The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here, and I’m really happy to find such a great community of fellow Breitling lovers.
I’m 26 now, and I’ve loved Breitlings since I was about 15. I always told myself that I would one day buy one for myself, but of course as time goes on you find more important things to spend your hard earned money on. Last year, I started my own business while working full time at the same time. Financial freedom has always been important to me, so I decided that once I could leave full time work and rely solely on my 20 hours a week work with my business that I would buy myself a Breitling to commemorate the event.

Now I do have to confess a degree of ignorance regarding all the different models of Breitling. Despite my love, it was always a matter of looking and dreaming rather than solid research. Now that I am about to leave full time work, and hence about to buy myself a Breitling watch for real, I figure that I need to start finding out exactly what I’m after.
So for starters, I understand that you have some Beritlings that are Quartz movements and some that are automatic. I know that automatic movements are worse at keeping time and cost over twice as much to service. Despite this, I’m after an automatic movement as it always seems more ‘genuine’ to me, and in my dreams as a teenager, I have always had an automatic Breitling. Are there any other major differences I should be aware of here?

I want a watch that can handle being submerged and knocked around a bit. I don’t plan on giving it a hard life, none of my nicer watches receive too much of a beating, but I still plan on wearing it as a daily watch.
I’ve been looking around at different models, and so many with different names look very similar to me, and I can’t find an obvious way to differentiate. Models I have liked the look of have included the Cockpit, Windrider, Superocean Steelfish, Aeromarine Superocean, and the Chrono Cockpit. To me, they all look quite similar and I was wondering what the main differences are across the range.

Now I was looking at a budget of about $3,500 which is lower than I COULD go, but I’d like to stick to this amount as closely as possible. I am happy to buy a very good condition second hand one 2004+ vintage, and this may well be what I do. I have looked on Ebay, but of course and slightly concerned about fakes etc. Is this a safe avenue provided I research my online dealers? Is there anything important that I should look for when it comes to second hand Breitlings? Is Ebay a complete nono? Has anyone here purchased a Breitling or other similar high end watch through Ebay before?

Cheers all!

Welcome! This place is a great starting point for your watch questions. These guys know their watches! Where to begin? I would suggest going to your local Breitling AD (Authorized Dealer) and trying on a few. There are a lot of optons for you in your price range so you should have a lot of options. I'm particular to the Aeromarine series. The king of which is my favorite, the Super Avenger. It was the one that spoke to me. There are plenty of pics on this forum of all kinds of models.

Here is a pic of my SA (Super Avenger) The pic kinda sucks. There are much better pics on here.



Good luck in your pursuit of happiness

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SA Blue Dial Silver Subs Pro 2

That's a very nice looking watch! Very much the type of Breitling I'm after.

Yes, I am goign to head down to my local AD next sunday to try a few on.

i was going to suggest the super avenger as well to. i think that watch is big bang for the buck

It was the first Breitling I tried on. I fell in love immediately. I tried on others, but nothing compared to the presence of the SA. If you find it too big, the Avenger is smaller, but still has a good size to it. It was my second choice. I envy your decision making. It was an experience I will never forget. I still get excited waking up and putting on my Breitling. You can't put a price on that!!

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SA Blue Dial Silver Subs Pro 2

Sounds like the Aeromarine line is for you.
Did you check out Breitling.com?
First you should decide on whether to get a chrono or non-chrono, the water resistance you need, dial color, etc.
That would narrow it down for you a bit for you to make a decision.
And then after visiting the AD and trying on a few you'll end up leaving with something completely different.
In short; nothing beats a trip to the AD.

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Cheers,
UJU

Breitling Super Avenger
Breitling Super Ocean Heritage Chrono 125th Anniversary

Okay, so I went to an AD today to try on all the watches I could. The guy that was serving me was really nice, and was obviously a watch fanatic telling me about how different watch brands sold out with different designs and how certain Breitlings are the REAL Breitlings because they have a specific design that has a longer heritages etc. Anyway, he wasn't dissing any Breitlings per se, but it was nice that the guy had a real passion for the watches none the less.

