Look For Ebel 1911_watch Watch 188901 70132p @ Amazon.com
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Most helpful customer reviews 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. The movement inside the Ebel 1911 Discovery is the well respected Swiss ETA Valjoux 7750, in (the highest) chronometer grade, with its peculiar internal auto winding mechanism that freewheels in one direction and winds in the other. When freewheeling, the internal winding weight can spin pretty fast, causing the watch to seem to “wobble” slightly on the wrist. Both watches are very accurate, with one running about 2.1 sec/day fast and the other 3.1 sec/day slow, in normal use, with very little sensitivity to the state of wind (just wound or running down). The watch back is solid stainless steel, secured by eight screws and is rounded, smooth and very comfortable. There is no tendency for it to “stick to the wrist” on hot humid days as flat watch backs do. It is not a transparent “exhibition back” as found in some watches. The Discovery model has both day and date displayed on the face, rather than just date, rare on most mechanical chronographs. While the crown is a screw-down seal type, the chronograph “pushers” are not, through they are styled to look like they are. For this reason, even though the watch is rated “Water Resistant 10ATM (100M)”, avoid swimming or diving with this watch on. On that note – this watch is very well styled, but some of the choices in styling leave it vulnerable to damage. First, the tachymeter bezel is polished aluminum with black printing. The edge of this bezel is sharp and accumulates nicks in the soft aluminum within days of use. Second, Ebel uses a proprietary watchband attachment to the watch case that uses a bracket and screws arrangement rather than conventional pins. This produces a very integrated (and strong) look, but if the strap or band ever wears out or breaks, only Ebel produces replacements, which are quite expensive. This is why I traded in the leather strap model for a metal bracelet version. Likewise, the sapphire crystal has a very high quality antireflection coating (much better than on my Tag-Heuer) on both sides – it works very well. But the outside coating is much softer than the sapphire crystal – it will scratch, leaving hair-like lines visible under some (few) lighting conditions, if not carefully protected. PROS: Excellent styling, workmanship, quality and accuracy. This is a beautiful watch. Includes an easily read day display as well as date, unusual in chronographs. Hidden clasp metal bracelet has no protruding pushers or clasp to mar its flowing lines, yet is very secure and comfortable. Very effective double antireflection coating on sapphire crystal. A tremendous value when on sale. CONS: Easy to nick polished aluminum tachymeter bezel. Water resistance is questionable due to lack of screw-down chronograph pushers. Proprietary strap/bracelet attachment does not accept 3rd party straps. Not a real issue on the metal bracelet models as these are likely to last a lifetime – but significant for wear-prone leather strap models. Metal bracelet models have no half-link or other fine adjustment feature – they adjust one complete link at a time – may make it more difficult for some owners to achieve the perfect fit. Hands and hour markers have minimal lume – dark readability is marginal. NOTES: The Ebel 1911 BTR models use an in-house designed (Swiss Movado Group) mechanism while the 1911 Discovery movement is produced by their rival, the Swiss Swatch Group, of which ETA is part. The 1911 BTR models lack the day display feature, the proven heritage of the Valjoux 7750 movement and retails for more, making the 1911 Discovery (IMHO) the better value. Most recently I’ve noticed Discovery model street prices beginning to creep past BTR prices. Also, the markup on the 1911 Discovery watches can drive their prices over a 2.5:1 range. I purchased mine during a blowout Christmas 2010 sale at the Movado outlet store for half of what it had been retailing at just a few months previously. At THAT price, the value was outstanding. RATING: I gave the watch 4 out of 5 stars (I would give it 4.5 if I could), subtracting one star for the vulnerability of the tachymeter bezel to damage and for the lack of screw-down chronograph pushers. Make no mistake – this a very fine watch. UPDATE of 5/21/2011: This watch continues to please and surprise me with its workmanship and attention to detail. In particular, edges on the watch case and bracelet are carefully rounded, which makes it exceptionally comfortable to wear, as does the hidden clasp. It’s accuracy remains about -3 sec./day – very good for a mechanical watch. I’ve come across a letter from Ebel stating the chronograph pushers are double O-ring sealed, and can be used underwater, which gives me more confidence in its water resistance. I still would never use this as a dive watch – it is really piece of kinetic art, not a professional tool. My opinion has risen to 5 stars. |
Ebel 1911 Discovery “Panda” Watch