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Old Aerospace--New Owner with Questions
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Author:  Philm35 [ Sun May 13, 2012 3:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Old Aerospace--New Owner with Questions
Hi everybody... new to the forum.

I just bought a pre-owned Aerospace. It's a oldie... an 80 360 model from the late '80s or early '90s. Cosmetically it is in great condition.

A few questions:

1. Does Breitling still support this model with parts/repairs, etc?

2. The alarm chime does not sound when the alarm should be going off. Is that a common issue with this watch, and is it easily repaired?

3. Setting the clock and alarm times using the crown seems a bit erratic. According to the manual, you can adjust the hours by rotating the crown quickly, and adjust the minutes by rotating it slowly. With this watch, I'm rotating the crown as fast as I can, but only rarely can get the hours to advance that way.

4. The luminosity of the dial is pretty weak. Can this be renewed?

5. Does this model of Aerospace have the minute repeater function? I can't get it to work, but I don't know if that's because this watch doesn't have that function or if it's related to the non-working alarm chime.

Any information or advice would be welcome.

Thanks,

--Phil
Author:  Roffensian [ Sun May 13, 2012 4:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Aerospace--New Owner with Questions
A quartz expert will be able to give you more specific advice, but these early quartz movements are now obsolete. It's not simply that Breitling doesn't support them, it's that they aren't supportable - no one manufactures replacements and they aren't serviceable. The only option if the movement has failed is to find a donor movement - not difficult, but unfortunately just as old.

Welcome to BreitlingSource.
Author:  vintage [ Mon May 14, 2012 4:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Aerospace--New Owner with Questions
Actually you can still have the watch serviced by Breitling and they will use an upgraded movement as a replacement. You can also buy an aftermarket version of the same movement from ETA which will work fine. These usually also pop up on ebay regularly and can usually be purchased reasonably. A new movement will resolve the brightness problem and probably the alarm too. Not sure if they have the minute repeater of the later models.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item19ce12cb0d&item=110831520525&nma=true&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&rt=nc&si=1q728tnl0k9Dy%252FHt4UqM6zsXfK4%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
Author:  jkwelsh [ Mon May 14, 2012 8:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Aerospace--New Owner with Questions
Congrats on the purchase and welcome to the forum 8)

The Aerospace you have was my first Breitling, I still have it and other than one service and a couple of battery changes, its still going strong.

There is a definite knack to changing the time on these watches and until you acquire it, its very frustrating! I actually had to have my dealer show me how to do it first time :oops:

Its less of a fast turn of the winder, and more of a flick. Think of flicking two fingers together, with the winder in between. Thats how FAST you need to turn the winder to get a response. Once you know whats needed its very easy:)

Regarding the service, yes the original movement is now obsolete, but that doesn't mean they won't service it. They will offer you an upgrade to the later superquartz movement, but unless there is a fault with your existing movement you are not forced to have an upgrade as part of the service. They will charge you additional for the upgrade, and its not cheap!

There is no volume control for the alarm. If its very very quiet, then a service/clean may be in order.

Enjoy :lingsrock:
Author:  Roffensian [ Mon May 14, 2012 5:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Aerospace--New Owner with Questions
vintage wrote:
Actually you can still have the watch serviced by Breitling and they will use an upgraded movement as a replacement. You can also buy an aftermarket version of the same movement from ETA which will work fine. These usually also pop up on ebay regularly and can usually be purchased reasonably. A new movement will resolve the brightness problem and probably the alarm too. Not sure if they have the minute repeater of the later models.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item19ce12cb0d&item=110831520525&nma=true&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&rt=nc&si=1q728tnl0k9Dy%252FHt4UqM6zsXfK4%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc



You would think that I would remember that the Aerospace was still supported :oops:
Author:  Philm35 [ Tue May 15, 2012 4:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Aerospace--New Owner with Questions
Thanks everybody for the great info. I took the watch back to the AD I bought it from... They've offered to repair it under warranty.

I don't think the issue I was having with the stem was operator error... It was working very inconsistently... sometimes I could give it several spins and absolutely nothing would happen, and then it would engage and work for most turns. The push start/stop function was also inconsistent... sometimes after pushing it nothing would happen at all, and other times it would act as if I pushed twice.

I thought the SQ movements would only fit into the new larger 42mm cases?

Thanks,

--Phil
Author:  ADIGA [ Tue May 15, 2012 7:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Aerospace--New Owner with Questions
Movement is held by a plastic case to fit inside the watch. So it can fit all ladies stuff to 48cm if any. If movement upgrade in needed, Breitling will fit in a new movement and a new case back.
New luminous dial means a relatively new dial and thus it's almost impossible to find it outside Breitling service network. If the watch is sent to Breitling, for a fortune I must add, it would come back better than how it was offered as new 20 years ago!
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