The Breitling Watch Source Forums

A couple of weeks ago, I was given a $5,000 gift certificate to Forum Shops at Caesers Palace in Las Vegas. Now, I'm a huge shopper and Forum Shops is a mecca for shopping so I was extremely excited for my upcoming shopping spree. The thought of going to Gucci or LV and picking out whatever I wanted put a huge smile on my face. But then I started to think... why not use this gift certificate towards something I normally wouldn't buy. That's when I decided to buy a watch. I spent the next couple of days looking at watches online. I ultimately decided on a grey-faced Avenger.

If you're not familiar with Forum Shops, there's only a couple of watch stores - Tourneau and another store that sells Hublot, IWC, B&R, etc. Anyways, since Tourneau was the only Breitling AD in the mall, that's where I had to go. As soon as you walk into Tourneau, there's a nice Breitling display on the right hand side. In the display case was my grey-faced Avenger. I asked the SA if I could try it on. The first thing I noticed was how much smaller it wore. Now I don't have big wrists by any means, but the watch just looked disproportional to me. Bummer. I was so disappointed by this, I didn't bother to look at the other Breitlings. Walked over to the Omegas... nothing caught my eye. Tried on a Cartier Pasha... nice watch, but I'm 24 and this would be my only watch so no dice. Tried on a B&R... again, nice watch but not worth the money. Up next was a Tag Heuer (I forget the model). Again, nice watch but it lacked that "oomph" that I was looking for. Oh, I also tried on a nice IWC. The SA said, "You have great taste - this is a $20,000 watch." Lovely.

So I left. Went home to ponder. Did I need a $5k watch? Should I just re-do my wardrobe and not have to worry about shopping for the next few years? Nah! So the next day I went back to Tourneau. I immediately b-lined to the Breitling display and that's when I saw her - a beautiful white-faced Super Avenger sans arabic numerals. "Can I try this on please?" I immediately knew this was the watch for me. After a few minutes of debating whether or not I wanted arabic numerals, I decided against it. "How much to walk out with this watch right now?" I managed to negotiate close to a 20% discount, which isn't special, but Tourneau is notorious for not discounting so I was pretty happy. Pulled out the gift certificate and that's when I was informed that they don't discount if you're using gift certificates. I called Caesers Palace and they confirmed that to be true. Bummer. This is when I started to play over a few scenarios in my mind. The smart thing to do would have been to buy a Rolex Submariner or Panerai and immediately sell it (I would probably get close to retail) and then buy a S.A at a huge discount, but that seemed like a *LOT* of work, and I would have to pay the difference out of pocket (The Submariner and Panerai would have been closer to $6,000 after tax).

OR I could just hand over the gift certificate, the sales associate could hand over the watch, and we could go on our merry ways. That's what I decided to do. I wore the watch out that night and received several compliments. I see a ton of people with Super Avengers, but they're all either with black or blue dials and white sub-dials. I've never seen someone else with a Super Avenger like mine. The wrist presence it commands is absolutely amazing, and for a watch as big as it is, it's easy to wear.

Anyways, I've had the watch for a couple of weeks now - worn it every day. Absolutely love it and never want to take it off.



(I've posted this pic in almost every post I've replied to because it's the only one I have right now)

Great story, thanks for sharing.
I was like you (in another post) in that I didnt think I cared for the SA on rubber, but, I have to tell you, the white dialed SA on Diver Pro 2 with deployant is fantastic and very comfortable. I think you should give it a try!

Regards
Rich

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great watch. even better that you basically got it for free!!! enjoy it ...it looks awesome

Great story. I got the same watch! Love it!

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SA-Baton White Dial/ProII
Tissot Le Locle

Nice. Ware it well..

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Breanach78

A Few Breitlings.

Great story, great watch. now I have to ask, how the heck does one go about getting a $5000 gift certificate to the forum shops??

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-RJ

Thats what we're talking about!

Lots of nice watches posted here this week, IMO thats 'the one'!

Cheers

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Currently:
Avenger Skyland(Black)
Super Avenger(White)

Moved on:
Montbrillant Legende(Silver)
Panerai 312
SOHC 125th Ann. LE(Silver)
Navitimer World(Pearl)
Panerai 441

I was thinking the same thing

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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

probally a bonus from the casino for gambling

Well his screen name is BAWLIN, so he must be a Baller Teflon Don

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One Watch At A Time.

for sure a bonus. a friend of mine a while back was given a large gift cert to gucci when he stayed at the wynn

Not calling you a liar, but there's no Gucci store at the Wynn/Encore...

And yes, this was a gift from the hotel/casino, but it's a lot more complicated than simply playing there.

There's a Gucci store at the Bellagio, but they also give out gift certificates for whatever you want. My wife get's a gift card to Neiman's from the Wynn all the time and it's certainly not related or located there. Ask for what you want and if you know the right people it will come.

Nice story. I can understand your decision to just part with the certificate vs all the leg work. Must have made you feel great to be able to point and say "give me that one".

Great looking SA, enjoy it!!

Happy ending.

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