A Biennium with the Breitling Transocean Chronograph 38mm
In my earlier years of buying timepieces, I found myself acquiring many watches without carefully considering how it would fit in my life. I think many of us oftentimes can find ourselves in the trap of “collecting,” but the Transocean reminded me of why it was important to vehemently wear your timepieces. More importantly, this particular Breitling reference taught me about the important characteristics to look for in any watch.
If you’ve stumbled upon this article, chances are you’ve already watched the unboxing videos, you’ve read the reviews, and perhaps already know all the technical aspects of the watch. Today I really just want to focus on my experience of owning this watch, and what I personally love and hate about the Transocean Chronograph 38.
First Impressions
If you have ever been into Macro watch photography, you’ll understand that rarely does the camera ever capture the full complexity and depth of a dial design. The camera just simply cannot capture the essence and subtleties of the dial as light bounces off all its markers, hands, and dial surfaces. The Breitling Transocean Chronograph’s dial out of the box was one of the most stunning dials I have ever seen in person. The hour markers glimmered in the light of day effortlessly, and the hands were polished to perfection. The dial itself is a matte satin midnight shade of black that a camera simply cannot translate onto a digital canvas.
The case however, was a stupidly thick, and the lug to lug was disproportionately long.
From the moment I unboxed the watch, I decided I wanted put it through its paces in every aspect, I decided that door jambs would have their way with my watch. I decided that water would have the opportunity penetrate the case every day. I decided that it was going to be tough love on the polished curves and lugs. After two years, I have not regretted my decision in anyway.
Resilient Expression of Art
One understated feature of the Transocean Chronograph 38mm is the reliable 2892-A2 movement which has been COSC certified. The watch consistently operated within +5 seconds daily. It has been one of the most reliable mechanical movements I’ve owned. We can debate what a good price point is for reliability and accuracy when it comes to timekeeping in a luxury watch, but in reality that is a much more complicated topic. I do personally feel that the price of the watch on the grey market is a bargain for what it offers.
If you’ve ever had a watch fog up on you, you would carry that worry forth with every vintage or older watch you own or wear. Straying away from a vintage piece as my daily beater, I was able to place a lot of trust on the reliability of the seals within the Transocean. Rated at 100meters for water resistance I never had any concerns about submerging the watch. Now I never swam with it or showered with it because it was on a leather strap, but frequently ran it underneath my faucet to clean the watch. Maybe in 10 years when the gaskets are a little more brittle might I become concerned about water leaking into the case of the watch.
The sapphire crystal of the Transocean is extremely resilient. I have found that over the last two years, there have been no scratches left on it after banging the watch on the door jambs of several different Cessnas, dropping my watch sapphire first off a few coffee tables, and many other apathetic incidents. The sapphire itself however has dulled ever so slightly from all the abuse, but still has all the charm from day 1 of ownership.
If you’ve ever owned a watch where the spring bar placement was too close to the case you’ll understand the pain of marks that are left on the leather strap when it scraps against the case. If you’ve ever tried pairing a thicker strap onto any watch where there is inadequate spacing between the spring bar and the case, you’ll understand how quickly the straps ends can be marred or ruined.
My initial impressions of the lug design was that it was over extended from the watch case, but over the years, all my straps have been spared, and undamaged with everyday use. The clearance between the variety of straps that I owned and the case were always more than sufficient. It has become a characteristic I truly adored.
A Divergent Execution Inspired by the Ref. 6328
The Transocean Chronograph 38 will never reach the fame or pricepoint of the Rolex ref. 6328, but comparing the two you can see very similar design elements in the dial. Where the Breitling differs is the decision to include a date window. To this day, I am still in love with the bottom center date window. Breitling’s execution of this date window was tastefully done, and the black date wheel perfectly complemented the design. It isn’t a jarring out-of-place white date wheel forcefully set next to the 3 o’clock marker. We all carry phones, and other devices that tell us the date when we need it, but I find myself missing my date function whenever I wear time-only wristwatches.
I wore this chronograph to work every day whenever I did wear a watch. Living in Raincouver, it was 9 months of grey and rain, and 3 months of antidepressant free sun. The watch was oftentimes rained on, and sometimes drenched. It was robust enough for everyday life. The Transocean was understated enough to be appropriate in all settings. It was formal enough to wear to work being a black dialed watch, and it didn’t scream for attention. When people think of Breitling, they are more familiar with the iconic reverse-panda dial design of the Navitimer. You don’t think of a black bicompax design when you think Breitling. The watch has a versatility to it that allows it to be playful enough for it be worn with jeans and a t-shirt, but also simultaneously pulls your look together. The power that a black dial watch partnered with a black leather strap exemplifies is similar to that of a good pair of shoes.
For the time being, I intend to keep this watch indefinitely as a staple to my collection. I will keep those of you guys who are interested in how it ages in the trials of life.
