Ranking Iconic Chronograph Replica Watches For Sale From Rolex And Breitling — A Buyer’s Guide From An Owner’s Experience
For more detail, the watches in question are the AAA Swiss replica Breitling Chronomat B01 42 “Frecce Tricolori” limited edition watches from 2020, and the high quality Rolex Cosmograph Daytona fake watches from 2014. While the Daytona is not the latest reference, at least it’s also stainless steel with a matching bracelet. In my mind, these are some of the most iconic modern chronographs on the market today. For Breitling, you could argue the Navitimer is the bigger tent pole in its eclectic catalog. But the Chronomat has particular importance to signal its resurgence following the passing of Willy Breitling.
The categories are intentionally vague so as not to favor any particular watch or brand. For instance, you won’t find “the best watch that went to space” or “most satisfying bezel click.” To make it fair, I selected a set of measures that any 1:1 US replica watches buyer may use to seek out a new chronograph. These are:
Legibility
Wearability
Water resistance
Movement
Price
Bragging rights
So with the rules in place and the criteria set, let’s see which high quality copy watches comes out on top. And if you want, play along in the comments and determine your champion.
Legibility
Starting with the most obvious yet overlooked category for assessing a watch — its ability to display the time. How can it be that a watch’s primary function is relegated to the footnotes of a brand’s PR release? That’s an aside, but it should be first and foremost to me. I say that, but one of my Swiss made replica watches in this competition is renowned for being unreadable. The Daytona, especially with the white dial, has a reputation for time-telling as an afterthought. That’s a little unfair, and I’ve not found it to be impossible to locate the hour and minute hands at a glance. But I will admit, it takes a little longer than most Swiss movements fake watches. I think I put it down to the combination of polished steel elements with a clinical white dial that offers very little contrast.
The best Breitling Chronomat replica watches is very similar in this regard, but with an expansive blue dial and large lume plots, the indications appear more distinct.
Wearability
Wearability is perhaps more subjective than legibility, as it depends on your wrist size and shape. And it’s worth trying the top fake watches on because, frankly, manufacturers lie on the spec sheets. Rolex states the Daytona is 40mm when it’s 38.5mm max. The Chronomat’s full name is the Chronomat B01 42, so you’d think 42mm was an accurate measurement. Which it is, but only if you measure across the bezel without the screws. Including the crown guards, the diameter of the Breitling is more like 46mm.
So, if I can’t trust the specifications, how do I rate the wearability? I mean, all of these cheap replica watches are sized for my wrist and wear brilliantly for me, but I’d say adaptability is a crucial factor. The Rolex Daytona’s Oyster bracelet is supremely pliable and has the Easylink extension for extra comfort on hot or active days. Possibly the least adaptable is the Chronomat, with its rifle-shell-style bracelet links and butterfly clasp. The Breitling super clone watches for men cannot perform on-the-fly adjustment as only by removing the links can you modify the length. That doesn’t mean the Breitling is uncomfortable, only that it’s more hit-or-miss if the Chronomat is suitable for your wrist or not.
Water resistance
Now for a far simpler category — water resistance. In the case of the best quality replica Breitling Chronomat watches, it even prints the “200M” depth rating on the case-back. Looking at the specifications, and the Daytona has 100 meters. Great, job done, next category. Hold fire, let’s look into this in a bit more detail. Firstly, none of my chronographs have been submerged in a body of water for a significant amount of time. The Breitling and Rolex occasionally accompany me in the shower but are never subjected to any depths where pressure can force water past the seals. So does the water resistance have any practical benefit for this type of watch? Well, it’s always nice to know the luxury fake watches can withstand a dip (or slip) in the pool. Or even some recreational diving with the Chronomat’s 60-minute bezel scale.
It must be said; these are the stated depths from the brands. These timepieces may be capable of going deeper. For instance, the previous Chronomat could reach 500M. In comparison, the latest model more than halves that to 200M. That could be down to the thinner case and sapphire case-back rather than a solid steel one. But it could also be model positioning in the brand’s lineup.
