The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Remember also that it's not just Breitling making money here. A lot of the price is in dealer markup to cover their costs (real estate, staff costs, the requirements to get and maintain AD status, etc) and profit - it's not like Breitling is getting all of the money. Also, as sportback alludes to, Breitling has all of the R&D and promotional costs that need to be covered.

The manufacturing and QC processes for fakes will never be as good, and something tells me that the after sales support and servicing may leave a little to be desired.

I understand that prestige is a great thing to pay for. But surely, people, you cannot help but think that perhaps the makers of these luxury watches are but taknig advantage of our, what i may call knowing stupidity. We know that our £2000 watch will hold up just as well as the £100 one.

And can you not help but feel that you are placing all your confidence and might into the fact you own a luxury watch?
I can walk down the street and feel high and mighty without my bentley motors, just as I can with it. It does feel nice however when I know people recognise it and people stare at it. Last week I was in the post office and the woman asked me "is that a breitling?!"

Proud as punch. Though I'm a bit disappointed... one is most afraid to do anything risky to a £2500 watch haha.. probably why they last so long, because everyone's afraid!

Yes it all depends on why you buy the watch in the first place.

I first bought a replica of a Breitling about three years ago (sorry everyone). This spirred me on to get the real thing.

Breitling has character. Breitling has heritage, to me it's a pilots brand. Do I feel hard done by that replica's are availabe at a fraction of the cost?

No

I don't because in owning a genuine Breitling I have a piece of mecahnical wisdom (actually mine is a quartz haha). I know that it is far superior to the replica's that are available. Replica's dont come with the sense of satisfaction of owning a product that not everyone has, neither would it come with something like a COSC Calibre 13 movement. Are the prices justified.....probably not.....am I willing to pay them.....you bet your left arm I am

That's not quite true. Breitling specify to ETA what they want in their movts ie perlage finishing on the mainplates and engraving on the rotor etc etc, but they buy them in as a kit then assemble them. Some makers will add their own custom pices or modifications (Omega is a good example here with their co-axial movts - these are essentially an ETA 2892 with their own escapement added and of course Omega is owned by Swatch who own ETA!!!) but crucially what all the makers using ETA's do is to certify their movts in 5 positions and in 3 temps which makes them far more accurate that a stock $200 Valjoux 7750.

So one has to ask - what do you get for $2000? The fakes have 316SL stainless Steel, are often CAD/CAM'd from a genuine watch, have sapphire crystals with AR coats, have ETA mechanical movts, are waterproofed in almost the same way etc etc. What you pay $2000 ++++ for is the prestige of the brand, the warranty, the re-sale value, maybe the increased value in time to come etc etc, but waht you also pay for in the base line watches is the development costs of the more expensive models tha most of us could not afford and of course we are propping up the good 'ol boys at the Richemont Group HQ and the exorbitant labour rates that the west has got used to - ne thing the fakes do show is actually how cheap watches are to make - we are simply paying for the perceived exclusivity by clever marketing!!!!

The key for me is knowing what you are getting for your money. I personally don't feel that anyone is taking advantage of me in the slightest, and I certainly don't NEED these watches to feel good about myself or to get myself noticed! That isn't remotely what it's about for me. As I've said before on this forum, I buy them for me and me alone. If at some point in the future, I suddenly woke up and thought "Whoa I'm being ripped off here", then I just wouldn't buy them anymore. Simple. If I had a sudden "crisis of confidence", then it's best to walk away......

For me it's no different to something like artwork. If you are happy with just the picture, then you buy a print. If you want something more than that, then you accept that you have to pay vast sums of cash and you buy the original. Watches are no different -if you just want the image and something that tells the time - buy a fake. If you want something more than that, buy the real thing.

I found this article quite interesting (and for me, pretty accurate!) -

http://www.chronocentric.com/watches/co ... l#whatsays

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Driver8

Site Moderator

These are all very interesting - but nobody seems to address the point that they're very highly priced and not everyone can afford them - but some want them.. has this idea not struck anyone?

That link has a lot of philosophies about the individual - in that they don't care for the rest of their lives, just because they wear a fake watch. Maybe they just can't afford them...

And if it's about prestige, if what you are all saying is true. Then prestige can be bought, not earned, and is infact to do with one's wallet and income as opposed to one's lifestyle which is suddenly downtrodden just because one does not spend vast amounts of money on a timepiece.

This is a seriously deep philosophical convo... here's my 2 cents:

I bought a couple of fake Breitlings in the beginning because I really liked the way the Navitimers looked... I remember them costing in the $5000 range and at the time, it was inconceivable for me to spend that kind of money on a watch. I wanted the look, so I bought a fake. Now that I can afford them its not even an option.

So with such confessions coming from the administrator of the forum (whole website?) surely it is not that obserd and definitaley not even remotely reasonable to talk down about someones lifestyle, just because they haven't bought the genuine.

breitlingsource is not a bad person or a fraudster because he owns a genuine Breitling. What about when he owned a fake? Was he a bad person and a fraudster then?

Cost is always relative, but fair enough - I recognise that I am fortunate to be able to afford to spend money on Breitlings rather than worry where next month's mortgage payment is coming from.



See now this is where you lose me. I don't want to pass judgement on anyone's life, everyone makes their own decisions, but I just don't understand why people buy fakes. There are watches at every price point - $10 - $100,000 or more. You can buy a good looking genuine watch for a lot less than a fake and it comes with a warranty and after sales support.

