Peter wrote:
So, nobody has bought the Breitling?
Yeah, I have a Breitling Navitimer, albeit not their Emergency watch. I bought it in Las Vegas with blackjack winnings (yes, really) in 2003 I think, when it was less of an expensive watch. (Breitling have increased the retail price of the watch massively over the years.) I love it and hate it. Live picture below.
I love it because it looks good and is very durable and doesn’t need winding of course.
I hate it because:
(1) it needs servicing approximately every two and half years, at relatively enormous cost (£600?) or it starts to run slow – it currently needs a service. When it goes back to Breitling for its service they basically rebuild it for scratch. For those that haven’t seen it, here is their marketing video showing what they do
. I have to say that it comes back looking and working as if it’s brand new out of the box – all bright and shiny and very very accurate. However, I’m going to forego a service for a few years now because the cost is ridiculous.
(2)The hands are difficult to read at a glance in the daylight, let alone at night. They are thin and on my watch the dial is black with white sub-dials. When the white hands cross the white sub-dials they are difficult to see quickly. Hey, an expensive watch that doesn’t easily tell the time! 
Anyway, it’s a lovely watch apart from the above, and I love the fact that it’s an old-fashioned “automatic” timepiece.
I know others who have Bretilings but they won’t admit to it openly
Interesting video. Yes that seems to be the standard manufacturer service on an ETA 7750 watch, at 500+ quid
Watchfinder (a big UK watch shop) does it for a bit less than the manufacturer, say 400 versus 600 for IWC, and it should be the same service IF they are an authorised dealer for that make.
But still these are outrageous figures, especially every 2.5 years. Every 10 years would begin to be acceptable. The ETA movement is pretty robust. Incidentally I think mine must be 10 years old now (just based on when they made them) and it has never had that sort of service.
IMHO the most important thing is to get fresh seals installed. Most watchmakers don’t do that, and in some cases they cannot even obtain the seal kits. It is important if you wash and swim with the watch.
We had a thread on night visibility of watches here and yes mine is almost invisible too. They are all the same regardless of price because they all use the same luminous paint. Only the tritium hands are a gamechanger but none of the upmarket watches use those.
Peter wrote:
IMHO the most important thing is to get fresh seals installed. Most watchmakers don’t do that, and in some cases they cannot even obtain the seal kits. It is important if you wash and swim with the watch.
Well, don’t laugh, but the Navitimer is rated only as splash-proof. Soon after I bought it I showered in it and the watch duly took in water. I took it to a dealer and confessed and Breitling kindly repaired it without charge and reminded me not to shower or swim in it again.
Like others here I have other watches too. Some of them have quartz movements, so they have no soul, but they do keep perfect time and are mostly completely waterproof. I wear them sometimes and enjoy them. It’s a choice – a bit like the choice between motorbikes: Italian bikes look fabulous but don’t work, especially in the rain. Japanese bikes however, are generally soulless but will get you home in a storm :D
I had a dig around and yours looks like a Navitimer 01 which is “30m” water rated, which means you can’t swim with it (bizzarely). Also interestingly it isn’t a 7750 based watch; it uses an in house movement.
OK – I’ll bite
Hopefully was not a sun watch and celestial maps?
Looks like the thread title is about mechanical watches but a sun watch will do (not compatible with IMC flying tough)
Once you are in 24 hour light, solar navigation is very easy indeed.
You know that the sun is overhead Greenwich at midday UTC.
The sun proceeds clockwise at 15° per hour, and it sits not far above the horizon.
If you know what the UTC time is, from any of the timepieces shown above, then you can know how many minutes before or after 12:00 UTC it is, so you can count how many units of 1° per four minutes North is, compared to the position of the sun.
This is most important at the Pole, where every which way is south 
Faaaar to complex.
Point the hour hand of your analog watch at the sun. Halfway between the hour hand and 12 o’clock is south.
Works anywhere in the northern hemisphere between the tropic and the polar circle, if the time on the watch is reasonably close to solar time.
About the only real use for an analog watch…
