The 2017 Superocean Heritage II is much clearer in its purpose – and that is not to re-imagine the look of the Superocean Heritage collection, but rather to make it much more fashionable. Some of the design decisions might be controversial, but to a large extent, the Superocean Heritage II is all we loved about the Superocean Heritage I, with some more modern materials and in the case of the three-hand version, a new movement.
There is a very important question, please ask yourself whether or not you should get a good deal on a previous generation Superocean Heritage I or pony up for the brand new Superocean Heritage II. Is one a solid upgrade over the other, or are both models appealing in their own way? To tell the truth, a very good argument could be made that while the Superocean Heritage II has some clear improvements over the first generation model, depending on your taste, the previous generation Superocean Heritage watch might be just as good if not better for your needs.
The replica Breitling makes a very solid-feeling watch, which starts with the case, at least in my opinion. The brand is particularly good at serving up well-polished heavy blocks of steel. While a lot of modern fake watches offer complicated cases with contrast finishing and other interesting design elements, the Superocean Heritage is all about appearing like a retro tank. The 42mm-wide or 46mm-wide steel case is entirely polished (with a great finishing) and water resistant to 200m. With that said, it feels like it could take a lot more of a beating. The vintage-inspired design eschews a lot of modern things you might expect to see in a diving watch (such as crown guards). So, the elegance and attractive design of the Superocean Heritage made up for its lack of being a totally “pro” diving instrument.
The replica Superocean Heritage II is a bit more “pro worthy” but you can see that the design decisions come at the expense of aesthetics. So let’s first talk about how the unidirectional rotating bezel of the Superocean Heritage II differs from that of the original model. This is one of two major visible ways the Superocean Heritage I and II models all differ from one another. In doing the video part of the review for the Superocean Heritage 46, I mentioned that the most “age showing” part of the watch in terms of its product lifespan was the anodized aluminum / or coated steel (I’m not sure the specific metal used) bezel insert.
The ceramic bezel doesn’t look exactly the same, and the metal one, with its very simple markers was a bit more beautiful looking. In pictures the lume pip on the bezel is barely noticeable, and in person it is a bit more obvious. I wouldn’t say that this feature is not welcome as it does add functionality, but the lume does take away a bit from the original appeal of the design – which never apologized for making some aesthetic decisions in lieu of functional considerations. What I really would have liked for the Breitling replica to do is introduce a bezel that looked exactly the same as the original, in ceramic, with each of the markers on the bezel painted in white luminant. Therefore, the entire bezel could have been lumed, but without visually changing the character of the overall watch.
The biggest dial change in the Superocean Heritage II over I is the design of the hands. I really (really) liked the design of the Superocean Heritage I hands with the straight sword-like minute hand and the simple arrow-style hour hand. The fake Breitling decided to mess with a good thing and produce new hands for the Superocean Heritage II, which are a bit more inspired by the hands on original Superocean cheap replica watches from 1957. That means you still get a sword-style minute hand and an arrow-style hour hand – but now they are of a different design – and I’m on the fence about how I feel with them.