If any of you have family working in the manufacturing sector ask them how they feel about fake products - fakes don't just devalue the product for consumers they also have a real impact on the people who depend on the product for their livelihood.

Global competition is now a way of life, and emerging markets are obviously winning at the expense of the developed world due in large part to lower resource costs. I can accept that if it's open and above board, although working conditions in some of these countries leaves a lot to be desired and the recent toy recalls show the dangers of low grade materials. What I can't accept is when those products try and pass themselves off as genuine.

End of rant

+1

Well said.

Of course there is some prestige with owning a fine timepiece, but for me it's more about quality, and function. I consider buying a timepiece a good investment. It seems most pre-owned or refurbished watches in good condition bring close to the prices of new pieces. With that in mind, I will gladly pay a little more for a good timepiece knowing the watch is made of quality metals, assembled by hand, goes through rigorous testing, and has a good warranty. With respect to others that have owned replicas, I never considered purchasing one based on those facts.

It takes me a long time to buy myself something that is expensive, but after I do my research and shopping I feel good about my decision.

Have a great weekend gang!

~Brian

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Breitling Super Avenger
Fortis Flieger Chronograph
Rolex Submariner Date

It's definately a lot more worthwhile when you've invested the time, effort and research into something.
In our case, it's a watch.
For me, it's just the simple look of the Bentley Motors.
However, I also feel that I've bought the Breitling for image over practicality.

I considered the Navitimer for its ability to create an entire flight plan. I considered (and now want) the Chrono Superocean (with black diver pro?prodiver? strap) because it's a lot more able in water, as I spend a lot more time yachting and powerboating than I do flying planes (which I don't do at all)
But instead, I favoured something that I don't want the salt to get at, so I wont wear it out on the water, or if I do, I wont take my cag off! purely because it looks nice and a lot less common.

You wont find something that looks even remotely like the BM, unless it is the BM. And that's why I can't help but feel the price tag has got the better of me or that I could have spent money on something more worthwhile.

But with being a literal thinker, it's still a hard idea for me to grasp, just buying a watch because it sets you in a different kettle of fish.

Well the point of someone buying a fake is this - because they can, because they are available and because the difference between a £10,000 fiiddy and a £150 fake is £9,850!!! I have a fiddy fake (Panerai 127 - 1950 etc etc) - this £10,000 watch has a simple ETA 6498 handwind movt that can be bought for $70 (£35), so what do you get with the genuine watch? What you get is the prestige of the name and the scarcity value - 1,950 pieces of this watch (so actually not as scarce as you might think!!). I have this because there is no way in the world that I can afford to spend a third of my annual income on something that I really love the look of so if I want to have it then the fake allows me to do that without the price tag. This in no way undermines the brand because there is no way that I would buy the genuine watch anyway. So I am not robbing the pockets of the people that make them - do you see any of the major brands in financial difficulty because I bought a fake fiddy - NO!!! Also if you have ever bought a second-hand genuine watch then that same argument could apply? If you own a secondhand Breitling then you are not a Breitling customer - their profit was in the original sale. It's only when you buy a NEW watch from an AD that you help to fund the workforce in the factories in Switzerland - so I don't have a problem with that.

What does undermine the brands is when someone passes it off as the real thing when selling it. Now that leads us to another question - the gullibility of some greedy people who think they are buying the genuine item for a fraction of the real price - so who's conning who in this case? I used to belong to a replica forum - we had a very strict ethical code that none of us would ever pass off any of our watches as the real thing. In fact we would "OUT" anyone selling a fake on the 'bay and had a whole section on the forum dedicated to just that case!

So don't knock the replica owners - most of them are just regular guy's on lower incomes who could never afford the real thing but are so desperate to have something that looks like the real thing.

Just to finish this off - I have a friend that earns in excess of $2,000,000 a year. He has a staggering collection of nearly 200 genuine watches most of which are solid gold and all are in mint condition. He has Daytona's from the 1960's that are worth small fortunes in themselves, he has rare Patek Philippes (about 10 of them) that each cost the same as a house but he also has a large number of fakes as well - and he loves them and wears them!!!

I believe that everyone who buy's a fake has there own reasons. I have owned two fake Rolex's and one Breitling. Now that I own the real watch there is no way I will ever wear another fake. Now there just fun to take apart!

That said I urge anyone who thinks the counterfeit industry doesn't hurt anyone or the brands they knock off to listen to this show that aired this week on NPR.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=14185246

This was very eye opening for me. I will never again support the "fake" industry.

Thanks everyone for keeping it civil! I can tell this thread is starting to get personal and there are some guards coming up, but I'm glad to see that everyone is being civilized so far.

Please lets keep it that way as everyone is entitled to their opinion, and keep the insults and character assassination to a minimum I don't want to have to lock such a great thread.

Thanks for that admin - for me there is nothing personal about this. As I said in another post one of the things that I really like about this forum is there is tolerance to members that own or have owned fakes unlike some other brand forums.

I have also said that my ownership of fakes (as seems to be the case for many others here) has pushed me into buying my first ever genuine watch - and I consider a Ling to represent a good value to quality ratio that is just affordable for me and this would never have happened if it were not for my fakes - I'm now proud to be the owner of a CA and despite what I've said I can more than appreciate that satisfaction that comes with the real thing.

With regard to the funding of organised crime, prostitution et al - who is the real criminal here? The fakers or the corporate marketeers who make us desire these goods so that the real fiddy with it's $70 movement can be priced at £10,000!! - Capitalism - we are all guilty.