Fortis B-42 mini review - Dave S

[DaveS]

Yes

Just got back from a week abroad en-famile, 14 of us in all (only 4 in our nuclear family).

I only took the new toy, my Fortis B42 Lemania, with me, and wore it all the time - barbecueing, lounging, eating, drinking, snorkelling (to about 11m).

I am still really impressed.

Wore it all the time on a Chronissimo. The strap choice for this (and all B42s) is an interesting one. I don't really do bracelets, and didn't have time to get anything new before I went, so it had to be waterproof, comfy etc etc. But most importantly, this is a big watch for a 20mm strap. Tried it on black NATO, looked skinny. It came with a silicon Fortis strap, complete with butterfly deployment. But, Fortis, in their wisdom, set the screwed pin bars on this model (and all titanium versions) further back than they do on the other B42s. The result is a step down on the fit of the silicon, sitting below the lugs. It looked a bit wrong, hence the Chronissimo, which the watch is shredding the underside of with relative ease.

It looks good though, and is mighty comfortable. I have cut down another custom strap to go on it too, will post results once I have made a keeper for it.

Excuse the pool / sea drying marks one the photos, wasn't keeping a polishing cloth in my shorts at the time.



So, how about the rest of it?

The pushers are huge (about 6mm diameter), which makes them a pleasure to operate.

The crown too, at 8mm is easy to screw in and adjust with.



The case looks great, and the bezel lovely to work, as well as providing some protection to the case. It wears very easily on a relatively stiff strap such as the Chronissimo too, due to titanium's absence of weight.

I find the dial great to look at, and I like the way they have maximised it by printing the tachymetre on an almost vertical chapter ring.

The lume is interesting. It is useless at sudden sunlight to dark transitions, no superluminova torchlike glow to start with, just dull presence that you really have to get your eyes to adjust to before you can read with clarity. But it stays, and is easily readable when it is properly dark all night with no issues at all. The poor performance of the lume is its only issue, as far as I have found so far.



So there it is. Must get round to those sales posts to pay for it.

D

[Gurmot]

What a beauty. I've had a hankering for a Fortis for years now and never quite got there but this post has bumped it back up my list. I quite like the idea of the auto alarm version but that's just huge!

[grboulter]

Just one word............YUM!

For me, I would have to go with the "Silicon Fortis strap, complete with butterfly deployment"

Stunner, and one day perhaps...............!

[ATG]

Very cool...

[andy_s]

I'd not noticed the big pushers before, very satisfying!

Nice one.

Excuse the ignorance - but what was 'limited edition' about this particular B-42?

[DaveS]

Well Andy, the limited edition bit is the fact that it is powered by the Lemania 5100 - all the other B42 chronos are V7750 units.

And that it is titanium (there is also a later titanium LE using the V7750 that had black pushers and crown).

And (annoyingly) it means the lug holes are differently placed to the steel B42 models, so none of the Fortis straps fit properly, apart from the £500 titanium bracelet

Dave

[andy_s]

Thanks Dave - I hadn't noticed that minor detail (!)