As some of you may or may not know I won one of two B&B LE watches that Joel and Nick gave away. The only stipulation to winning the watch was that I write a review on it. I have had the watch for a couple of months so I think now is good timing. 1st off let me start with a bit of history on the Bernhardt company:
The following excerpt was taken fron the Bernhardt website and written by Fred Amos owner and founder of the company.
A little over over 20 years ago, a good friend of mine showed me his Rolex. In 1990 I purchased my first one and for 15 years I bought, sold and refurbished Rolexes. The more I learned about different watches and manufacturers the more my passion grew. I call it "Watch Fever". Looking for like-minded collectors, and being the start of The Internet Age, I quickly found camaraderie in the online watch forums, such as www.WatchUSeek.com and TimeZone.com. These forums became my office, for buying and selling watches, creating relationships and friendships and now, collaborating directly with my customers.
During these years I had been working as a supplier to the furniture industry but in 2005 that ended as I was laid off. My wife, Jamie, and I began tossing around ideas of how to make a living out of my passion for watches. One night, sitting at a basketball game at our local University, she asked "Why don't you make watches for this school?". I put together a design, walked in and pitched it to the school. The Bernhardt Watch Company was born. Before we knew it, we had made watches for High Point University, Wake Forest University and North Carolina State University.
I continued to become more and more involved in the online forums. It occured to me that I had an opportunity to make watches for people like me, to treat customers the way I wanted to be treated and even colaborate on designs. What can be more fun than discussing watches all day? It turns out, actually making them. A few years ago, we made our first "private line" watch, The Binnacle.
The Bernhardt line has grown to include six designs, including many pieces that were designed directly with customers' comments in mind. With that said, I would never design a piece that I would not wear myself. I think of a customers' desire to make a difference, to feel as if they matter, because that is what I want to feel. We make limited editions, sometimes too few, to ensure a personal touch. I make my personal phone number accessible to my customers and take every service and warranty on a case-by-case scenario. Because of our relationships with the online forums, our business is word-of-mouth, saving costs on advertising and marketing that many other companies force the customer to pay. We simply don't do that.
Along with our private line, our contract business has grown, and they go hand-in-hand. When we produced the Binnacle, a Captain with the Johnston County, N.C. Sheriff's Office bought two. He asked if we could do a contracted piece for his department. We have now produced watches for about 50 law-enforcement agencies, military personnel, fraternities, and private retail designers. We proudly take the best of our private line and our contract business and share the design and technology.
Best of all, we still remain a family business. I design the watches, do the selling and have one-on-one contact with our customers. Jamie handles shipping and research on accessories. Phillip, our son, does the boxing and helps design. In fact, one of our flagship pieces, the Sea Shark, was designed by Phillip when he was 12! It took him over a year to convince me of his design and now it is our best-seller! We are also joined by our European-trained watch specialist Frank Lazimi, who has over thirty years experience in the watchmaking field. Frank is a third generation watchmaker who attended some of the finest European training programs where he explored the engineering, design and craftsmanship principles of watch movements. He ran a successful watch making business in Europe for many years before moving to North Carolina with his wife Bukra and their two children. We consider them an extension to our family.
My passion for watches has afforded us the opportunity to meet and work with wonderful people all over the country, many whom have become friends. I believe the relationship and goodwill between Bernhardt and our customers is the most important aspect of what we do. The customer is right, their expectations should be high, and they should expect to make a friend in the process. Everyone deserves a high-quality timepiece and the experience of buying it. It's an old-fashioned, traditional philosophy that continues to serve me well, even as we enjoy our online business and and relationships.
This next piece of information was taken from the website as well. It talks about the officers watch, which is the design chosen for B&B:
Rising through the ranks. Paying dues. Building a reputation and a philosophy. These are the duties of an officer, a man who makes his decisions for the good of his team, his family and himself all in unison, with grace and accuracy. He is dependable. He is compassionate. He will never stop learning, but he is always leading.
Inspired by the nature of true leadership and masculinity comes Bernhardt's Officer's Watch. Combining vintage styling with an historical movement and a modern, bold size, the Officer's Watch offers contemporary relevance housed within a time-honored design. Appropriate at the office today, or as an heirloom tomorrow.
