1st post and where to begin...
I guess its a bit of a confessional, as I haven't exactly heaped TLC on my lovely Breitling watches. After much watch trading in the early 2000s I somehow ended up with a Navitimer Olympus and a 1461 Jours Montbrillant. I have used the watches daily and also kept the unworn watch on a winder. Apart from the odd strap change neither watches have been in for a service. In fact from the official warranty cards neither watch have been seen by Breitling since 2001.
Needless to say the watches are both exhibiting some cosmetic and mechanical signs of wear and tear.
Both watches are a long way short of their 42 hour power reserve. In fact I'd say both can manage around 12 hours tops if stationary. Surprisingly the older watch - the 1461 Jours is slightly better than the Olympus. But the 1461 Jours has at least had 2 service visits prior to my purchase, while the Olympus is as it was from new. Also the Olympus is losing time slightly in comparison to the 1461 Jours.
I've been concerned about the reduced power reserve and as a consequence I have been trying to wind down the charge by running the chronograph for 12 hours at a time (not sure if this is 'correct'). This has had limited success. It has also thrown up an anomaly in that the 1461 Jours 'Hour' indicator is now resetting to 1 hour exactly (- a message maybe?). Both watch chronographs function perfectly otherwise.
The Olympus is a blue dial with silver sub dials. It originally came with a blue Shark strap and clasp. I think I soon swapped this out for a black Shark but more recently gone back to the original light blue shark. It amazing how well the blue shark strap has lasted and it now looks better than it has at any time. The shark comes with and almost spotted finish, which on the strap has gradually worn off leaving a pleasant finish to the strap. I disappointed that the shark straps have been discontinued as they really did offer something different to the calf or croc.
The Olympus has suffered a couple of knocks and scraps and has some marks to the crystal and two lugs unfortunately. The 1461 Jours by contrast is in almost perfect cosmetic shape. There is one slight imperfection which I have picked up since reading these forums. It would appear that the 1461 Jours has a some point had a new bracelet added. The link ends are marked as 401A - which I gather are pretty rare. In comparison to other bracelet 1461s I can see the links ends don't match up with the lugs quite as they should.
So its time for overhaul - which presently a few dilemmas aside from the cost!
Firstly I am no longer in Europe. In fact I am in the Land of The Rising Sun. Tokyo to be precise. In Japan they have something called Club Breitling - which you only get access to if you buy your watch here.. It also gives a 50% discount on the service and overhaul cost. Which seems ludicrous and very discouraging for the likes of me who seem to be unfairly penalized - I hate paying more and getting nothing tangible in return. So much so I may consider the alternative of dropping the watches off in Geneva next time I am there. Alternatively I could just buy another new watch here (assuming 1 membership covers all watches). On the plus side the servicing department here looks very good and is within walking distance of where I live.
Also I minded to change the watches around a bit too.
-I would like to investigate the possibility of swapping the blue dial on the Olympus to a black one (horror shock!). Which has the added complication of the moon phase sub dial which will also need to be swapped out for black too.
- Assuming the dial change doesn't happen I may swap the bracelet onto the Olympus. I suspect that will require different end links for that perfect fit. Which is fine as the ones I have at the minute seem imperfect as they are.
- I may stay with the strap on the Olympus and go for black or brown, but crocodile is out of the question. Needless to say if the bracelet goes on the 1461 Jours I'd opted for brown as its replacement, which works very well with the gold accents of the dial. A further complication would mean that I have to swap the straps around prior to sending them away - something I am sure the dealer here can facilitate.
They major concern I would have is regard to the length since official attention. But as both watches seem fully functional (albeit with gripes) so fingers crossed the overhaul should cover it. I am slightly concerned that the crystal on the Olympus may need replacing - adding to the costs. But I guess this is just the cost of ownership of such wonderful watches (my wife is very understanding).
Well if you made it this far (or just skipped my diatribe) I guess you deserve some pics!
