Copy that

This isn't the Breitling Top Time Deus Ex Machina (although it looks like one)

indeed, nor is this

although that is my Yamaha SR500 in the background

and this isn't the back of a Breitling Deus

The Breitling however looks like this

The Breitling Top Time Deus above is a rare watch now and while it was originally listed for something like $4,500 it soon sold out and we who like it now have to pay upwards of $18,000 to have one.

To me this is absurd and beyond the actual reasonable cost of the watch.

When makers do this I think immediately of Rolex, exclusivity (meaning excluding me or you) and King Wang. To me this leads to people having watches which they don't actually wear in daily life, leave in a box and just pull out to go to events. These people are quite often insufferable and fuss about "mind the watch" ... This is the exact antithesis of what is portrayed in the Breitling advertising.

Really, that surfer chick is going to wear her leather strap into the ocean ...

However watches shouldn't just be virtue or wealth signalling for the well heeled wanker, some of us are pure enthusiasts. Heck even Swatch recognises this with their Moon Swatch range. Watches are made to wear; and if you're afraid to wear it then, frankly, you're a wanker. Watches are not investment instruments.

So, like they say in the military when they understand what's been said: "Copy that" this is a copy, indeed this copy I previously blogged about has arrived.

I'm the sort of person who doesn't mind a Chinese Homage (because copy is apparently such a dirty word) as I've previously written about here and here. In particular I wrote the following in that piece about my Pagani:

People react strongly about watches which are copies (to be blunt) or homages (to be pretending its something else). Setting aside the fully hand made watch by a craftsman in his workshop, pretty much all modern watches are "reproductions". When seen from the view that; they are designed in CAD, then a machine produces the parts from a file (and in some cases does a lot of the assembly too). From this perspective  a maker (say) Rolex just reproduces watches from a design.

I'm looking at my PD-1701 and seeing that others have (by measurement) done a reproduction of this but at a price which can be purchased by anyone who loves the look and design. The real thing that differentiates it is the logo and copyright.

While the PD-1701 is not finished to the microscopic examination of the case and the mechaquartz movement is not a hand made highly complex mechanical one. Most owners of the Omega would probably not know that you had swapped out their mechanical movement until they went to wind it, for they don't actually see the movement in daily life with the watch. Few if any owners would have taken the case back off in the 1960's to see.

Thus these Homages or reproductions are really just enriching our lives (those of us who aren't uber wealthy or willing to make sacrifices to get the originals) with being able to enjoy the essential parts of the watch - how it looks and how it functions - at a much more affordable price. I suspect this desire to be 'exclusive' (meaning exclude you from my club) is what's really hurt in people when they find out "its a copy"

As you can see above, I tried the Cadisen "homage" (that first link) but had to send the watch back due to a manufacturing defect. The experience led me to try the Sugess but when it arrived it was as lackluster as I'd expected. 

Obviously the Breitling is superior in every way (visual presentation and mechanical execution) neither of the Homages stacked up. Most of all what I like about the Breitling is the generous amount of paint applied to the hands and the almost metallic sheen of the white dial. Contrast and colour. Its beautiful. Indeed if you look again up at the copy watch its similar.

However soon AliExpress discovered my penchant and as I wrote back on the 14th of Sept a copy of the Breitling Deus (not even pretending to be a homage) was presented to me as "we think you'd like this". Not being a Quartz Snob (how could I be, after so many decades with Seiko Quartz watches) how could I resist? So I didn't.

So what did I think of the copy? 

It looks exactly like it should, but in the AliExpress auction they omitted to describe the watch properly. For instance, the sub dials. The one which should be the elapsed minute counter of the chrono is apparently simply a stupid hour counter (which seems not to be linked in any way to the actual hour hand), and the other is functional. 

However amusingly the subdial coloured yellow, which should be the running seconds hand is actually the Chronograph elapsed minutes counter. The pusher buttons function nicely and the reset operation of the chrono is a lovely smooth electronic watch operation.

Well I'll put in this video round up

Some points:

• the supplied strap was vinyl (and crap if thick) 
• lug width is 22mm and I had a nice burgundy red leather one lying around, so I put that on it pretty fast
• the watch is light, which means despite how big it is, its not as fatiguing to wear all day (which I did today)
• the box it comes in is humble, but given the $50 price surprisingly good
• the watch is clearly not machined from steel (didn't claim to be either), but is metal. Probably cast brass and then plated 

I mentioned light, so here it is compared to my Seiko SRPE 

Would I have bought it knowing all this?

You bet your arse I would. The watch face, hands and the splash of colour on the tachymeter is streets better than the Sugess and the Cadisen and the watch is a much closer nod to the original Breitling. Anyone who buys the Sugess or Cadisen and doesn't think they are buying what amounts to a copy is bonkers.

I'm laughing all the way with this watch, not least because its foibles make it funnier than I'd expected. I bet my copy gets more wrist time than most genuine Top Time Deus watches do.

I'm loving it.

BTW, for those misguided or just as yet uneducated:

Deus means God and is not pronounced like the word Deuce (as I hear some Americans saying). Also Machina is said more like the movie Ex Machina (which I recommend if you want to hear Americans who can say Latin words correctly)

Win Win