The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I wanted to post this for some weeks but decided I would do so after I found a decent authorised dealer (which I did) and had ordered my watch of choice the BO1 then I would post.

First let me say not all Authorised Dealers salespeople make you feel bad, Indeed my order of the watch through George was easy (except for having to stay up all night to ring him so I could ask the questions I needed to ask) George at all times was easy to contact, easy to discuss the options with, very easy to deal with, indeed if all the people we dealt with were like George then buying a Breitling or any watch of substance would be a fantastic experience.

Let me say, this thread relates to my experience in visiting an authorised dealer in Australia. It was a couple of weeks before I ordered from George. I left that store in a major capital city in Australia that morning thinking that I could never and would never go back. You see (and I dont often bring this up) I walk with an impediment (a gate as a result of injury) there was only me and one other gentlemen in the store (he may have been there with his sister because if he wasnt he was being served by 3 customer service people. I on the other hand, wearing casual clothing (but not looking like a bum at all) had to almost beg to see a BO1.

The guy at the counter instead of taking the watch out of the cabinet so I could see, pulled out a watch magazine and proceeded to show me what a B01 looked like out of the magazine, to which I responded, I already know what it looks like! When I pointed out that he had a BO1 in the cabinet, he said thats it- and he pointed to it - thinking that I would find that funny!

I never did get to handle a BO1 that day or any other watch, I have come to learn that when your not wanted some where, its better to probably leave. Anyway, thats my rant, Im lucky I found this forum, Im deadset lucky this forum has contacts like George and Breitling and all the other watch companies are lucky that they have guys like George selling there products and representing their brands!

Its a damn lot better than what I got in Australia, because here, I left that store asking myself what I had done wrong in walking in there and asking to see and actually handle a BO1. I had seen a BO1 before but never handled one or felt what It was like on a wrist.

Anyway, I just wanted to put this up because watch companies need to do better with the people they have as authorised dealers. They need to find more people like George and less people than the bloke who wanted to show me a BO1 out of a magazine. And just to think he said I cant give you a discount and the watch costs over $12k retail.

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Breitling Chronomat BO1 Riviera Blue Dial Stainless Steel Case and Pilot Bracelet

You need to wear your B01 back there and let him know that you would have bought one from him if he'd have treated you better.

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-RJ

Stories like that makes me sick. If i was the owner of that AD i would have fired the salesman on the spot. You do not treat customers like that, period. You are very naive and unprofessional if you think that these days the only people with money are the people that look rich by the way they dress.

My friend went to a car exhibition to look at a new Porsche he was seriously planning on buying. Just because he was wearing casual clothes (old jeans and a rain coat), the salesman at the stand didnt let him get near the car. He physically held him back saying "This car is very expensive, please stand back and look" with a insulting tone.

Meanwhile he was letting other "smart dressed" people touch it and sitting inside showing them all the buttons and explaining the features giving them brochures and price lists.

My friend has enough money to buy every car on that stand. Enough said.

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Breitling Super Avenger w/Pro 2 Black batons 2009

"The repairman has never seen a model quite like yours" Murphy´s Law

Another car dealer story. A mate of mine is a builder and on the way home from work the other year he was passing the BMW dealer so decided to pop in to look at the new Z4 (or whatever it was). Since he was wearing dirty jeans and t-shirt, no one would give him the time of day.

Unbeknown to them the guy is a seriously rich guy with a Rolls-Royce, E-type Jag, TR-4, Merc, and a Harley amongst the others in his garage.

The following week he drove to the garage at the weekend dressed in non-working clothes.

"Remember me?" he said. "I'm the scruffy b*stard you refused to speak to last week. Just wanted to show you my new car." Parked outside was a brand new Porsche he'd just bought for something like £50,000 cash!

Don't judge a book by it's cover!


@Ramps - Definitely return to the local AD and show them your new B01.

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For more information on identifying Breitling replicas, please visit my web site
http://f4buz.com/watches/breitling/fakes/fakes.html

The sad fact is that in many markets staff are retail generalists, not watch specialists. You may have a manager with experience in the watch and jewellery business but that's about it. Europe may be slightly different, but prices also reflect that.

