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Will Swatch withold repair parts too?
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Author:  9 iron [ Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:57 am ]
Post subject:  Will Swatch withold repair parts too?
With the seemingly inevitable closing of it's doors to the access of movements produced by the Swatch groups manufacturers, what is the outlook for getting repairs, services and restorations on Breitling watches we presently own that are built upon these movements? Will Swatch still be selling repair and replacement parts? Will future Breitling repairs mean replacement of entire movements due to lack of original parts? Will they use non original-maker replacement parts and will that devalue our watches, or will they tell us that they can no longer service our watches, leaving a 5 year old watch to die on the vine like a 30 year old watch might because there are no parts left to repair it?

I'm just wondering, as a new buyer who is on the verge of buying his first couple of Breitlings, would it be prudent to put it off a year or so and begin buying them when they come with completely in-house manufactured movements like the B01? I don't have a problem with dropping 7 or 8 grand on a pair of watches that will last 20 or 30 years, but I do have a problem with spending that on a pair that will last 5 years because repair parts are going to be unavailable. I mean, I could just buy a Rolex Sub and bide my time for a couple of years....

Don't mean to sound pessimistic, but reading the article in the Robb report and a couple of web articles about Swatch, sounds like that's exactly what may happen. I'm sure you guys must have thought about this, what do you think?
Author:  Roffensian [ Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Will Swatch withold repair parts too?
Swatch are not witholding the supply of movements!

What they are doing is witholding the supply of ebauches - movement kits for others to modify and / or assemble. They are effectively saying that they will either be the movement supplier or they will have nothing to do with it, they don't want to be a facilitator for companies that don't want to develop their own movements but want to modify someone else's work.

In terms of repair parts they have committed to the supply of parts for repairs to all customers. That said, I am now fairly sure that Breitling can produce most parts for the Swatch group movements that they use either in house or from other third parties (remember that trademark protection on these movements expired a long time ago).
Author:  9 iron [ Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Will Swatch withold repair parts too?
Roffensian wrote:
What they are doing is witholding the supply of ebauches - movement kits for others to modify and / or assemble.

And that is exactly why I wondered about this, because Breitling modifies movements they acquire from Swatch.

Roffensian wrote:
In terms of repair parts they have committed to the supply of parts for repairs to all customers.

That would be the answer I hoped to hear, thank you. It is the one piece of information I did not find in any of the reports or articles I have read on the subject. I suppose they would simply require Breitling to state that they would use these for repair of existing customer watches only in allowing them to keep an inventory of parts on hand.

Thanks for the response, I hope I didn't get you too worked up. Gotta remember, I'm just a newbie here doin my homework :)

I wonder how long it will be before Breitling makes everything in house and if there will be a drastic reduction in their lineup and/or a shortage of new product once they stop using the Swatch ebauches? I kind of doubt Brietling will go ahead and put a pure, unadulterated Swatch movement in one of their watches and it sounds like the cessation of sales for modified use is quite near. Seems like it would take quite some time to be ready to make all of the movements they need in house as it took nearly 5 years (or so I've heard) to have the B01 movement ready for production.

Not trying to start any arguments here, just honestly curious.
Author:  Roffensian [ Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Will Swatch withold repair parts too?
B01 was in development for more than 5 years. 12 months ago they had capacity for 50,000 B01s per year - that's roughly 15 - 20% of production volume, and trust me they aren't selling anywhere near that many Chronomat B01s.

However, as I said in the previous post, there is no copyright protection on things like the 7750, 2892, etc any more so there is no need to use Swatch group as a supplier of those parts. Breitling can continue to deliver B13 movements (for example) without anything coming from Swatch.
Author:  9 iron [ Fri Jan 01, 2010 9:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Will Swatch withold repair parts too?
Thanks, I appreciate the insight. From what I've been reading, the authors painted a rather loose picture of a major shortage for many companies and gave the impression that they'd be high and dry, SOL, so to speak. That's why I asked what I asked here, as many of you seem so much more knowledgeable than the soundbites available in print and on many of the blogs.

I'm a blue collar collector, I'll buy only a few pieces to keep, won't be trading up or biting on the newest models to come out. I need to be sure before I shell out. I am going into watch collecting just like I did when I began collecting fly rods and briar pipes: see what appeals to me, learn as much history as I can, find the most knowledgeable collectors and seek out their opinions, then go back and see what appeals to me after all that. I started looking at Breitling watches about a year ago. Built up some lust, decided that's what I wanted, have been researching for many months and still know after all that that I still want at least a couple of the same Breitling models that appealed to me back when I first started drooling over them (and one Rolex, a sub no date). So, if I've asked or will ask a goofy question or two along the way, its for self justification or assurance and the responses are greatly appreciated. The whole Swatch thing just sort of came at me this past week, so I felt I needed to know before moving forward.

Thanks!

Jim
Author:  Roffensian [ Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Will Swatch withold repair parts too?
9 iron wrote:
So, if I've asked or will ask a goofy question or two along the way, its for self justification or assurance and the responses are greatly appreciated.


That's how we all learn.

I'm happy to tell people not to use the quick set date between 8pm and 3am, but after the first couple of hundred posts like that I'm not contributing much to the collective knowledge. :lol: :wink:

Post like this are different!
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