I have a feeling this has been discussed many a time... but anyway hear me out.
I had my eye on a Breitling SOH II 46 on the mesh bracelet for a while and was planning on getting one duty free when I next head O/S. I'd only seen them in pictures and not in the flesh.
I pretty much had my mind made up, my only concern was that 46 would be too big for my 7.1in wrist so I headed to the dealer to try on the 42 as well. In the meantime I had been reading about the Tudor BBH and found the whole shared quasi-in-house movement story pretty interesting.
So I show up to try them on, I'm relieved that the SOH 46 looks really good on my wrist size wise but was really surprised by how bling-y it is in the flesh! I don't know if it was the showroom lights or the plastic still on it but I wasn't expecting it to look so extravagant where all the written reviews had framed it as a restrained, vintage throwback. I guess they meant in reference to other Breitling models.
I was attracted to the Tudor much more than I thought I'd be. It looks comparatively restrained and understated. I think the Breitling is the kind of thing anyone on the street would notice and comment on, which is good if you're into that sort of thing, but the Tudor is something only another watch guy is likely to notice, which I think I would probably prefer.
In addition to the above, I was hoping to have something I could use every day. I'm an Intensive Care Doctor so I get my hands dirty quite a bit. The watch has to come off and go into the pocket or bag several times a day. Whilst I'm sure the Breitling is adequately bombproof, its high polish strikes me as not something not suited to taking a beating like the Tudor at least appears to (I know its got an aluminium bezel vs the ceramic on the breitling etc.). I guess my concern is that the Breitling perhaps isn't as versatile as the written reviews might suggest, at least in my context. This is probably more true for those who wear a suit to work every day.
Also another point which isn't discussed all that much is the price difference, in which the Breitling commands nearly a $2000 AUD premium over the Tudor, which has essentially the same movement.
Included are wrist shots for the SOH 46 and 42 as well as the Tudor BBH in Burgundy (Didn't get to try the black or the blue).
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
SOH 46
SOH 42
BBH Burgundy