Breitling is a tough one for me. I have for long appreciated the engineering that goes into their watches and the overall quality all that results in – I have, however, just never fallen in that deep, relentless love with any of their designs thus far. That may be over now, as I saw the blue rubber strap Breitling Colt Chronograph Automatic hands-on, and at last I could say: this may be it.
The devil is in the details, and the situation is no different this time around either. Pieces like those from the SuperAvenger or the Bentley collab’ collections always overwhelmed me (not in the most positive way) with their designs and, from the beginning, steered me away from being able to appreciate them on a finer level. The luminous scale replica Breitling Colt may share a very similar case design as the Avenger, yet the former, with its 44mm case and, to my eyes much more fortunate proportions, somehow allowed me to approach it as a watch, and not as a flashy saucer that happens to tell the time. Sorry.
The replcia Breitling Colt is nevertheless unmistakably Breitling, don’t get me wrong – and that is an extremely important element to it. The chunky bezel, even chunkier case, masculine proportions, and busy dial fail to drop a single link from the Breitling DNA. I just feel it’s Breitling toned down to a level where it is easier to appreciate – as opposed to when it is turned up to 11.
Inside the blue dial Breitling Colt Chronograph Automatic is the caliber B13, which is a COSC certified version of the ETA 7750. Twelve-hour chronograph, date, and running seconds is the ever-green feature set it offers, and that added guarantee of accuracy (somewhere between -4/+6 seconds per day) is a most welcome addition. It’s nice to have brains to go with the beauty.
Speaking of beauty, let’s see where that is stemming from. The size is nothing to write home about; at 44mm wide, it will be considered rather big by most – unless you have larger wrists, of course. And indeed, the Breitling Colt wears big, and yet it feels comfortable on this blue rubber strap, that offers subdued, non-branded looks paired with decent wearing comfort. I will say that the strap may nonetheless be the weakest link for the steel case fake Breitling Colt Chronograph Automatic, as its raised rectangular area and the overall color both feel a bit off, upon closer inspection.
The better news is that the Breitling Colt Chronograph can be purchased on a number of other straps – and with a 22mm lug-to-lug width, there’s an infinite number of aftermarket alternatives. The strap options from fantastic fake Breitling include leather straps in five different colors, a steel bracelet, or three different rubber straps. More importantly, it can come with a black or blue dial with white sub-dials, or a panda dial with black sub-dials on white. Blue is very much “in,” and I personally could only be tempted by the panda option.