Fortis watches

[benyeats]

Saw some of the above in a shop last week, look very nice especially the titanium chrono alarm job.

Anyone got a view on this manufacturer ?

Ben

[hutchingsp]

Good qualiy, nice watches.

I'd say they fall into the "something different that nobody else likely to have on their wrist but nothing special either".

[speedtwelve]

I have a Fortis Cosmonaut automatic. I wanted a decent mechanical pilot watch that wasn't overstated (I think Breitlings are horrendously overstyled, sorry...).

It's very well made, heavy steel case, sapphire crystal face with anti-glare coating on both sides. I think it has an ETA movement, gains 15 - 20 secs a day at the moment so I might get it trimmed at some point. It has tritium hands which glow very brightly, but not with much longevity; in the middle of the night they have become quite faint.

List price was £470 or so, got one for £350 from an independant jewellers who only had one and couldn't sell it at the full price! AFAIK Fortis have no backer in the UK at the moment, but I was told the warranty would be honoured, but the watch would have to go to Germany.

I believe Fortis have some cred with 'those in the know', but after showing mine to a Breitling-owning mate he thought it was something I'd bought from Argos! I've also yet to find anyone else who recognises the Gagarin Space Center emblem inscribed on the case back...

[hog 1]

My 'work' watch is a Fortis Spacematic, black face. E400 in Amsterdam.
Not flash and solidly built, had it about 4 years and is a really good timekeeper.
It stopped once when I fell about 10 feet onto some steel work. Had to send it to Germany because no dealers in UK but they repaired it F.O.C.
Had to replace the leather strap and could not get Germany to understand that I would PAY for a new one.

[Spice_Weasel]

I have a Fortis B-42 Pilot Professional Chrono in my collection. Uses the same ETA 7750 base movement that is used in the IWC Portugese and many other high-end chronographs so quality really is not an issue here. On a leather strap and with a brushed steel case it looks very similar to a lot of the 'flieger'-type watches including the IWC Spitfire and Classic Pilot. It's a big watch - 42mm across the case (excluding crown) and seems to get more attention than my Rolex GMT, Omega Seamaster and other watches. It mainly gets used for weekend / casual days as it won't sit under a work shirt double cuff. I love it.

Edited by Spice_Weasel on Tuesday 15th May 18:42

[tertius]

Spice_Weasel said:

I have a Fortis B-42 Pilot Professional Chrono in my collection. Uses the same ETA 7750 base movement that is used in the IWC Portugese and many other high-end chronographs so quality really is not an issue here. On a leather strap and with a brushed steel case it looks very similar to a lot of the 'flieger'-type watches including the IWC Spitfire and Classic Pilot. It's a big watch - 42mm across the case (excluding crown) and seems to get more attention than my Rolex GMT, Omega Seamaster and other watches. It mainly gets used for weekend / casual days as it won't sit under a work shirt double cuff. I love it.

Edited by Spice_Weasel on Tuesday 15th May 18:42

Though to be fair to IWC although they may start with a 7750 they don't really end with a 7750.

Some interesting discussion on the IWC re-working of the 7750 here and here

I don't know but I doubt the same can be said of the 7750 in the Fortis.