Although I have already posted this within another thread about the Field Engineer, it has been suggested to me that this deserves a wider audience as it may otherwise be overlooked...
So, allow me to present the Offshore Professional Field Engineer no. 131, built by Classic Chronographs Ltd.
Yesterday afternoon I drove over to The Clock Gallery in Ealing and collected my brand-new FE from Darius, the watchmaker who actually builds them.
I’ll give my initial impressions afterwards, but first, let’s take a look at what all the fuss is about…
The outer box is errr, a box! Doesn’t give anything away although it does however have the magic number 131 written on it…
Opening the box presents you with a splendid 2-watch leather roll, beginning to suggest that there might be something rather lovely inside.
The inside of the box is nicely lined, and the logo + ‘Offshore Professional Chronographs’ stamped into the inside of the box top is a nice touch.
Of course, what we’re really waiting for is to see the watch itself.
I should point out that I decided to buy another strap for it and ask Darius to fit it as part of the build, in place of either the steel bracelet or the black leather strap (both of which are included in the package). I’ll talk more about that after these photos…
Here’s a close-up…
Of course, we need the obligatory wrist shots. As you can see the strap isn’t yet properly moulded to the shape of my wrist so there are ‘air gaps’ either side of my wrist at the moment – I have no doubt that it will settle down with a little more wear…
These are the two straps that come with the watch as standard, the black leather curved end strap (wearing the Hirsch buckle that came off my supplied strap), and the excellent quality ‘Engineer’-style steel bracelet.
Here they are alongside the watch on my Hirsch strap…
Finally, a photo of the ‘full set’…
…and a slightly arty shot of the watch on top of the alternative straps…
So I guess the obvious question is… after all the anticipation, does it live up to expectations?
I own some very nice watches – three Breitlings, an Omega and a Doxa amongst them. I know what good quality looks like, and by any standards this is a watch that punches well above its weight.
First of all, it’s absolutely beautiful. I know Lorne Gifford (the owner of the company) makes a lot of the fact that the design is about classical purity and is not supposed to make concessions to fashion, but however you look at it, this thing’s stunning. In no particular order:
•The different textures and surfacing on the dial are very clever. They avoid large flat one-dimensional areas and draw the eye to different elements of the design. The dial is also a very subtle mix of colours, incorporating cream and silver with grey sub-dials.
•It’s very easy to read, I love the ‘propellor’ second hand and the trident on the chronograph hand is really well executed.
•The case is superbly finished with brushed sides and polished top surfaces on the lugs. Very substantial and a great size. Short downturned lugs help to shape the case to your wrist.
•The tachymeter bezel works brilliantly with the overall design.
•The edges of the bezel and caseback as well as crown and pushers are all knurled
•I really love the separated treatment of the day and date – I think combined day/date windows often look incredibly clumsy; two separate circular windows avoid that completely.
•Both crystals are completely flat and the view looks great front and back. The serial number engraved onto the rotor is one of many nice touches.
From a functional perspective, the movement is an upgraded version of the 7750, so it’s a known reliable engine. It has a little of the classic ‘Valjoux wobble’ although interestingly it’s far less noticeable in the Field Engineer than it is in my Breitling Navitimer World (the movement in that being based on the 7754). I have no idea why, although my guess would be that it’s to do with the case construction damping down the oscillations somehow (Lorne has already put his engineering hat on and weighed in with a technical explanation on the other thread).
The watch is currently running at +2 seconds – if it stays at that I’ll be well pleased.
The chrono pushers operate with a crisp, tactile click, as does the crown. The sub-dial hands hit their markers precisely and the chrono hand snaps back to Top Dead Centre perfectly – the whole watch feels beautifully engineered.
The watch wears well, with a 44mm case diameter translating into 53mm lug to lug. To some that may seem big, but due to the downturned lugs it’s very comfortable and the use of the supplied deployment ensures that the watch head sits perfectly on the wrist. In truth, I like big watches anyway and if it had been any smaller I probably wouldn’t have bought it.
I can’t comment on the steel bracelet as I’ve not put it on, but it appears to be solid and well made, and it’s built in 5 rows of links, alternating brushed and polished. It’s a nice touch and a feature shared with the bracelet on my Doxa Sub 1500t – it looks great and ‘lifts’ it so that it doesn’t just seem like one uniform mass of metal.
The OE black leather strap with black stitching is curved end and fits the case perfectly – I know this because it’s the same basic construction as the Hirsch Principal that I have on mine. Having the Field Engineer on the brown Hirsch strap was a personal choice for me prompted by the fact that it’ll fit better into my collection rather than being on a black strap. I’m pleased I did it – it works brilliantly with the case and dial and I love the fit, quality - and the colour is awesome. I also prefer contrast stitching to matching.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading these reflections and checking out the photos (I’m not in Johnny E’s class as a photographer - Johnny built Lorne’s new website for him - but they’ve come out pretty well, I think). More to the point, I hope it may inspire some of you to go to the website and consider one for yourself – I’m not on commission but I can’t recommend this watch or Lorne highly enough. How often does the owner of a watch manufacturer phone you up from his car to tell you how pleased he is that you’ve just collected one of his watches?!
Simon
Reply With Quote