Breitling Bentleys Watch Hands-On

Yup, this watch is called the "'s Watch." While that sounds a bit funny, let me explain. In 1953 Breitling gave a Alarm watch to President Harry Truman. Since then they have given watches to all the US Presidents (yea, I know the issues about gifting things to the president, but there is some way around it... sorta). In honor of this tradition Breitling created the 's Watch, which has a retro design hearkening back to the originals. The design is slick and actually feels very retro in your hand. Not in a "this watch is old" kinda watch, but more like "this watch has some charmingly retro design aspects to it." The bigger size (in context) gives the watch a sort of "larger than life" feel where traditional design elements are seemingly exaggerated. I almost want to call it a retro cartoon watch, but I don't think that will convey the feel the watch gives. It is a high-quality piece with a cool movement. In the late 1940s Breitling released their first Alarm watch movement. The mechanical caliber offered an alarm complication that was good. Good enough to wake you up. I have heard a lot of alarms complications in both quartz and mechanical watches. Most (not all) are crap. You can barely hear them, and many are a pain to use. Over the years Breitling has refined the caliber, and it is among the best mechanical alarms on the market. Just a few years ago they released an automatic version of the . Just such a movement is contained inside of all the Bentley's Watches. It is the Breitling Calibre V-21. The good looking movement is a larger caliber with two barrels. Once I believe is used for the alarm. Winding the crown one way winds the barrel for the time and winding it the other way winds the alarm barrel. The alarm is set with the crown and activated with the pusher above the crown. The dial has a dedicated alarm hand. The alarm is loud and sounds like a crazy mechanical toy going off. It lasts for a full 20 seconds which is longer than it sounds.