The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I'm about to buy my first Breitling this week, and after doing a bit of reading on here, I found out that you can determine the date of production on a watch by looking at the numbers in between the lugs (http://www.breitlingsource.com/articles_dating.shtml).

The watch I'm thinking of is the SOH46 which has been in production since 2007.
Naturally I'd like a 2013 one, but is it a deal breaker if I find that the watch was manuafactured in 2010 or 2011?
What concerns me is the watch sitting in the window unused, and the issues this may cause to the movement having been idle for a long period of time, ie. improper lubrication.

I just don't want to buy a "new" watch, find out it's running out of COSC specifications a month later and have to send it in for adjustment or a service.

Would it be strange for me to ask the salesperson to remove the strap/bracelet so that I can check the date?

I personally wouldnt want a brand new watch that has been sitting around since 2010, or maybe even 2011, assuming that its still a current model and brand new ones can be easily found. 2012 and on would be fine for me. Considering that the SOH isnt a dog of a watch, id be surprised if the one in the showcase was that old anyway. Chances are it won't be.

And as to whether or not it would be weird to ask for the strap to be removed: no, not in my opinion. BTW, many of the dates can be read without removing the rubber or the leather. The bracelet is a different story though.

_________________
-RJ

Your money, your right.

I wouldn't be insisting on a 2013, that would be overkill, but would certainly negotiate for a bigger discount on an earlier production piece. I actually wouldn't mind taking an older piece - just send it for service before the end of the two year warranty and you are good to go.

Thanks for the replies.
What sort of discount should be negotiated for say a 2 year old model?

This one has always interested me. People often find that the new watches they purchase from an AD are a fair bit older than they assume. I've certainly always asked for the date stamp between the lugs so I knew where I stood. Given the lead-time, however (COSC testing, assembly, distribution etc), I'd probably be content with a late 2011-on watch at this point. Bear in mind that the date stamp appears to relate to the batch of cases and not to be an accurate record of when a given watch was actually assembled, which can be some months later - see:

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=45929

I'd love a forum inventory on this, but I suspect that if you assembled data on date-stamp plus date of purchase, a 2-3 year interval would be more common than 1 year.