The Breitling Watch Source Forums

im new to breitling....well any watch to be honest...i just recently purchased my first watch, a super avenger. my question is..is the warranty a really important thing for a watch like this...i know i wouldn't drive my car without one but thats a whole other story, are these watches typically "reliable"? is there any common issues i will encounter in the first 2 years of ownership that would require warranty?

I guess the value of the warranty all depends if you are risk loving or risk averse as a person.

In terms of reliability, well, yes they ARE reliable, but at the end of the day a mechanical watch is similar to car engine but on a tiny scale - lots of mechnical parts with extremely fine tolerances (way FINER than a car in actual fact) all moving together. With the best will in the world there WILL be the occasional watch that has problems - it's just the nature of manufacturing anything in reasonably large numbers.

The warranty is one of those things that you will only appreciate if you need to use it! Costs can be quite significant on watches like these if you need something major doing. Even standard servicing is quite expensive. For example, I had a routine service on my Bentley Le Mans last year and it came to just over £400.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

I would say if you're a desk jockey, warranty might be gravy. I sense that the thrust of this thread is "should I buy authorized" which is a whole series of issues above and beyond warranty. It always gets boiled down to this because manufacturers threaten to take it away--which is really all they can do. You need to also confirm authenticity and previous history, because the sad truth is, "unauthorized" often means "refurb."

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Avenger Skyland
If I said I was good, you'd think I was bragging.
If I told you I wasn't, you'd know I was lying.

I have worn nothing but breitling for the last 8 years. 2 diff watches. Never ever had a reason to need a warranty.

As earlier said above I also think it is individual. Breitlings as most other objects sold with a warranty are of course built to withstand more than 2 years of use - otherwise it would be quite bad business to have the warranty in the first place. I don't expect my watches to need warranty related service for several years but if something just happened and I needed the service I guess I'd be grateful for the warranty.

Still, not having the warranty wouldn't be the end of the world -if somethings happen I would need to pay in the same way as if a warranty related issue turns up after the warranty expired. I'll probably dislike the cost, but it wouldn't be the end of the world.

However, what's really important is that the watch is authentic. If it's not, nobody would do the needed work. So, when buying a used watch the warranty can act as an indicator that the watch indeed is authentic. In that sense the warranty can be quite important, together with the seller's history, the look of the watch and other things that might close or dismiss the deal.

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Collection: http://s540.photobucket.com/albums/gg32 ... mview=grid

Make enough watches, cars, tvs, stereos or whatever in a given year and there are bound to be problems with a few. Watch problems can get expensive fast. I had some serious issues with a brand new Omega Seamaster (currently on my wrist) a year or so ago. It got sent back to Omega 3 times in about 8 months. Luckily my AD took care of everything and at no cost to me. Was I put off by Omega?? A little at first, but I came to the realization that these are precise little machines on our wrists and mistakes during assembly or servicing are bound to happen. It may never happen to you at all, or may not have happened with a Breitling, but there are people out there that it has happened to. And its a good feeling to be able to walk back into an AD with a warranty. My AD took care of everything for my watch and Omega resolved whatever issues it had. It has run perfectly ever since it last came back.

thanks for all the replies guys...i did purchase my watch from an ad and it does have warranty...i was just curious whether anyone has actually used it....

I think you'll find a few people on here that has unluckily been forced to use the warranty.

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Collection: http://s540.photobucket.com/albums/gg32 ... mview=grid

If this is a huge purchase for you and you expect to keep the watch for two years, then yes, i think the warranty is a good idea.

Not for people like me, I buy watches used, many times without warranty, and have save so much money doing this that I can pay for a service if necessary and still come out way ahead, in fact I've probably saved 10's of thousands of dollars over the years buying used vs. new. For me the math works, but not if you are a one or two watch guy. In 3 years, I've had to have service performed on about 3 watches (out of 120ish) and none of the services were more than $200, by dealing directly with the service center (not through an AD).

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Valid Warranty = Very important!

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Coasterkid
Breitling Super Avenger
Breitling Steelfish
Breitling B01
Omega Seamaster
Rolex T/T Yachtmaster
TW Steel TW22

ofcourse warranty...is really important
you never know what can happend to the watch or brachlet

even the small problems can cost major $$$$

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-Chrono Avenger ti-sold
-Blackbird-sold
Avenger m1-sold
Skyland
Seawolf