In this economy working in a watch store is not a 'dream' job - you rely on commissions and watch sales are down. Additionally they are expensive pieces so you have lots of ups and downs in commissions - volume doesn't level it out. Finally, the product is complex and it takes time and effort to learn about them, and if you don't see the job as a career then you just won't bother.

I have looked semi seriously into getting into the watch business and it's just not worth it, with the expected discounts the margins are way too thin. The only way to make money in the business is to be a jewellery store as well as a watch store. Those thin margins translate directly into low quality staff.

Since we are kibitzing:

A few years back, I helped open a store here in the tri-state area. It's a big chain. I'm sure many of you have been to one here in the US.
In any event, shortly after opening (and during the training period of which I was a part of), I popped out for a cuppa while the powers that be kept watch over the newbies on the sales floor. One young person, in particular, was worth the time and effort. He was a WIS and knew his stuff. He even had a penchant for sales. Remeber, the two are often mutually exclusive in terms of watch sales people. Either they are great at closing OR they know their stuff. Generally the two don't merge for quite some time. But I digress.
Anyway, as I was entering the shop with a batch of Starbucks for everyone, I noticed our young friend chatting with another young man. Dark skinned (not being a bigot or racist here, simply 'painting a picture'), tatoos, piercings, jeans down below his waist. Hopefully you get the idea. Now, what I came to find out afterwards was one of the 'old-timers' who was brought in from the flag-ship store in NYC had passed on the aformentioned customer to the young WIS. Obviously he judged a book by it's cover. What I noticed right away was the two young guys had made a connection and were chatting watches. They went outside the shop and looked at window displays. Had the occasional piece out of the case when they came back inside. They spent a half an hour chatting. The asst. manager was getting her unmentionables twisted watching this. I made an effort to engage her in conversation because I had an inclination that this was going somewhere.
Finally, the young man got out his sales book and began to write up a sale furiously. As it turns out, the customer was an NBA star. He purchased 3 watches that day for appx. $79,000.00 USD, total. (Neither was Breitling, but oh well!)

The point? No matter what the high end companies preach, they create an environment where they DO judge a book by it's cover. Hell, I'll go you one better. It is genetic, to a certain extent. 20,000 years plus of evolution is hard to work past (something along the lines of 'we are trained to be suspicous of those that are different' because it often meant hardship or pain, but again I digress. Blame it on my undergrad in Bio...). So, will this "Confederacy of Dunces" ever change? Nope. We just have to deal with them and complain about it here. Natural selection will weed them out. In the meanwhile, people like George @ Govbergs are the real gems. That's why we should continue to give them our business.

My tuppance...
-jbbb

I don't think any salesperson could guess who is going to buy and who is not, just by looking at them. I work in the Casino business for many, many years and if I have learned anything... you can not judge people by the way they look. I saw an old woman just the other day walk into the Baccarat Pit looking like a homeless person with a shopping bag... only thing her bag was full with several $10,000 bricks of cash. In fact its really pretty common for some very wealthy people to take on a shabby eccentric appearance...with lots of money, they care less what other people think.
How can they expect you to spend several thousand on a watch without touching it...thats nuts !
Even if your just window shopping they should welcome the traffic in this economy...I have a friend who has done extremely well in the Jewellery business for over 30 years, he is closing down May 1st.

A small percentage of the population are D-Bags, that's the way it is. The D-bag rule does not descriminate, it includes people in every country and profession. No matter what we do for a living, we all know 1 guy like that Australian AD.

I would agree with all of you, this is not 1960, and you can't judge people's means on appearance any longer.

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Chronomat Evo (White, Arabics)
Avenger Seawolf (Black, Batons) INCOMING?

That 'small' percentage is growing daily

I have stories after stories of things like that.
I'm young.
I'm wealthy.
I surely don't dress with a 3 piece suit often.
I'm more of a jean/shirt guy 'most' of the time (always neat, NEVER baggy/punky).
I have been refuse sales for that reason.
Their lost, i spent my money elsewhere.

