The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I just happened to be up last night to watch the date change on my SA and found that not only did the date change over a half hour but the change occurred at two minutes before midnight. Maybe I am being picky but I thought high end Swiss watches offered instaneous date change at the stroke of midnight? Is this correct?

Very few watches offer instant date change, that's why there is the warning in the manual about not using the quickset date feature between 8pm and 3am. The date change process on most ETA bases (including the 7750 that the SA uses) takes around 6 hours. Instant date requires a significant amount of torque through the movement and so is often avoided. The Breitling in house movements have it, and one or two of the ETA based pieces - Cockpit for example, but it's not common.

Thanks again for your quick responses and patience with the newbies!

Most (if not all?) Rolexes have instantaneous date change. I love it on my Sub. I never liked how the dates on the various Breitlings I've owned would creep for a few hours. I'm not positive as I no longer own the watch, but I think the Headwind had close to instantaneous date change.