The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Have a Pluton that lives in a drawer and only sees daylight weddings and funerals and thought I should be wearing it so the battery being flat, I took it into my usual watch shop to be told it didn't start and needs a service.
Phoned Brietling for a price and they tell me it's £460 for a service. Ouch!!!!
Any alternatives?
Is it worth anything in this state?
Or will it best be stuck back in the drawer?

Any comments or solutions appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave

It will be worth something - just not as much as if it were serviced. There are no realistic alternatives (you could go non authorised but then the watch will be worth less so it's a false economy) so a buyer will be faced with the same service bill and will reflect that in any offer to you.

These relatively early quartz watches are starting to become obsolete and there will come a point where the movement cannot be repaired. At that point the only option is to try and find a donor movement or write the watch off (Breitling will give you a decent discount on a modern piece if you surrender it tothem at that point). It doesn't sound like Breitling thinks that you are at that point or they would have advised that it couldn't be repaired.

Thanks Roff, well put and food for thought.
Best,
Dave

If the watch didn't start after a new battery then the movement has expired. Breitling doesn't have that movement any longer so sending it in for a service is a waste of time. The movement is easily obtainable off ebay in Seiko, Pulsar, and other watches from the same era, usually for less than $100. It's then a simple matter to have a capable watchmaker swap the movements out for minimal money. I generally get it done for around $60. These are aging movements though so there's no guarantee a replacement will last a substantial amount of time.

Thanks for that.
Any idea what Pulsar or Seiko models I should look for?
Cheers,
Dave

Just look for the same layout of three push buttons with digital display. Seiko has a model number of H461 but Pulsar uses the same Y652 movement identification as Breitling.