The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Today I received an estimate from BUSA to service my Transocean Chronograph which is under warranty - the main issue and the reason for me to send the watch for diagnostics was that the rotor would spin rapidly during winding. I was a bit surprise that the estimate states the case, bezel, pusher, crystal are scratched and basic polish was optional ($135) but recommended. Ugh? Ok, so the watch is ~18 months old but always been worn gently as I rotate this one with my many other watches in my collection. I don't recall any scratches, specially on a scratch-resistance sapphire crystal or any of its parts. Is this a standard practice that everyone gets hits for a polish job when a watch goes for service? What do you think?

If you don't think the case was scratched then don't pay for it. It isn't necessary and is a personal preference since it is only 18 months old. When they do a full service they will polish it up with the service.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2

The estimate is exactly like an estimate you may get for a new boiler or something : there's no obligation to accept it. Just tell Breitling that you are happy with the appearance of the watch at this time, and that you only want them to fix the issue that you sent the watch in for.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

No polish, thank you.

BUK are the same - if not worse, and will always quote you for the most expensive intervention.

Case 1: Several years ago I sent my Aerospace in via my AD for a maintenance/battery replacement. They sent back an estimate for works which included replacement of the crown and new crystal. My AD phoned me and commented that "it didn't sound like the same watch that they'd sent in" because it was completely unmarked. After the AD phoned the centre in Milton Keynes, they backed down and only quoted then for the listed maintenance service. When the watch came back, me and the AD looked over it with a loupe and just couldn't see why they had expected me to cough up over double the price for replacement of parts that were clearly not required.

Case 2: Last month contacted BUK to query the lead times for a MAINTENANCE service on my SO. I explicitly used the term maintenance and not Overhaul. I had an email back quoting 10 weeks and a cost of £260 - so I queried the cost as I'd requested a Maintenance not Overhaul service and got a terse email back with the revised price of £110.

I certainly feel that there is a company policy of price uplift in the hope they can get away with it. Luckily my local AD is now a certified Breitling Service centre so can do things like battery changes and are fully honest about if any further interventions are required. They also can supply things like manuals and COSC certs cheaper than going direct which is very odd. The replacement COSC for my Aerospace was £85 direct to BUK but cost me £45 through the AD.

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Have
2019 B55 Exospace on Titanium bracelet
2014 SuperAvenger II Military LE
Had
2013 Avenger Seawolf SS yellow Arabic dial
2010 Aerospace Avantage black dial & Co-pilot
2007 Aerospace Repetition Minutes
2003 Superocean
2001 Chronospace

(? - I thought BUK were in Tunbridge Wells.)

Is the cost of a polish not included on the overall cost of an overhaul or service? Sure it used to be.

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Breitling B-1 1999
Breitling Chrono Superocean 2004
Casio G Shock
Citizen Eco Drive AT4000-02E (for gardening)
Seiko 5 SNZG15J1
Hamilton X Wind LE

As above, it's part of an overhaul service but not a maintenance service.

Duh - quite right. Always get the two muddled up for some reason.

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Have
2019 B55 Exospace on Titanium bracelet
2014 SuperAvenger II Military LE
Had
2013 Avenger Seawolf SS yellow Arabic dial
2010 Aerospace Avantage black dial & Co-pilot
2007 Aerospace Repetition Minutes
2003 Superocean
2001 Chronospace

Thanks! I just responded to the estimate and opted to pass on their polish job offer!

Talking to BAUS I was told during my watches last service that a new crystal was recommended, I asked why as it looked perfectly fine to me. The refreshingly frank response from the service assistant was that their watchmaker always recommends a new crystal as he looks under a lupe and sees small scratches.

I declined the new crystal, but out of interest did check it when it came back from service. Without a lupe it looked fine, had a look with my lupe and of course there are some small scratches in the AG, but not enough to bother me