Costco provides its own warranty. As a general rule, Breitling will not cover watches sold by unauthorized dealers. I don't know how Costco selects who does the repairs under its warranty; there's a very good chance the person doing the work won't have access to Breitling parts, even if they're qualified to do the work (and that's a considerable if). The flip side, as you mentioned, is that Costco has a no-questions-asked return policy. Basically, you can return it for a full refund within three years of purchase, provided you haven't abused the policy in the past on other purchases. That's actually not such a bad deal, since the Breitling warranty is only two years. After that, you're on your own for repairs anyway. Of course, the problem is if the watch develops a problem in the first two years and you don't want to return it, but want to have it serviced. You'll either have to accept Costco's outsourced service, or pay Breitling to service it.

But, to answer your question, the only thing you can do to make sure the watch is covered by Breitling's own warranty is to purchase from an authorized dealer. As for beating the price, you might be surprised. Most authorized Breitling dealers will discount 20% or more.

1. Costco does not provide a warranty and they won't fix anything, but they will offer a refund if there ever is a problem.

2. SA w/ diamonds is over $12k, so at $8k this is 33% off... rare to find that kind of deal from an AD.

Really, who cares whether Costco offers to repair it - they'll have no access to Breitling parts and offer a refund so you would be mad to let them try and fix it.

man i wish i had the wrist size to pull of the SA

A mugger?

A good-sized wrist might be able to pull off an SA, but I'm still trying to figure out what can pull off an SA with diamonds.