Breitling’s Acrobatic Aviation Showcase

Saturday morning at 10am? I had to repeat that to my BF when he said we were invited for Breitling’s event. I silently told myself it had better be a good event for me to haul my behind up at an ungodly hour on a Saturday! Yes! 10am is ungodly for me! And the dress code for the event is smart casual – they should have said CASUAL – and NOT smart casual. Will explain more later.

At 9:50am (of course we are almost always late) we received a call to say that the valet parking is already full and it’s best for us to park opposite the air terminal! Hmmm…ok – that’s not very thrilling but I was in my comfortable Prada stack heels – and I don’t love these shoes as much – so I don’t mind roughing this pair of shoes out by walking!

We arrived, parked and WALKED to the air terminal. After registration (this is the ONLY event where we were asked for our identification number – I detest our ID numbers as it gives your age up straight away from the first SIX digits!). There was a car to send us to the Breitling guest area – which was less than 70 metros away from the registration counter. Nice touch- the pick up car – although having ample valet space would have been nicer!

Inside the area – wine and beer were served. Yes! And food too! I grabbed a glass of red wine! Very nice red wine, I must add. And wine before 11am! I won’t complain! The nibbles were not crashed hot. A bit bland but I normally don’t eat breakfast – just grabbed so small bites.

Around 11am – BF was still outside but I was feeling extremely hot and bothered. We should have been told to dress DOWN! And NOT in smart casuals! I was expecting to be in a fully air-conditioned space the whole while! Yes – totally spoilt because we have been lucky thus far and have always managed to score extremely privileged passes to events. So the MC starts announcing the event. About time, I muttered to myself. I have no idea why that MC was picked – she has a totally flippant way of speaking and she was trying to be too coy to the “men”. And her dressing was totally OFF! A short white cropped top tied at the waist and a tight black studded jeans with nude heels! Totally inappropriate for the event. Cheapens the whole event, IMHO! And the sound system was so bad I could hardly hear her speak.

However, when the MD of Breitling’s distributorship spoke – I could hear him louder and clearer than when the MC spoke. She should take lessons from him! He explained that this event is a Breitling branding exercise. Aviation is very much part of Breitling’s DNA. I totally agree and I think this is a fantastic branding exercise. To pull off a “stunt” like this for another client will require too much money! After Malaysia – Breitling’s aviation team will head to Thailand, Korea and Japan.

We all headed outside for the show. I wish they had put some air coolers outside or set-up transparent canopies. And some chairs or some sort of sitting arrangement outside would have been nice. Chilled drinks or water could have been served outside as well.

The MC and one team member from the Breitling’s aviation team started explaining the show to us. This was most helpful as I am sure not many of us present had to privilege to view such a show. Here again – the MC’s coyness to another male was so apparent. All the pilots today had a minimum of 15,000 flight hours and a total of 200 years of accumulated flight experience.

The show was spectacular. It was worth getting up at 10am in the morning. And I assumed that hour was picked as this kind of aviation showcase can only happen when the weather is near perfect.

I wish there was another re-cap of the whole show back inside where it was cooler. It was hard to listen and take notes about the different formations in the hot sun. Taking photos was even more challenging. The sun was in the face! My iPhone had a gloss screen protector on and that did not help. And I did not take any cameras with a gigantic zoom lense because I don’t have such a gadget. So equipped only with my trusty Olympus Pen e-P2 with a pancake lense and my favorite Sony TX66 – I struggled with all the shots!

Will I attend another of such events? Yes! And this time – I will be more prepared – I’ll just hire a professional photographer to go with me!

Does this event make me want a Breitling watch? Yes! I had always wanted the Breitling Superocean Heritage 46mm with the Green Bezel. I will go try it on at the shop again!

Will upload some videos later. And will upload some pics taken by one of my friends – she was outside the terminal and she got better shots than me by just using her iPhone 4S! So lesson learnt – it’s not the privileges in life that you are accorded – it’s making the best use of what you have that matters.

Click the show reel icon below to watch a short video clip of a snake-like aviation formation:

Click to Watch Video
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About sl

I shop, I hoard! Bad combination. I am on a daily journey to learn the art of letting go instead of acquiring more!
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