Almost Positive I Have A Minute Machine Fake

[BriP]

Hey what do I know, I just know breitling has been doing it forever specializes in it and oakley just started. If oakley is using the exact same movement in the timebomb as breitling is in their watches I would be impressed. Nothing against oakley but somehow I doubt it.
I do feel that not all automatics are equal some are better than others in terms of losing time, operating temps, how often and how expensive service is, etc.
just like I would't buy a luminox deep dive or blackbird...and dude especially, especially..if they had rubber or plastic straps!
I'll grant you most breitlings are huge but some aren't and the oakley watches can be huge too mm cough.
All said I wouldn't buy an auto anyway because my dad has tons of auto watches and he is always having one or the other serviced and it's expensive. And of course if you leave them sitting for a few days they just stop. Will stick with quartz the only thing you really give up is the sweeping second hand which I will admit is awesome and almost worth all the fuss of an auto by itself.

If you have a timebomb congrats they look sick and it is the pinnacle of oakley watches

Just as an example -

the TB2 uses an ETA 2424-2 movement. The Breitling Superocean 42 uses the same (they tweak it in house, decorations etc and call it the Cal. 17).
The FMJ uses the ETA Valjoux 7750 movement. The Breitling Chronomat uses the same (same thing, decorated and called the Cal. 13).

In fact, both these movements are well-known, widely used "Workhorses" in the automatic watch industry. The only place you will see watch companies excel is when they design an in-house developed, unique movement. Like that one that runs the treadmill style display, or the hydraulic one, or that one that looks like a fighter jet engine - And thats no longer the realm of these "standard" luxury watches, thats talking $100,000 range... on the low end! because they design a movement AND casing specifically for only one model of watch, usually made in really limited runs.

on a sidenote, you may want to consider a kinetic - probably the most practical solution to not needing regular battery replacement, having a self winder, and goes for months without charging

 

[nicosauve1]

I realize we are off topic on this thread so I'm gonna stop here and just pm BriP sorry ya'll!

 

[CarGuy]

What is he always getting serviced?

We circling back around to the Durexes?

I love Oakley to death but I don't think they are ready to do an automatic watch.

Ready? Started doing it 16 years ago with the TB1.

And of course if you leave them sitting for a few days they just stop.

I just replaced the cap in my TB1 ($20) and if I wear it one day every 2 weeks it stays charged. Pretty sure that the chemical composition of the new caps are lithium ion so that helps storage a bit.

 

[nicosauve1]

I yield do you're expertise. But I still think 16 years is nothing compared to however long breitling and others have been doing it. You gotta start somewhere though right? Kudos to Oakley for venturing into the field with flare.

 

[CarGuy]

You gotta start somewhere though right?

Yup and no beef !!!

 

[Rustpot]

Breitling is 100 years older than Oakley as a brand.

The Time Bomb was Oakley's first watch, and came out in 1998. It was an automatic, but as pointed out by CarGuy it used a capacitor instead of a wound mainspring. So a hybrid of sorts.

Considering Oakley wasn't really a mainstream brand up until the VERY late 80's I think 10 years into the swing of things wasn't too late to be getting into an automatic. But more importantly they're NOT A WATCH BRAND. They're not known for watches. They make style accessories, not watchophile (or whatever they're called) masterpieces.

 

[BriP]

Breitling is 100 years older than Oakley as a brand.

The Time Bomb was Oakley's first watch, and came out in 1998. It was an automatic, but as pointed out by CarGuy it used a capacitor instead of a wound mainspring. So a hybrid of sorts.

Considering Oakley wasn't really a mainstream brand up until the VERY late 80's I think 10 years into the swing of things wasn't too late to be getting into an automatic. But more importantly they're NOT A WATCH BRAND. They're not known for watches. They make style accessories, not watchophile (or whatever they're called) masterpieces.

yup, exactly! oakley is not going to make some horological masterpiece anytime soon, but the watches in question arent that level. these run of the mill "luxury watches" are a simple recipe - in-house styled casing, with a tried and proven movement picked from the wide selection offered by ETA, who provide movements to essentially every watch company out there with a "swiss movement". all this apparent "development" that people speak of is essentially outsourced to ETA, who have been doing it for ages and ages. and ALL watch companies do that. Rolex. Breitling. you name it.


when we start talking about 'masterpieces', youre looking at the high end, bespoke stuff. Million Dollar Watches: 7 Of The Most Expensive Watches Over $1 Million | WATCHTIME.COM
The 10 Most Expensive Watches You Can Buy Right Now | Business Insider
Custom cases, and custom Movements that were made FOR that case. Hublot. Constantin. Patek. that is still their realm. Oakley is not going to go near that.