So I REALLY liked the look of the Super Avenger white background and brown leather band he had in the display case, but once I put it on my arm it just ended up looking too chunky on my arm, and he did make a valid point which was its difficulty fitting underneath shirt cuffs. I went down to an Avenger Skyland with blue background and a steel band which suited me perfectly! So this is now the watch that I am after. The AD had a price for me including the steel band for $4600 AUD

The big question looming in my mind now is, whether ebay is a safe purchase location provided I do some due dilligence.
For example This Ebay Add The seller has a high rating, and lots of previous sales as well as a returns policy if its not genuine.

The purchase over Ebay would save me in the vicinity of $1000 AUD which is quite a bit.

Sounds like youve found your watch. Im not sure which exact model you saw, but it might be of interest to you to know that the Skyland (now just called the "Avenger") with white stenciled numerals has been discontinued and replaced with shiny metallic stenciled numerals....and just recently, a skyland (avenger) with baton markers has been introduced. I think the baton marker model is available in white like the super avenger that you tried on. Its almost an identical watch as hte super avenger, just smaller.

Ebay can be a decent place to find a watch, but the truth is that I always recommend somebody new to the brand stick to an AD for their first purchase. The fakes these days are VERY good, and sticking with an AD will give you peace of mind. As you learn more and more, you can eventually delve into the second hand market to score a nice find. Alternatively, the sales forum here is a nice place if you buy from a reputable member.

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-RJ

Hi Djdante,

I am in a quite similar situation as yourself (just a bit older ). I was looking for a blue Avenger Skyland at ebay UK which could potentially save me a lot of money. I posted the pic under the Replika forum and you can find the different opinions there (buying via Internet). You could try the same to take advantage of more experienced Breitling fans.

I really like the Super Avenger and it looks good on Jefferson! My office wrists, however, wont seem to grow significantly to more than about 7.5 inches, even though I did a bit of heavy lifting for some years I also think it will be too big for me and the alternative then is the Skyland. I do some diving and the 300 m limit seems to be a minimum. The steelhead is a bit less flashy and I also like the "cleanness" of this watch, which I probably will buy here in Denmark at the local Breitling AD...better safe than sorry, you know. If you can manage the cost of the Skyland, I think its one of the most stunning Breitlings out there; but the Steelhead is a nice alternative.
The Superocen is also beautiful, but with a size similar to the colt series, it does not have the same "presence" in my opinion.
Let us hear what you decide on!

Cheers
Chris

Steelfish!

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-RJ

Another reason for the good advice of buying ur first from AD, is the fact that u'll prob be using a microscope to inspect every single microinch of ur 1st B... It's then great to be able to bring it back to the AD for ANY concern or question u might have!

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a few Pams...

and I would like to add the fact that you don't want the lingering thought of is this watch real. Its not a good feeling and can eat at you. I say ad all the way for your first. If you are in the us I recommend a pm to jnelson

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Breitling Bentley 6.75
White Baton Super Avenger
Rolex DSSD

I just had a look at the Navitimer World with a white face... That could hurt the wallet, but damn it looked good on my arm.

again with the looking on Ebay, or a reputable individual seller.

What ravenloff and H2F said, plus

I think that a big part of the Breitling experience is buying it from an AD. With the first one even more so. There´s so much more to it. the trips there to try them on. The information and service you get. And then the anticipation of the last drive there for the pick up of your chosen one. Opposed to sitting on your computer and just buying from ebay.

That´s allso the place you can take it for service and they´ll help with anything that might come up later... Like the next one.

Funny you thought Super Avenger to be too big but the Navitimer World the right size. I initially wanted the SA but could not pull it of (small wrists), so the Avenger Skyland was perfect. It looks on me as SA on most and stylisticly it´s spot on for every day use. It´s cool, rugged and can be dressed up and down well. The new version of the Skyland is the Avenger and it has the new silver dial but it´s very different than the clear white on the SA. Still very nice, just different.

The Navi World looked just as big on me as the SA, but the Navitimer is spot on. It´s on my list. It´s much dressier and I want for dressier occasions.

What I liked about the Navitimer World was the really conservative 'original' style watchface it has. The size of the actual dial is very large as well (like the Super Avenger), but it is much thinner and looks good on my wrist as a result.

AD experience is one thing, but in the case of the Navitimer World, I'm getting quoted $10k Australian ($9.5k USD) For a watch at my local AD that I am seeing advertised elsewhere for around $5k. That's quite a whopping difference.