The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello,

My wife bought me a Skyracer but after few days a problem with the dial Breitling logo forced me to require for a watch change (no problem with it at all. One week later I received a new Skyracer unit). I’m really happy with my Breirling but I checked that both the first Skyracer and my watch do not match the power reserve declared (42 hours). I performed an “experiment” with both watches and they stop after 30h aprox. Since this performance has been consistent in both watches, I do not think it is a problem with those specific units.

I look for some Skyracer power reserve info in Internet and the info is always the same (42h power reserve).

Is this normal? Do other Breitling watches have the same discrepancy?

Thanks to all !!

What was your 'experiment'?

How do you know that the watch had the full power reserve at the start of the experiment - because if you didn't get a fully wound mainspring then you don't know if there is a problem.

In my experience a new watch (i.e. the mainspring isn't wearing out as a service interval approaches) is generally closer to 44 - 45 hours, so my first guess would be that the mainspring wasn't fully wound at the start.

Breitling say 40 turns for a full wind, but as you can't overwind an automatic give it 50,60, heck 100 if you want just to be sure that the mainspring is fully wound. Then leave the watch alone and time how long it takes to run down fully.

The first day I followed the instructions book and I wounded 40 times. Then I wore the watch for a 12 hours/day period aprox. The third day, the watch was stopped. Then I wounded it 40 times (I was afraid of overwinding it) and I left the watch on a table. After 30- 32 hours approximately it stopped. Then the problem with the logo came out and I changed the watch. With the second unit I wounded 40 times and left it on a table. The performance was more or less the same.

I do not really care about meeting the 42 hours. I just want to know if a time period scatter is normal in this kind of mechanical watches.

Thanks!!

It should have at least 42 hours, but from what you describe I'm not convinced that it has a problem. You need to ensure that the mainspring is fully wound before timing how long it lasts, and the actions that you describe don't necessarily ensure that.

As Roff mentioned, try winding it more. Im 99% sure that will solve your problem. 40 turns is the general answer, but since we all have different definitions of what a "turn" is, it can vary. Give it 60+ turns and test it again.

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-RJ

And don't worry about overwinding it. All automatics have a clutch mechanism that prevents the mainspring from being overwound.

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“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” - Albert Einstein

Thank you all for your answers.

I agree with you that my watch is working fine. I did not repeat the power reserve test yet, but it seems to me that this characteristic is improving. Do the mechanical watches need some time of running to fine adjust the mechanism?

Thanks

For accuracy yes - 4 - 6 weeks, for power reserve, no.