 

[kronin323]

About 8 years ago I was really into watches, collected close to 20 of them, Swiss and / or automatics, etc.

Around 5 years ago I was working on a project where I would have to visit Fossil HQ. Fossil, in my mind, is far from a premium brand, but they've been successful all over the world. I felt, politically, it would be in bad taste to show up at their corporate offices wearing a non-Fossil watch, especially a nicer-than-Fossil watch. So, out to the premium outlet mall... Still, I couldn't bring myself to buy a cool-but-cheap watch, Fossil or otherwise, so I dropped $200 on a sharp-looking Fossil skeletonized automatic.

Jump forward a year or two, well beyond my involvement on the project. I see a co-worker wearing the EXACT same Fossil skeleton automatic I have. I asked him about it. He, too, had been involved with the project later than I had; apparently every now and then Fossil does a little "sidewalk sale" for their employees, and some of our guys got to participate, which is where he bought this watch. How much did he pay for it?

$25. Nice. Motherf'er...

I've often said that when you pay big dollar for name brand fashion, most of the price is to pay for the brand, not always the quality. I use this argument to justify why to buy Oakley eyewear over another brand - sure, you're still paying for the brand, but you're also getting higher quality, proprietary materials. Too bad I wasn't remembering that when a dropped $200 on a $25 watch...

Anyway, though I still have that watch collection, these days I've narrowed down to a few for everyday use. My favorite is Citizen EcoDrive. Solar powered even by indoor light, there's no battery changing or winding. My main one is a titanium Skyhawk - I travel a lot for business and having all those different pre-programmed time zones is a big plus, and the titanium doesn't set off metal detectors and is very light; I had a former co-worker with the exact same watch in stainless and it was much heavier. I have two other EcoDrives, one very dressy that was never released in the West and another big splashy stainless that they used on promotional materials for a while (though I bought mine before the ads).

Some of these Oak watches are intriguing but so far I've stuck to X-Metals and Ecodrives... Function first, fashion second.

 

[Calgary Dreaming]

yup, exactly! oakley is not going to make some horological masterpiece anytime soon, but the watches in question arent that level. these run of the mill "luxury watches" are a simple recipe - in-house styled casing, with a tried and proven movement picked from the wide selection offered by ETA, who provide movements to essentially every watch company out there with a "swiss movement". all this apparent "development" that people speak of is essentially outsourced to ETA, who have been doing it for ages and ages. and ALL watch companies do that. Rolex. Breitling. you name it.

That's a simplified way of looking at it. It's true that Oakley may use the same base movement as some of the more reputable brands, but the difference can be huge. The ETA 2824-2 can be found in both fake watches as it can be found in Brietling, but the level of fit/finish in each is remarkably different. For instance, Breitling adds the glycodur balance and a Nivarox 1 hairspring amoung other upgrades. So the basic answer is not all movements are equal, even if they are of the same make and model.

As an aside, Rolex doesn't outsource from ETA. They're inhouse nowadays with the folding of Aegler into the brand (though they were considered inhouse before that by collectors too, since Aegler was essentially taken over by Rolex a long while back, even if not in paper terms). They are a very vertically integrated company.

 

[discostu]

Regarding the ebauche movements used and tuned by the big brand companies, all for many years using the same base movements from ETA, I hear these days are coming to an end very shortly. ETA owned by the swatch group have stated they will no longer supply their movements to the masses and will only be available within the swatch group (tissot etc). This looks like it has and will force the big boys (tag etc) to use their own in house movements. Tag now have their own which was developed a long while back - the 1818 as I remember and breitling now has the b1. The others will potentially need to follow suit. The widely used eta/valjoux 7750 has been used and modified by many companies and i have a few watches using this movement. It is as stated a workhorse, but allowed the masses to be able to own an automatic chronograph for a reasonable price.