The heart of the Officer's Watch is a Unitas 6497 movement made by ETA, the world-authority on high-grade mechanical watch movements. The large, 44 millimeter steel case combines brushed and polished surfaces with a hardened sapphire crystal on top and a thick, screwed-down clear display case-back. The black, buffalo leather strap features white contrast stitching and a signed buckle.
Every Officers Watch is numbered individually, and comes in a Bernhardt wooden presentation box.
Here are my thoughts and a review of the watch:
The very 1st thing that caught my eye when I received this watch was the size and weight of it. I like a large heavy watch, and this definetly fits that bill. My dress watch prior to this was a large framed Bullova. It is a very nice watch as well so now I am torn between which one to wear.
The design and look of the watch is very simple and masculine yet is luxurious enough it can be worn for just about anything you would want it for. It looks as good with shorts and a t-shirt as it does with a suit. (I do not have one of those on very often but have worn the watch with one once.)
The watch keeps perfect time, in the 2 months I have had it it does not gain or lose any time. This used to be an issue with wind up watches that I have had. The watch will run almost 48 hours on a full wind which is nice if you happen to forget to wind it up. (I had that problem at 1st since my other watches are all battery operated.) The watch does have overwind protection so you can wind it tight and not worry about going to far. You can feel it when it is tight it just basically won't turn anymore.
The fit and finish is flawless. The brushed and polished surface of the watch shine like a diamond when it is cleaned and polished. I have bumped the crystal several times and it does not have a scratch or blemish so it defintley holds up to minor unintentional abuse.
The only thing I did not like about the watch was the leather strap. It is made of calf skin and looks very nice. I am not a big fan of leather straps and this one seemed to scuff and look worn very quickly. This was just a small inconvenience, I took it to a family owned jewlery store near my house and bought a metal band for it. I think it has improved the look of the watch. You can judge yourself from my pictures. The watch guy at the store actually came out to talk to me when I bought the band. He asked me what Badger and Blade was so I gave him a bit of history. He said this watch was the top of the line Bernhardt makes and the ETA movement was spectacular. (Of course I did not have a clue what he was talking about, I had not done any research on it yet.)
So there is my mini review of the watch. It is a 1st class time piece and I would recommend it to anyone. I am not sure if there are any left or not, but if there are I would grab them before they are gone.
The following excerpt was taken fron the Bernhardt website and written by Fred Amos owner and founder of the company.
A little over over 20 years ago, a good friend of mine showed me his Rolex. In 1990 I purchased my first one and for 15 years I bought, sold and refurbished Rolexes. The more I learned about different watches and manufacturers the more my passion grew. I call it "Watch Fever". Looking for like-minded collectors, and being the start of The Internet Age, I quickly found camaraderie in the online watch forums, such as www.WatchUSeek.com and TimeZone.com. These forums became my office, for buying and selling watches, creating relationships and friendships and now, collaborating directly with my customers.
During these years I had been working as a supplier to the furniture industry but in 2005 that ended as I was laid off. My wife, Jamie, and I began tossing around ideas of how to make a living out of my passion for watches. One night, sitting at a basketball game at our local University, she asked "Why don't you make watches for this school?". I put together a design, walked in and pitched it to the school. The Bernhardt Watch Company was born. Before we knew it, we had made watches for High Point University, Wake Forest University and North Carolina State University.
I continued to become more and more involved in the online forums. It occured to me that I had an opportunity to make watches for people like me, to treat customers the way I wanted to be treated and even colaborate on designs. What can be more fun than discussing watches all day? It turns out, actually making them. A few years ago, we made our first "private line" watch, The Binnacle.
The Bernhardt line has grown to include six designs, including many pieces that were designed directly with customers' comments in mind. With that said, I would never design a piece that I would not wear myself. I think of a customers' desire to make a difference, to feel as if they matter, because that is what I want to feel. We make limited editions, sometimes too few, to ensure a personal touch. I make my personal phone number accessible to my customers and take every service and warranty on a case-by-case scenario. Because of our relationships with the online forums, our business is word-of-mouth, saving costs on advertising and marketing that many other companies force the customer to pay. We simply don't do that.
