Well as some of you are aware my purchase of the much awaited Navitimer Caliber 01 was a less than pleasant experience.
I paid my deposit pretty much the day after it was first announced, many, many months ago and it was finally delivered to me a couple of weeks before Christmas 2010.
All was well for the first few hours, it was as stunning as I imagined and the perfect size. Exactly what I wanted. Then I noticed that the chrono function was working properly. The top pusher was extremely hard to push, so hard in fact it left an indentation in my finger when pressed a few times. The small minute chrono hand would intermittently jump to the 1 or 2 minute position. I then noticed the large red chrono second hand had a nick in the coating.
As bad luck would have it the same day I was wearing my vintage Navitimer Chrono-Matic which had just been returned from a full £1,100 overhaul a few weeks before and I went to use the chrono to time something and after a short while it stuck and stopped the movement.
Obviously not in the best of moods I fired off an email to Breitling UK and very shortly received replies and phone calls. We agreed that I would send both back to Breitling UK as soon as both they and I returned from the Christmas and New Year Holiday.
A few days later a parcel arrived in the post containing the 2010/2011 chocolate box, calendar, pen and a wallet.
I also sent an email to Breitling SA, the reply was simply along the lines of sorry about that, Breitling UK will fix it.
After I returned from New York I sent in both watches and they were duly returned.
The vintage Navitimer fixed and working like it should have done the first time it was returned.
The Navitimer Caliber 01 came back fixed, with a new set of hands and ...................... two scuff marks down the side of the case right by the limited edition number.
At this point as you can imagine I buried my head in my hands and counted quietly to 10.
I turned this time to Banks Lyon and asked them to sort it as I was at the end of my chain with Breitling UK (also bearing in mind I had just sent my Chrono Avenger in for a full overhaul) and no longer wanted to deal direct with them. Banks Lyon were great, several very apologetic emails from both Rodney (the boss) and Aziza and they immediately got on the phone to Breitling UK and a new Navitimer was ordered and I returned 1314/2000 to Banks Lyon (I didn't want to deal with BUK any more).
I've had no contact or apologies from BUK at all regarding the damage.
Today I received the replacement 1632/2000 from Breitling UK which is exactly in the condition the first one should have been complete with a new Deployant Strap upgrade (I mentioned to Rodney that BUK might want to do this as a goodwill gesture).
So, am I happy and delighted with my new Navitimer Caliber 01 that I've waited so long for? In a word, NO. The whole experience has left a very bitter taste and unfortunately has tainted my passion for the brand I once thought so highly of.
The Breitling Navitimer Caliber 01 which from the day I first saw the press releases and realised was my perfect Navitimer has now just become a watch.
I'm angry that a watch of such supposedly high calibre and quality ever left Switzerland like it in the first place, I'm angry that not only did BUK let me down over the overhaul of my vintage Navitimer but they also damaged the Navitimer Caliber 01 whilst repairing it.
It's not the first time I've had servicing issues, in July 2008 my brand new Avenger Skyland Blacksteel (sent in because it leaked) was returned from repair with a mark on one of the sub dial rings, in November 2009 a Chrono Avenger came back from full overhaul and new crystal with two great big scuffs in the crystal and now this. I wouldn't mind if I was paying a few pounds for servicing but in just on 14 months, including the pending cost of my current Chrono Avenger we're talking almost £2,500 in servicing costs alone.
We won't even mention the purchase costs of Breitlings in the last couple of years, you could easily add another zero to those servicing costs and then some. Then there's the postage costs, over £10 each time to return a watch and apart from Banks Lyon offering to refund the cost of returning 1314/2000 to them, I've had to foot the bill!
Will I ever buy another new Breitling? No
Stef
