling are breaking into new markets, and they may well have succeeded - objective complete.

Once again, the makers did a really good job on this one, things are indeed looking up in the world of repping.

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I went to the AD today to try on the gen. The yellow one is definitely the one I prefer. In the flesh, I found the black to be a bit plain. if it were a 45mm watch I think the black would be better suited. However, the black did look very classy, but a bit too similar to the 500m rep that I have.

I was also very surprised at how small it wears. Certainly wears much smaller than the Tag 500m. Suits my wrists nicely though so will cetainly be putting this in the shopping basket very soon.

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Terrific review. I like this non-traditional model. I find many of the traditional Bretiling Dials far too busy and in general far too flashy for me but this one is growing on me. Love the use of the rubber on the bezel insert thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

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