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Review of the Replica Breitling Steelfish |
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Written by By-Tor
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Page 2 of 3 Oversized hands and good louminosity ensure easy readability even at night or underwater.
(This picture shows the luminosity of a 1998 superocean compared to a new DOXA on the right)
There is a new version upcoming, which mainly distinguishes by its second hand:
The side of the Breitling bezel is smooth but the raised rider tabs allow easy turning, even with gloves. It was interesting for me to see the tiny Breitling B on the outside of the bezel at around the 11-12 o'clock position. This has been one of the ways to distinguish a genuine Breitling from a fake until the appearance of the better Chronomat Evolution and Steelfish replicas.
(Steelfish replica)
The Superocean Steelfish has an interesting design in that it is retained by 8 tiny screws. Once undone, the bezel can be easily removed and the ratchet ring can be adjusted to tighten or loosen the movement of the bezel. Be careful if you want to do that with your replica – the screws are held by loc tite!
Its sapphire crystal is approximately 5mm thick and glareproofed from both sides, slightly cambered and tends to obscure the dial at certain angles, as can be seen from the picture below.
(Replica Breitling Steelfish SFSO)
Genuine Technical Data:
Caliber: Breitling 17 (Eta 2824-2)
Movement: Selfwinding mechanical
Powerreserve: min. 42h
Vibration: 28.800bph
Jewel: 25 jewels
Calendar: Dail aperture
Case: Steel
Water resistance: 2000m (6,600ft)
Bezel: Unidirectional, ratcheted
Crown: screw-locked, 2 gaskets
Caseback: Screwed in
Crystal: 5mm thick, cambered sapphire, glareproofed both sides
Diameter: 44mm
Thickness: 16,10mm
Weight: 122,50gr
Lugsize: 22/20mm
The Replica Steelfish
It is for sure one of the most impressive watches I have owned so far.
It is available in all three dialcolors:
(black)
(white)
(blue)
(All pictures by Angus/Puretime)
It is available with a “genuine” ETA 2824-2 or with an asian clone, both with 28.800bph. This causes the same smooth hand-sweeping as on the genuine.
I purchased mine from someone who had also superlumed it with genuine Tritec C3 Superluminova. This is the lume which is used on the genuine as well, at least as far as I know. As you can see it is the blue one.
(lumeshot)
The overall impression is very good; it feels solid and nicely finished. The lines of the case are highlighted by the contrast of polished and satin-brushed surfaces. The Crown is marked with a nice Breitling “B” and takes about 3 (!) turns to screw in. The thread could be a bit larger in my opinion so the crown would not be able to ruin it if screwed in improperly – but a fine thread increases the water-resistance. It looks just like the genuine in my opinion.
The lughorns are a bit more “spiky” than the genuine ones.
It is indeed a really thick and heavy watch, with a presence I could only compare to the "old" Seawolf replica or the Omega Planet Ocean Ultimate. Bytor wrote a fantastic comparison review of it next to the SFSO, you can read it soon.
The water-resistance of this watch is stated by our dealers as at least 100 bars (1000m) which I honestly thought to be something like a joke before I got mine. I still would not dive even 500m deep with it – but for some other reason.
The sapphire is really 5mm thick and when I tip on it with my fingernail it feels like tipping on bullet-proofed glass in a bank. The HEV at 9 o’ clock seems to be functional as it is also viewable from the inside of the case (the seller who did the lumejob told me so), so there’s a good chance for that. Some members stated it to be too large, but I really don’t think so.
(FYI: DOXA introduced the first helium release valve equipped diver watch “DOXA SUB300T Conquistador” in 1969 for the mainstream. Rolex followed in 1971 and introduced the Rolex Submariner Sea Dweller, which was only available to COMEX-divers from 1967, but that’s a different story.)
The replica bezel looks pretty good and has a nice solid “clicking” sound when turned (120 clicks one way round).
The indexes and numbers are milled in very nicely. Unfortunately, here are also some of the flaws to be found.
The most obvious is the pearl which is almost twice as big as the genuine sister. It is also kind of unclean or scratched on a lot of pictures of other members. I wonder why they never get the pearl right. It also does not align exactly with the 12 o’ clock mark.
Second pretty glaring flaw are the sewn in numbers on the riders on “15”, “30” and “45”.
On the genuine watch, numbers out fill almost the whole rider. On the replica however, they don’t.
Like the gen, the rider tabs on the bezel stick up and will protect the crystal somewhat. The one slight downside to the raised tabs on the Steelfish bezel is that it makes the crystal just a little more difficult to wipe clean. Something anyone with a coated crystal will find they have to do quite often. It is a well known phenomenon with coated crystals that they are a magnet for smears and films and need to be wiped more often than non coated versions.
(Fingerprints – anyone?)
Besides that, the anti reflective coating is truly stunning. It has a real royal bluish glare and from most angles it just seems like the thick crystal is gone. It makes one want to touch the dial – like a little child.
It is one of the features I enjoy the most about this watch.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 29 November 2007 )
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