Bulova Breton LE Review

I picked up this bulova Breton around a year ago for my birthday. It was my first automatic watch so it means a lot to me. I'll start with the specs:

Case: 32x44mm

Strap: lizard grain genuine leather with bulova embossed butterfly clasp

Dial: Enamel white dial with gray filled arabic numerals

Case material: Gold PVD stainless steel

Movement: Sellita SW-200

General Opinions:

It's well sized and fitted for most wrists. The strap is somewhat shitty and I'd like to replace it soon. The case scratches easily but it still looks pretty new.

The Brand & Purchase

The Bulova Breton series is one of the three commemorative lines for watches designed off of classic designs from the 1930's. The lines are, Banker, Breton and the Commodore. I picked this up for $820 instead of the retail of $1,095 at Feldmar watch Company. 

More Opinions:

The Sellita SW-200 movement in this watch is below par for what I would expect. The power reserve constantly under performs, at best I can get 36 hours at full wind. The accuracy is about +/- 45 seconds per day. The hack is very on and off, sometimes it works other it doesn't. This taken into account I'm hesitant to say the movement is wonderful. The crown action is alright, the winding feels somewhat sticky and is hard to operate. The setting is good, there is enough play. The date set is also ok. It's hard to operate but I can live with it. The dial detail is STUNNING, the painted numerals and the train track minute counter, the hands are beautiful in their construction and I like how simple the branding and info is.

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Bulova Breton LE Review

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  • Case Size
  • Case shape
  • Dial Detail
  • Movement accuracy and PR
  • Strap
Reply
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Lovely watch.  Both the hacking issue and time keeping are worthy of attention.  An unregulated, straight out of the factory SW-200 is +/- 20 (with worse than +/-10 being, I think, rare)?  If it’s still under guarantee, get them to fix it.  Otherwise, this is a very serviceable movement (for a price). 

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Yeah, no new watch should be that bad at keeping time. I’d have it looked at, I’m sure it can do better. 

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It's a lovely watch and a good fit for your wrist, but I advise to send it to a service center to get the movement sorted out before the warranty expire.

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Catskinner

It's a lovely watch and a good fit for your wrist, but I advise to send it to a service center to get the movement sorted out before the warranty expire.

Warranty has expired I believe. I'm going to check again to see if it is.