The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Since Breitling has decided to do all authorized repair work inhouse it is more difficult to get little things done elsewhere since Breitling won't send anyone parts anymore. I recently sent two Aerospace's to BUSA for repair, an Advantage with fractured display and a first series 80360 (Navitimer). The Advantage came back a few weeks ago looking fantastic and a first rate job ($490 service repair). The 80360, being 30 some years old looked great with no unusual cosmetic issues (pic) but had a broken crown tube. The watch ran perfectly and I was still wearing it regularly. The quote I got two days ago from BUSA was $1300 for required work and $1600 for optional work. Of course I declined. They didn't want to address the crown tube issue by itself but listed a middle case replacement cost as $130 which would have solved my only issue and I would have been happy to pay. Heck, I would have been happy to pay a regular service fee if they fixed the problem. This is how they described the condition. I thought they were talking about a different watch:

"Bracelet/strap scratched, bracelet gold worn off, crystal scratched, crystal ant-glare scratched, dial discolored, dial spotted, dial damaged, dial scratched, hands damaged, hands tritium damaged, riders/screw scratched, riders screw dented, bezel screw scratched, bezel screw dented, case scratched, case dented, case damaged, crown gasket worn, crown scratched."

I had even purchased and installed a new crown and stem before I sent it to them. So now I have to send the watch to an independent watch repair company out in California that seems to still work on B's and see if they can help or just wear it as is and wait for a used case to show up on Ebay. BUSA needs to be more customer oriented and willing to be flexible when asked and not just ignore these requests.

Was that $1300 for the regular service and then an ADDITIONAL $1600 on top of that if you wanted the optional work done? That's just crazy.

That's similar to an experience I had with Tag Heuer. I've never been much of a modern Tag Heuer fan, but back in 2005 I had an Aquagraph professional diver, that I subsequently sold and almost immediately regretted as it was IMO one of Tag Heuer's finest watches in years. Many years later (and a couple of years ago) I decided to re-buy one, obviously pre-owned this time, and I spent ages searching out one in basically NOS condition. I managed to find one for £1200 and when it arrived it looked mint - no scratches, no refinishing, no issues at all under a x10 loupe - as I say, it was basically unworn. I was over the moon with it, but as this one was almost 10 years old and never been serviced I thought I'd send it in to Tag for a service just to ensure it was nicely lubricated and running to spec. What I received back from Tag Heuer was a list of "issues" much like yours, Vintage. Oh and a quote of £1500 to "put right". I was shocked as all I wanted was a movement service and all of the (non) "issues" could've stayed... but Tag were having none of it. That would've put the total price of re-acquiring the Aquagraph at £2700 - or £700 more than my original one cost me brand new a decade earlier. Needless to say I declined the service, and re-sold the watch a few days later.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Most of the issues they mention in the quote can be seen but only upon extreme magnification and nothing really visible to the naked eye and nothing unusual for a 30 year old watch. They are really being nitpicky. I've had these early Aerospace's serviced by Breitling many times in the past and even with the super quartz upgrade, all done at the "complete service kit" cost under $500. I suspect this is similar to taking your car into a dealership for repair work and the cost all depends on who's working on it. Whichever technician that did my Advantage did a superb job in replacing the movement, replacing all the screws in the case back, refinishing the case and bracelet, and I had it back in two weeks for less than $500. It looked much worse from wear than the this Aerospace. It really perturbs me that they say it needed a new crown and gasket as I bought them new from a source in Canada and installed them myself before I sent the watch to Breitling. I might try them as a source for the middle case I need. Here's the quote:

I'm looking to sell my Aerospace, despite being fond of it, because the service prices for a quartz are just daft. I can reconcile myself to the prices for my mechanicals, given the complexity of the internals; indeed I'm risk-averse and probably have them serviced more often than I need to. But having to pay nearly £500 when the watch generally only needs a battery change is hard to swallow (never mind the prospect of outcomes like the above).

Here's some interesting reading I just found concerning the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and BUSA. In particular the second complaint sort of sounds familiar.

https://www.bbb.org/us/ct/wilton/profile/wholesale-watches/breitling-usa-inc-0111-22000165/complaints