B-1 owners: Please comment on hands & LCD

[BC-Ryan]

How do you find the LCD readouts when the hands are at say, 7:25 position or 11:05? Does it block out the LCD information too much? Is the data still easily readable? Is it annoying? o|

After thinking about it, this seems to be a flaw in the design although I'm not sure how they would have gotten around the problem.

Comments? Before I buy one?

Thanks! |>

[neogeek]

Just got my B-1 today and I am happy with it. Didn't notice the hands at the 7:25 position but 11:05 position it seems fine. The hands are quite thin so it doesn't block out too much.

[BC-Ryan]

Just got my B-1 today and I am happy with it. Didn't notice the hands at the 7:25 position but 11:05 position it seems fine. The hands are quite thin so it doesn't block out too much.

Would you see yourself having to reposition your wrist to see the information on the LCD?

[Tom_CYWG]

Hi Bob
Yes ergonomically there is a trade off between the digital and analog functions of the watch. Fortunately the digtal display is large enough both top and bottom that even with the hour or minute hand covering some a portion of the display is still readable. It's 23:31 while I write this and pressing the crown to activate the green back lighting clearly identifies the digital information. I've had other aviation watches that had small digital displays, e.g. Citizen Navahawk, etc. where there's a real design issue between the analog and digital display because the digital readout is simply too small. Hope this helps.

[no_self_control]

How do you find the LCD readouts when the hands are at say, 7:25 position or 11:05? Does it block out the LCD information too much? Is the data still easily readable? Is it annoying? o|

After thinking about it, this seems to be a flaw in the design although I'm not sure how they would have gotten around the problem.

Comments? Before I buy one?

Thanks! |>

if you think about the trade-off in terms of readability between watches such as the B-1 and chronographs, with small sub-dials, you'll soon realise that not only is the B-1 form more flexable but also more readable too. if this really bothers you then an analogue display is not for you. there are plenty of digital watches that do not have this compromise.

[rik]

I've had my b-1 for two and a half years and i've worn it all the time. I've only noticed a problem with the hands blocking the digital display maybe 3 or 4 times and with a little moving of the wrist you can usually sort it because the displays are large.

I don't know about other owners but my 'default' setting for my watch is date in bottom window, top window blank. I think Ron tends to wear his with both displays blank anyway.

In general I would say that the displays are for specfic functions ,chrono, coundown timer etc so the problem will be rare. If you are using the display constantly for another timezone or the date then you're going to have a pretty good idea what it's going to be saying before you look at it anyway.

[Don Indiano]

I'll second Rik's note: having owned mine for several years, it did occur a couple of times that the minute's hand was hiding some digit in the bottom LCD. That's a minor annoyance, then, and indeed with a little moving you can read the displays -- so that's not "at a glance", granted, but this happens very seldom.

Mine usually sits in "CHR" mode (chronograph) so that:

it's always ready to accurately time anything
it theoretically saves battery
the second's hand does not tick, and stays just like on any mechanical chronograph (which looks nice, IMHO)

We'll see if it really saves the battery -- maybe in a week or a year (it's been 2.4 years since the last service). :-)

Cheers,
Don

[BC-Ryan]

I'll second Rik's note: having owned mine for several years, it did occur a couple of times that the minute's hand was hiding some digit in the bottom LCD. That's a minor annoyance, then, and indeed with a little moving you can read the displays -- so that's not "at a glance", granted, but this happens very seldom.

Mine usually sits in "CHR" mode (chronograph) so that:

it's always ready to accurately time anything
it theoretically saves battery
the second's hand does not tick, and stays just like on any mechanical chronograph (which looks nice, IMHO)

We'll see if it really saves the battery -- maybe in a week or a year (it's been 2.4 years since the last service). :-)

Cheers,
Don


Or....one could just leave both LCD screens blank for normal use right? Likely the most annoying part of the hands covering the LCD would be when traveling and using a 2nd time zone because there is at least 4 hours a day where the hour hand is crossing the LCD and 20 minutes each hour where the minute hand is crossing an LCD.

