The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi Everyone,

Short time reader and first time poster! I did some reading about AD vs Grey Market from earlier posts and from the sound of it I am leaning towards buying my first Breitling from an AD. If I can get some advice, I would greatly appreciate it. I found the piece that I am interested at Jomashop: http://www.jomashop.com/breitling-watch-ab011011-m524ss.html for $5,793 no tax and free shipping.

I've only been to a few stores in my area which I am thinking are ADs and of course their pricing is around the retail price of $9k. I'm in the Dallas area if that matters. Is this a good deal? Can I squeeze a similar price from a local AD? Thanks so much in advance for anyone's time and I hope I don't get blasted!

Thanks,

Art

Also, I can't tell if the picture is bad on the Jomashop website, but is that model supposed to be the same as this one that is pictured?

Jomashop pictures aren't reliable, they are renderings (I know for a fact that they have previously tried to sell a dial combo that was never made), and they also usually only try to source the watch after they receive payment.

No brainer for me to go through an AD and if you contact jnelson3097 then he can put you in touch with forum sponsor Govberg who will look after you and ensure that you get the 5 year warranty which would not be offered by the grey market - and a 5 year warranty is worth a lot.

Welcome to BreitlingSource.

Pay a little extra and get the 5 year warranty with an AD.

_________________
Justin
Please contact me via PM for the contact details for Govberg Jewelers
Govberg is an AD for over 50 fine Swiss and German watch brands.
Visit them on the web at http://www.govbergwatches.com or call 800-528-8463

+1. The 5 year warranty is a great reason to buy from an AD. And Govbergs usually can do very good on pricing.


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Just one thing you need to know however, if you ever intend to resell the watch (if you intend to keep it forever, you can ignore this). This is a $8960 at retail, but as soon as you've bought it, sold privately, even brand new in box, with warranty and all, you wouldn't be able to resell it for more than $5700-5800, even if you never wear it. After a year of ownership, good luck selling it for more than $4000. No joke.

So if money is a concern and/or you ever intend to resell, I would never buy from an AD, even with a discount in the order 25%. The depreciation is just sobering on these watches.

But resale on grey market is lower than resale on an AD piece - especially if you are foregoing a 5 year warranty, and some people won't buy a grey market watch resale.

I know it's just my personal experience and that I can't infer that this will be everybody's experience, but from what I have noticed selling an authentic/warrantied watch, buyers don't appear to be prepared to pay more for authentic/warrantied vs grey, and end up buying the cheapest watch, whether it is grey or authentic. That directly contradicts my experience buying and selling other reputable brands (Omega and Rolex, for example), but in this case, that's what I'm seeing.

Therefore, I'd recommend buying used from a good seller. Way cheaper than an AD, and you may still get a mint piece with warranty, if that's important to you. Just don't kind yourself thinking getting brand new from an AD is a good deal financially. It isn't.

We'll agree to disagree. One non warranty repair (and let's face it the in house movement has proved that it can need warranty repairs) will more than offset the saving from grey market. There are undoubtedly people who will pass on buying a used watch without a warranty (heck some people won't buy without a box or instruction manual) and that drives demand which drives price.

If I may ask: have you tried selling one of these watches in the last six months? Have you looked at the pre-owned market for these watches in the last six months?

Again, I'm not saying I disagree with you: I, for one, would not buy without a full set and a warranty. The issue is: if you do, better buy pre-owned, because you will take a 50% cut on whatever you pay an AD for such a watch, if you try to resell within a year or less.

I don't sell watches, I am familiar with the secondary market. I never offered an opinion on buying used vs. new, because that's not what the OP asked, I offered an opinion on AD vs. grey. I firmly believe that grey market to save a few bucks over AD is nothing more than a roll of the dice - to me (and to many others) warranty is worth far more than a grey market saving - to say nothing of the fact that the history of the grey market watch is completely unknown.

As I have already said once in this thread - we'll agree to disagree.

Thank you so much for the replies. It has been very helpful reading your experience and opinions. For the most part....ADs offer a 5 yr warranty. What do most people do if they plan on keeping the watch for much longer than that??

The watch will need servicing every 5 - 7 years and beyond the warranty period any servicing and repairs will be at your cost. You say "for the most part" ADs offer a 5 year warranty, Breitling actually offers a 5 year warranty for every new in house movement watch sold. If the AD tells you otherwise then find another AD.

My 2 cents is to never never buy from Grey Market. For Chronomat 44, might even have to think twice buying a resale unless if you are very very knowledgeable with the resale market, the piece still has reasonable number of years left of warranty, price very reasonable and very trusted seller, Blar Blar Blar.... as Roff mentioned the chances of paying at least one visit to the service centre is high.

I came across someone from another forum who bought a 2nd hand TO with in-house movement from a 2nd hand shop. The only warranty offered was 2 years by the shop, I guess the piece originated from the Grey Market. When he encountered problems with his watch, he PM me and said he would bring the watch back to the shop to service it, I strongly advised him not to do so and asked him to bring the watch to the service centre even if it would cause money, as to my understanding so far only Breitling Service Centres are qualified to service their in-house movements, at least in my country. He insisted bringing the watch to the shop since it was under their warranty. True enough not only his problem was not resolved, more issues happened and finally he decided to bring the watch to the Service Centre under my advice. Now the watch is back and running great. But I think the total amount of money he spent isn't really a big difference as compared to buying new from AD with 5 years warranty. My point is either buy new from AD if you intend to keep long term or if you are ever thinking of buying a resale, do your homework to minimize the risk of getting a bad deal.

Anyway for the OP, rightfully the version that you are looking for do not exist. Because the description of the dial is black. So far only some of the LEs and Flying Fish has black dial and black sub-dials combo, but not with all silver hands. But heck, I start to see nonsense recently. I passed by the boutique and start to see strange combo on the display that were not supposed to be in the range. They started using LE brushed bezel on some of the regular Chronomats(I think many should welcome this). I saw red Sec hands(supposedly only on LEs) on some regular Chronomats. Worst of all, today I walked into an AD and saw the Buck Rogers bezel on the Chronomat Evolution!!!! As much as I am a supporter of the Buck Rogers bezel, I nearly fainted when I saw that combo. I would have thought it was a fake if it had not been an AD. Seems like it's not difficult to have the combo you want nowsadays. Therefore my personal opinion is to buy new from an AD if you are intending to keep forever to ensure that it's not a "pirated" piece and also enjoy the 5 yrs warranty which you will have a high chance of utilizing. I don't think you will want to look at resale since you are not familiar, and if you are, seek advice from the old timers here like what you are doing now. Anyway take note that some Chronomat owners regret after their purchase but I am one of those who have not and love it even more now. Maybe you might want to go through the past threads on the Chronomat 44 before deciding if you want to buy new or go for resale. Look forward to welcome you to the B01 Squadron;)

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Breitling Chronomat 01 Limited Edition
Breitling Navitimer 01 46mm

If you don't have a Breitling warranty then you effectively have no warranty unless the store policy provides for replacement. Whether it is in house or not if you don't buy from an AD (new or used) then a repair warranty is worthless because the store can't access Breitling parts.