The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Apologies if this has already been discussed, but while I was looking through BUK's Service pricing structure I saw this:

http://www.breitling.com/multimedia/pdf/sav/sav-894.pdf

£160 for a Maintenance Service, and £495 for the Overhaul!!!

O-M-G that should be enough to sell up after 4 years!

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Oyster Date '78, Blackbird chrono DLC '10, Blackbird chrono' 02, Navitimer Fighters '02, Aerospace Evo , Seamaster Chrono Diver 300' 02, Carrera cbm2110

they have to amortize the high production and projects costs somehwere....

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Breitling Antares B10047
Breitling Chronomat B13050
Breitling Chronomat A13050.1 - pilot bracelet
Breitling Chronomat Blackbird A13050.1 - serie spéciale
Breitling Avenger Seawolf E17370
Breitling Chronomat EVO A13356 - pilot bracelet

It was discussed before, and it is in line with other companies' service costs for in house movements.

Is that more than what it costs to service their other models that aren't in house?

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Breitling Navitimer 1461 jours silver dial with dark glazed cognac alligator strap

Yes, check the maintenance part of the Breitling site and you can see pricing for your area.

You have to factor in the maintenance costs when purchasing...

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

What does an owner get with a complete overhaul? I was intending to sell my B01 for my own reasons but have decided to keep it for now - this question of the overhaul is still some time away but I'd like to know whats involved.

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Breitling Chronomat BO1 Riviera Blue Dial Stainless Steel Case and Pilot Bracelet

In a nutshell; its a complete disassembly & clean

a normal calibre 23 or 13 overhaul would cost me about half the price of the B01s.

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Oyster Date '78, Blackbird chrono DLC '10, Blackbird chrono' 02, Navitimer Fighters '02, Aerospace Evo , Seamaster Chrono Diver 300' 02, Carrera cbm2110

Full service also includes case polishing.

Some parts are also replaced as standard (mainspring, hands) and others are replaced if necessary.

and also bracelet polishing... right?

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Breitling Antares B10047
Breitling Chronomat B13050
Breitling Chronomat A13050.1 - pilot bracelet
Breitling Chronomat Blackbird A13050.1 - serie spéciale
Breitling Avenger Seawolf E17370
Breitling Chronomat EVO A13356 - pilot bracelet

If it's on a bracelet then that's polished with the case.

the maint service isnt that different its £110 i believe last time i had one done so vs £160 isnt that bad and for the most part that would be fine £495 is a fair bit but not that outrageous in all fairness as Roff said compared with other in house costs for other manufacturers

Possibly dumb question... if its on a croc or calf strap is that treated in any way?

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sco
Breitling Chrono Superocean
Omega Aqua Terra 8500
Rolex Submariner Date Ceramic

Not a dumb question, but not really. I think it might get a clean but that's it.

This week I sent my Aerospace II (F5606110B) to the Walton Connecticut Service center because the battery needed to be replaced. I opted for a complete overhaul. The charges are $504.63 for the required work plus $37.80 to replace one of the riders on the bezel. I could easily be motivated to join the rants over the costs involved. However, I have learned that very nice “things” require special handling by specially trained people to remain nice. For instance, supposing you owned a beautiful Ferrari Sports car and the time came for an oil change and routine servicing. I am sure that such service at a shop qualified to work on the car would run north of $500 just for the oil change. It certainly would be far less expensive at a local garage that handled routine service. The local mechanic would not have the experience to anticipate even the simplest of pitfalls. In driving the Ferrari onto the lift he might face clearance problems that only came to mind as the lift scraped the length of Ferrari chassis and bumped the transaxle. The mechanic might guess where the lift supports needed to be placed. A few trials when the chassis groaned or crunched as the lift was engaged were necessary to get it right. The mechanic found the drain plug was a strange shape for which none of his tools was appropriate. He went at the plug with whatever he could. The tools left the plug sufficiently distorted that the tool specified by Ferrari would no longer work. Ect. Ect. I hope you get the picture.

http://www.breitling.com/service links to a page on the Breitling website with three videos that illustrate the services offered. The videos should go a long way to dispersing the anger upon presentation of the repair bill. (BTW the defualt language for the videos is French. Look for the work “languages” to the right. Clicking on the word will bring a drop down menu for other choices.)

For my part, I expect Breiting service to disassemble and thoroughly clean my watch with care using their special tools in a clean environment. They will replace the standard quartz movement (ETA 988.332) with a superquartz movement (ETA 988.352) and replace the back cover which announces this improvement. Lastly trained people will polish my watch using techniques, tools and abrasives developed by Breitling. I expect my watch to be returned better than new with the work guaranteed.

I don't know of any well equipped repair shop with skilled mechanics that does not charge north of $100/hr for services these days. Breitling estimates five hours of service time for the repairs. Putting all of this in perspective, I think the charges for over hauling my watch are reasonable.