Never judge a book by its cover. I always get a kick leaving X store after being 'shown out' and leave the area in ether my Porsche or my Stang (which tbh are both respectively nice cars). Today's salesperson are very... well they suck. Good service is so hard to get.

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Panerai PAM212 | Panerai Diver Strap
Panerai PAM111 | Black Croc Strap
Omega Planet Ocean | SS Bracelet
Rolex Submariner | SS Bracelet (Sold, Awaiting Funds)
Breitling Navitimer Olympus | Brown Croc Strap (Arriving)

Which capital city were you in? Just curious if you don't mind saying; I'll totally understand if you don't. Not that I expect Australian AD's to be any better or worse than any others but there are only a few stores that sell Breitling's in Australia and I've been in 2 of those in 2 capital cities. Very disappointing to hear that this happened to you in Australia as I've visited those stores in jeans and a shirt and never been dealt with like that. Disgusting behaviour. Why would you ever buy from there or recommend it. They honestly musn't realise the value of word of mouth, particularly when you consider forum's such as this.

Acutally you'd better not say which store

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Happines is Good Health and a Bad Memory.
"Ingrid Bergman"

Its not important which store it was my concern is that I dont feel that I can go back there for anything ever again. Im an overwhelming majority of ADs and there staff are like George, people who do an outstanding job. Maybe I just got someone who was in a bad mood! My issue is where I will take my BO1 if I ever need it to get serviced.

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Breitling Chronomat BO1 Riviera Blue Dial Stainless Steel Case and Pilot Bracelet

It's quite important actually... so that other's are spared the crap you had to deal with.

Feel bad for the AD? Why? If they can't hire proper people, f*** them.

Theirs no excuse for bad service.

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Panerai PAM212 | Panerai Diver Strap
Panerai PAM111 | Black Croc Strap
Omega Planet Ocean | SS Bracelet
Rolex Submariner | SS Bracelet (Sold, Awaiting Funds)
Breitling Navitimer Olympus | Brown Croc Strap (Arriving)

And please take a friend with a digital camera to get a pic of the salesman's face as you show him.

My primary AD was the first I visited. I wanted the bracelet on an AS sized for a look see. The woman came back and said the person to do it wasn't there and it would take a half hour. And this was over lunch and my attire made it obvious I didn't have all day. I told her to get me a screwdriver and I could do it in 3 minutes. At that point the fellow who is now my primary salesperson swooped in and I've bought several Breitlings from him since.

One time I was picking up/paying for a watch that arrived and my guy wasn't there. 3 older sales women were bumping into each other and acting as if I had demanded they create cold fusion on the spot. But the off duty cop and I had a good laugh after the fact.

At the other local AD, there is one saleswoman who knows her Breitlings and the rest seem, well, naturally blonde and perpetually prigish.

The point is, it's a flip of the coin if you will have the experience you are expecting and if you lead with your expectations, you may as well be leading with your chin.

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SHARKMAN

Im not the type of person who trys to bring down other people ie. in this instance a AD because one of there sales people is no good. In the end I am happy I found this place and I got a fantastic watch.

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Breitling Chronomat BO1 Riviera Blue Dial Stainless Steel Case and Pilot Bracelet

I'll just tack on my experience with cars.

Ferrari dealer, looking at one of the then-new Maserati Spyders. We pulled up in a beat to shit Dodge van that we use to haul parts, fertilizer, etc. No service, even when we asked to look at the Spyder. Showed up 2 hours later in an E-Type Jag and a 2005 M3. Instant service. Didn't purchase the car and made it known why. Show up a month later, in shabby clothing, no service again when inquiring about purchasing a book. Until they realized we had pulled up in a restored 250 Lusso. Had a fun chat with the manager over that one. Everyone in sales judges people by their appearance or demeanor. It happens. It's just BS how night and day it is. The Ferrari/Maserati/Lamborghini incident was just the worst one I've encountered. Which is why I prefer dealing with individuals rather than shops/dealers. Still waiting to be proven wrong...


ETA: Lusso is not mine, if people were wondering. Belongs to an uncle in PA who also owns a Shelby Daytona amongst other things. Not a watch guy though, :/

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Posting from Afghanistan
-Henry