You may be interested to read what can happen when you contact Breitling in Switzerland with a question...
In December last year, on a trip to London, I purchased my Chronomat Evo with blue crocodile strap.
After a relatively short time wearing it, I noticed the inner lining of the strap had cracked, just where the 'buckle' fits. I had never put the watch in water or unduly flexed the strap, and thought this was not particularly brilliant, considering the general quality of the watch itself.
When I was originally looking for the the watch I had hoped to find one with the folding deploying clasp, but there were none available, so as the cracking got worse, I decided to change the strap and get a deploying one to replace it.
I sent the original strap to Breitling in Grenchen with a covering letter, and after an exchange of two or three e-mails, have just received an answer today:
Breitling will 'offer' me my first 2 year service, when it becomes due, and at the same moment, renew my blue crocodile strap free of charge.
For information: when I had the strap changed, the dealer here in Toulouse was surprised A: with the fact that it had cracked, and B: that this strap (22/18) was on a watch only 2 months old - it seems Breitling haven't used this dimension strap for 3 years...(it's now 22/20) It seems very likely that the watch has been 'on the shelf' a very long time...