Along with our private line, our contract business has grown, and they go hand-in-hand. When we produced the Binnacle, a Captain with the Johnston County, N.C. Sheriff's Office bought two. He asked if we could do a contracted piece for his department. We have now produced watches for about 50 law-enforcement agencies, military personnel, fraternities, and private retail designers. We proudly take the best of our private line and our contract business and share the design and technology.
Best of all, we still remain a family business. I design the watches, do the selling and have one-on-one contact with our customers. Jamie handles shipping and research on accessories. Phillip, our son, does the boxing and helps design. In fact, one of our flagship pieces, the Sea Shark, was designed by Phillip when he was 12! It took him over a year to convince me of his design and now it is our best-seller! We are also joined by our European-trained watch specialist Frank Lazimi, who has over thirty years experience in the watchmaking field. Frank is a third generation watchmaker who attended some of the finest European training programs where he explored the engineering, design and craftsmanship principles of watch movements. He ran a successful watch making business in Europe for many years before moving to North Carolina with his wife Bukra and their two children. We consider them an extension to our family.
My passion for watches has afforded us the opportunity to meet and work with wonderful people all over the country, many whom have become friends. I believe the relationship and goodwill between Bernhardt and our customers is the most important aspect of what we do. The customer is right, their expectations should be high, and they should expect to make a friend in the process. Everyone deserves a high-quality timepiece and the experience of buying it. It's an old-fashioned, traditional philosophy that continues to serve me well, even as we enjoy our online business and and relationships.
This next piece of information was taken from the website as well. It talks about the officers watch, which is the design chosen for B&B:
Rising through the ranks. Paying dues. Building a reputation and a philosophy. These are the duties of an officer, a man who makes his decisions for the good of his team, his family and himself all in unison, with grace and accuracy. He is dependable. He is compassionate. He will never stop learning, but he is always leading.
Inspired by the nature of true leadership and masculinity comes Bernhardt's Officer's Watch. Combining vintage styling with an historical movement and a modern, bold size, the Officer's Watch offers contemporary relevance housed within a time-honored design. Appropriate at the office today, or as an heirloom tomorrow.
The heart of the Officer's Watch is a Unitas 6497 movement made by ETA, the world-authority on high-grade mechanical watch movements. The large, 44 millimeter steel case combines brushed and polished surfaces with a hardened sapphire crystal on top and a thick, screwed-down clear display case-back. The black, buffalo leather strap features white contrast stitching and a signed buckle.
Every Officers Watch is numbered individually, and comes in a Bernhardt wooden presentation box.
Here are my thoughts and a review of the watch:
The very 1st thing that caught my eye when I received this watch was the size and weight of it. I like a large heavy watch, and this definetly fits that bill. My dress watch prior to this was a large framed Bullova. It is a very nice watch as well so now I am torn between which one to wear.
The design and look of the watch is very simple and masculine yet is luxurious enough it can be worn for just about anything you would want it for. It looks as good with shorts and a t-shirt as it does with a suit. (I do not have one of those on very often but have worn the watch with one once.)
The watch keeps perfect time, in the 2 months I have had it it does not gain or lose any time. This used to be an issue with wind up watches that I have had. The watch will run almost 48 hours on a full wind which is nice if you happen to forget to wind it up. (I had that problem at 1st since my other watches are all battery operated.) The watch does have overwind protection so you can wind it tight and not worry about going to far. You can feel it when it is tight it just basically won't turn anymore.
The fit and finish is flawless. The brushed and polished surface of the watch shine like a diamond when it is cleaned and polished. I have bumped the crystal several times and it does not have a scratch or blemish so it defintley holds up to minor unintentional abuse.
The only thing I did not like about the watch was the leather strap. It is made of calf skin and looks very nice. I am not a big fan of leather straps and this one seemed to scuff and look worn very quickly. This was just a small inconvenience, I took it to a family owned jewlery store near my house and bought a metal band for it. I think it has improved the look of the watch. You can judge yourself from my pictures. The watch guy at the store actually came out to talk to me when I bought the band. He asked me what Badger and Blade was so I gave him a bit of history. He said this watch was the top of the line Bernhardt makes and the ETA movement was spectacular. (Of course I did not have a clue what he was talking about, I had not done any research on it yet.)
So there is my mini review of the watch. It is a 1st class time piece and I would recommend it to anyone. I am not sure if there are any left or not, but if there are I would grab them before they are gone.
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