The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi all,

read the dhalem topic and i wondered when do you all stop buying Breitlings?

The prices go up every year, would you pay $4000 for a colt in a couple of years for example or only buy second hand by then (like i do)?

So my question: When is it enough?

Regards raymond147.

Its comming soon. I say as for in house breitling movements it is here all ready, for me any way. - .

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Breanach78

A Few Breitlings.

Now.

I currently only have one ling in my collection, and that is not going to change. I may move the current one to replace it with an Evo, but I can't see myself adding anything else from Breitling. At one point I thought that I could have my entire collection consist of Breitlings...my how things have changed.

I have already stopped. At one point my entire rotation was 8 Breitlings, I've had 16 different lings, I'm down to one, and that one will be gone shortly. Breitling doesn't do it for me any longer, their direction is clueless, and their new releases are quite ugly.

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"I don't own any watches, I just lease them"

shokking to read all of this...

I have a number of Breitlings - modern and vintage and intend to keep them all. There's nothing in the current offering that inspires me to buy another - I have my Navitimer 01 and that scratches the in house itch.

Each time Breitling brings out a new model then I'll consider the whole package - design, movement, price point, etc and if it's a watch that appeals at a price that I feel offers value then I'll buy it. There's nothing like that at the moment, and the current design direction (if you can call it that) suggests that there may not be soon, but I'm ever hopeful. The pricing strategy seems to be getting rather ahead of the product which is definitely a concern, but if consumers vote with their wallets that problem may take care of itself.

For me, I don't think it's possible to say when it is enough. It's down to two simple things - a) do I like them, and b) can I afford them.

All the time there are Breitlings I like and can afford, then I'll buy them. If/when there comes a time when I either don't like any of them, or can't afford them, then I won't buy them - simple as that.

I may dislike 99% of what Breitling are currently making, but I think it's shortsighted in the extreme to say that I'll NEVER buy another Breitling, because next week, next month, next year there may be a complete change of direction (á la Zenith), and I may like loads of them.

EDIT : Roff beat me to the "Submit" button!

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Driver8

Site Moderator

what i mean by "when is it enough" is if you would buy, for example. a Colt for $4000 and you can afford it but when is the price to high for it?
If the prices are getting higher and higher the marked would be smaller for people to buy the cheapest Breitling to start the collection and the addiction... dont you think?

If we look at it from a purely objective economic standpoint, the perfect situation for a company to be in is to have demand for it's product to be equal to it's ability to supply that product. If we assume that Breitlings are fairly price elastic (i.e. that the price impacts demand) then raising the price will reduce demand, and that may be Breitling's intention.

The reduced capacity considerably when the recession hit - output in 2009 more than halved from 2008, and we don't yet know whether Breitling has returned production capacity to 2008 levels. Additionally, we have to assume that capacity is reduced with an increased percentage of in house pieces as the production time / effort is likely longer than ebauche modification. Finally, we have to recognize that Breitling is reliant on a number of suppliers who may also have reduced capacity as a result of the economic downturn (unlike many companies, virtually all Breitling suppliers are Swiss).

I'm not saying that is what is going on - and in some markets currency is a huge factor, but it wouldn't entirely surprise me if Breitling were looking to match demand to supply. The added benefit for that is that they will increase profit per piece.

How are they matching demand to the reduced supply? By raising prices...or by releasing ugly pathetic watches? Possibly both actually.

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"I don't own any watches, I just lease them"

That's an interesting point Roff, I'd not looked at it that way if it is indeed what they are doing.

For me it's enough now; I'm at that point where the price doesn't justify the purchase, at least for the newer models and models with in-house movements. The second hand market is still very much open though.

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

I was told yesterday June 6 is D-Day for the newest price increase.

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SHARKMAN

Does anyone know what % the price increase is, especially for the B01 and Chronomat?

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Squadron Member: Breitling Chronomat B01 Blackeye Blue, Brushed Bezel, Pilot Bracelet

I would also have to agree with you Tim. But it isn't just Breitling, other brands like Omega are taking their prices higher with and without in-house movements. And sure, they are beginning to run up to the JLC and the likes but their prices are already too high for me .

So the used market will probably become more attractive to me also.

With respect to Ray...'s OP, I think Breitling will lose some first time (and repeat) buyers that want to get into the luxury market at $2000-3000 (where the Colts and SOs were priced). Four to five thousand dollars may scare them off, we will see ?

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Chrono Jetstream
Montbrilliant 1903
Aerospace E79362

When it first came out the SO II on a rubber strap was very well priced especially with a discount.

I can't imagine people will be as interested at four or five thousand and it will not take that many years at the current rate of compounding to reach that level...

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Squadron Member: Breitling Chronomat B01 Blackeye Blue, Brushed Bezel, Pilot Bracelet