Maybe I'm being too obsessive about this but on the other hand, I'm also investing a bit of cash so want to make sure it's the right move. :think:

[gaijin]

After thinking about it, this seems to be a flaw in the design although I'm not sure how they would have gotten around the problem.

Comments? Before I buy one?

Thanks! |>

I recently had your same dilemma. Having owned less expensive "Ana-Digi" watches in the past which had compromised LCD displays at certain times, I wanted to find something better.

A B-1 (with UTC module) almost made it into my hands (outbid at last minute), but I wound up with this:

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc18/gaijinnv/X33_05JUN08.gif

I think it's a unique solution to avoid the hands obscuring the LCD info. The data in the display are fairly large so the minute hand never obscures the entire figure and the hour hand is relieved so info may be seen under it.

Another possible problem with "real world" use of an LCD is that polarized lenses (as found in many sunglasses) may cause the display to "black out" at certain angles of view. The Omega's display uses a quarter-wave filter on the display to make it immune to this problem.

Not bashing Breitling in any way. Just demonstrating, as Charlie Chan said, "Confucius say many ways to take skin from cat."

HTH

[O2AFAC67]

Yep, Rik is correct. I usually leave the digital displays off because I like the way they "disappear" into the black dial. As noted by others, I have never had an issue reading the digitals when I needed them even if it required a slight wrist movement to do so. The B-1 is, IMHO, still one of the best if not THE best tool watch in the world. In fact, as I type this, I am using the countdown bezel (again) to time when I have to turn the pork ribs on the BBQ grill. Oops. :oops: Gotta go. ;-):-)
Cheers,
Ron

[rik]

'Breitling - suppliers of beautiful and functional timepieces to outdoor chefs (and the occasional aviator) for over a century' (tm) :-d

[BC-Ryan]

Can any B1 owners post a picture of both hands over the LCD so I can get an idea of how it looks? Most pictures I've seen don't have the both hands on the LCD!

Thanks!

[Don Indiano]

Can any B1 owners post a picture of both hands over the LCD so I can get an idea of how it looks? Most pictures I've seen don't have the both hands on the LCD!

Thanks!

As I said, this doesn't happen very often, so it's no wonder that the pics of this phenomenon are scarce, but here's what I found in my "archives".

http://donindiano.lanetcie.com/pictures/watches/breitling_b-1_tree_fall.jpg

http://donindiano.lanetcie.com/pictures/watches/b-1_araucaria.jpg

To sum it up:

Do the hands sometimes get in the way of the LCDs?
By design, yes.
When this happens -- does this make the LCDs useless?
No. But if your life depends on reading the LCDs at a glance all day long, then the B-1 is not for you.
For all the other uses, it's a wonderful and usable tool, well recommended, and you'll be glad you chose it.

Hope it's helpful,
Don

[BC-Ryan]

Thanks for the pictures...very helpful! It is decision day tomorrow. Pick up my new B1 from an AD in Vancouver.

[O2AFAC67]

Thanks for the pictures...very helpful! It is decision day tomorrow. Pick up my new B1 from an AD in Vancouver.Hi, Ryan. Which color dial are you getting? Pics on arrival, please. ;-):-)
Cheers,
Ron

[BC-Ryan]

Hi, Ryan. Which color dial are you getting? Pics on arrival, please. ;-):-)
Cheers,
Ron

If everything goes according to plan, it will be the blue faced version. As far as I know, it is the only brand new B-1 left at an AD in Canada! There may be a gray faced one left in Edmonton, but I prefer blue over gray.

I am considering picking up an oem leather strap too, to preserve the steel bracelet.

Pictures will be provided in due course!

Thanks |>

[Alex**]

generally mine is on T2 which is set to west coast US time aas thats where our head office is and as such i communicate with them a fair bit. at the weekend i normally have them turned off as i have a black faced one and like the look of them when i cant see them.

enjoy the watch if you decide to get it.