Movement
The movement is one of the more complex categories to place. Initially, I considered the accuracy and put them on the timegrapher, but this can vary between each wearer’s experience. All three timepieces comply with COSC chronometer certification at a minimum. This means that an uncased movement must remain within a tolerance of +6/-4 seconds per day for ten consecutive days. Rolex also has its in-house Superlative Chronometer standards, which are even more strict at ±2 seconds per day.
But these stricter Superlative Chronometer tests did not come into effect until 2015, so my replica Rolex Daytona watches paypal defaults to COSC standards (despite saying “Superlative Chronometer” on the dial). However, each of these chronographs keeps time admirably in the real world. Another way to judge the movement is finishing. Well, it is for the Chronomat with exhibition windows, but less so for the Daytona with its solid steel case back. I assume it all looks nice in there, but I’m too scared to remove the case back myself. What about manufacturing provenance? Breitling’s Caliber B01 went through a lengthy and expensive development from the turn of the millennium until first powering the Chronomat in 2009. The vertical clutch layout is similar to the Rolex Daytona’s manufacture 4130 caliber that came to light in 2000.
Internal turmoil
In terms of complications, only the fake Breitling watches shop site has the date at 6 o’clock, but they all count up to 12 hours of elapsed time and feature a 30-minute totalizer.
You can almost sense the internal turmoil of my brain trying to judge these movements apart. The Daytona and Chronomat have around 70 hours of power reserve and an automatic winding rotor. Yet, the Speedy is slightly less with 50 hours of continuous running and is manually wound. That said, the Speedy is super satisfying to wind with a mechanical click, which is more muted in the Daytona and more “sandy” in the Chronomat. In other interactions, the actuation of the chronograph pushers in each AAA best replica watches has a reassuring tactile resistance you’d expect at this price. As soon as one of the calibers breaks down, I may change my score, but I am using the practicality of each movement as the differentiator — but maybe the Naked Watchmaker would be a better judge in the future.
Price
Thank God the movement category is over. Now we’re down to a purely objective measure — the price. I paid $11,400 for the Daytona in 2014, and $8,250 for the Chronomat — in that order. Boy, putting the costs together like that is a tad eye-watering. According to Chrono24 (at the time of writing), the Daytona is worth $33,898, a 197% ROI. The Chronomat drops to $8,101. They’re not exactly investment pieces, but they’re also not dropping like stones.
As none of these perfect Swiss replica watches are up for sale, value retention is not entirely a factor for me. But I know many buyers don’t want to lose too much when reselling. It’s been said before, but buying a steel Rolex is akin to doubling your money seconds after leaving the store. With prospects like that, purchasing any Rolex has become an art form and unfortunately has attracted less-than-salient investors in the game. The steel Daytona is possibly the most widely demanded watch globally, too. So, although it’s good news for owners, buyers lose out immeasurably. Even so, taking value retention and value for money in tandem, here are my podium places.
Bragging rights
Bragability may not be a word, but somehow, we all recognize the meaning behind it. To many watch fans, you might be rolling your eyes at the thought of a watch used to brag about wealth or status. For you guys, you can treat this section as a low priority and can even re-rank the fake watches wholesale to omit this last category. But for those looking to buy one great watch and be set for life, this might be a critical factor in purchasing. Essentially, it’s how the watch is perceived amongst peers. No one wants to attract unwanted attention. But surrounded by fellow watch nerds and friends, it’s nice to receive fascination about particular watches in your collection.
From frequenting watch meet-ups in my area, without a doubt, the Daytona gets the most attention. I’m judging that on the questions I receive and others wanting to try it on. In a close-knit group, the Chronomat receives a lot of love, but less so on social media platforms. Possibly due to Breitling’s early-2000s “big, brash, and blingy” history, the Chronomat hasn’t become the “Instagram darling” that the Daytona have. Jorg demonstrated this in his brilliant round-up of best Breitling replica watches online of the 2000s — coming up with five was a real struggle. But the new design is far more subdued and is only two years old, so perhaps, it needs more time for appreciation.
The scores are in, and with the help of Excel, I have the final results:
It was a very close battle, and at no point was I mentally calculating the winner as I was divvying out the scores. The 2022 Rolex Daytona fake watches is ranked number one in my chronograph collection. But I suppose I didn’t incorporate heritage into these scores. And according to me, the Daytona comes out on top.