cazalea
[Seiko Moderator]
20750
The watch everyone wants to have but nobody buys or wears
Ok, I may have stepped on a speculative limb but don't you have an inner urge to own a Breitling Emergency?
The recent press release in our NEWS CENTRAL reawakened my slumbering lust for one of these watches. As I have been able to get my head off the sickbed and think about life outside these four walls, I remembered a flyer that arrived just before Christmas. It came from my local watch emporium and hidden on one of the back pages was a reference to a watch I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE. An analog-hand Emergency. All the Emergencies I have seen before came with the Aerospace movement on the front of the transmitter (as seen in the photo above). But this watch had hands, and subdials.
Today my wife finally judged me healthy enough to go outside, and I was sent on a list of errands which involved smog test for the Honda, haircut for my head, shopping for miscellanea, and (unknown to her) I was able to fit in a watch visit too.
As I said in the headline, this is a watch nobody buys. No one took it home for Christmas, so there it was in the case, ready to be worn by your correspondent. Setting the Silberstein aside, I strapped it on. It's ENORMOUS and SHINY.
The full enchilada. Suitcase, WARNING SIGN, testing kit, Bakelite box, booklet, VHS Video, giant Phillips screwdriver for replacing the transmitter batteries. The lot. "Bond, James Bond" would be proud to have this.
OK, so it's a bit large.
I looked carefully at the dial. TWO CENTRAL SECOND HANDS?? What's this? It appeared to be a mecha-quartz movement sitting on top of a transmitter - but they don't have split-seconds (do they?) There's no extra pusher either. I checked the book carefully and the hand with double-ended arrowheads on the tail appears to be a beacon that twirls 2.5 revs per minute while the transmitter is operational. But it was moving with the chrono hand above it and appears to double-function as a central minute counter. An unresolved mystery (so far).
Silberstein is over 40mm and Emergency must be close to 50mm. I couldn't even "talk" with my left hand. It kept falling to the counter.
WARNING: Use only in case of real emergency.
Can I say that again:
The full enchilada. Suitcase, WARNING SIGN, testing kit, Bakelite box, booklet, VHS Video, giant Phillips screwdriver for replacing the transmitter batteries. The lot. "Bond, James Bond" would be proud to have this.
OK, so it's a bit large.
I looked carefully at the dial. TWO CENTRAL SECOND HANDS?? What's this? It appeared to be a mecha-quartz movement sitting on top of a transmitter - but they don't have split-seconds (do they?) There's no extra pusher either. I checked the book carefully and the hand with double-ended arrowheads on the tail appears to be a beacon that twirls 2.5 revs per minute while the transmitter is operational. But it was moving with the chrono hand above it and appears to double-function as a central minute counter. An unresolved mystery (so far).
Silberstein is over 40mm and Emergency must be close to 50mm. I couldn't even "talk" with my left hand. It kept falling to the counter.
WARNING: Use only in case of real emergency.
Can I say that again:
WARNING: Use only in case of real emergency.
You mean you make this bitchin watch with antenna and half-global capability and I can't use it unless I crash my plane? (and likely am dead by then).
The manual warns "Even if the timekeeping portion is ruined in the emergency, the transmitter is completely separate and will still bring help if activated. Pull out the antenna until the cap snaps off"
I want one. But I would never buy it (and I would try to play with it EXCEPT I live close to an airport and they would catch me, and there are bound to be fines, and punishment). I want one.
Cazalea
PS - if you go down to check it out, put the watch on the test block, turn the tester on and TURN UP THE VOLUME to 11 (I only turned it to 3 and still got scolded). I want one!
The watch everyone wants to have but nobody buys or wears
Ok, I may have stepped on a speculative limb but don't you have an inner urge to own a Breitling Emergency? The recent press release in our NEWS CENTRAL reawakened my slumbering lust for one of these watches. As I have been able to get my head off the sic...
A great and interesting report.
I’ve never seen this one before. I’m not keen on the colour of the dial and overall I would say I prefer the Aerospace dial layout. It’s far too big for my wrist and, like you, I couldn’t trust myself not to fiddle with the emergency gizmo, especially aft...
Yes, that dates the watch, doesn't it?
Unopened, shrink-wrapped VHS - doubtless will add a premium to the package!
I finally threw away my VHS player in 2014 but I still have the tapes??? Go figure....
I also have audio cassettes with The Goon Shows still on them. I tried to convert them to mp3 files but each took so long to convert in real time, that I gave up. I was given the converter player for Christmas 2015. MTF
I can’t even recall when I watched a VHS for the last time
But I’m sure it was pre 2001
I still have about 20 VHS tapes - I need to check out this "Converter / Player"
Is that for audio cassettes, or VHS cassettes?? Thank goodness I didn't keep those 75 or so audio tapes of Star Trek that I recorded through the headphone jack back in the days BEFORE video recording was possible
Compact Audio Cassette only
Converter looks like a stripped down Sony Walkman but with USB port out to your PC. Regards, MTF,
This was my fave iteration of the Emergency
The nicest, least digital looking. Back in the day I thought that watch was super cool but the penalties far outweighed the novelty of the device. Can you guess where the majority of accidental activations of Emergencies take place? I'll give you first pa...
