The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Not sure who is running this forum? It’s always been a great source of info. Seems like new accounts are not being approved going back for 2 or 3 years now. Such a shame now that Breitling has really powered on recently.

a combination of a few things has slowed places like this to a crawl:

1. breitlings new direction is catnip to many (esp me) but equally others that were massive fans of the 2000 to 2017 Breitling are hating it - too soft, too "fashionable", etc. as a result of lot of the old guard on forums like this have drifted away (similar on watchuseek - the few guys there are all just pining for the return of john travolta and breitling for bentleys)

2. overall fora are just not the cool place anymore - facebook kinda does enough for most people so they hang out there more (it doesnt do as much or as well but that doesnt matter so much)

cant speak for the admins but personally I check in occasionally hoping to see some life and would like to see it continue so....

hey, welcome.

Pete

Surprised how some forums are still so active while other large communities fizzle up and die.

Breitling has stepped away from design language that was really popular. The new chronomat bracelet looks like a gas station hot dog roller.

They finally upgraded the clasp on the Superocean, and I'm stuck with two stamped clasps with no micro adjust that really, REALLY should've been there at the price point.

The avengers and skylands too big too small... 40/42mm on a bracelet- how hard is this? Bracelet.. updated proII design with a microadjust and taper. That would be a fantastic design choice.

Between being a watchmaker and these type of ideas I should be working for one of these brands not talking into the void.

Why has the online Breitling community withered?

My guess is that to contradict something you said - the previous design language (Im assuming you were meaning the Teddy Schneider era late 90's to 2016) was NOT really popular. Oh, it had its fans but in the wider world it was considered a bit of a joke. As a result, Breitling missed the great upswell in online watch community involvement post instagram/youtube etc. When brands like Oris, Tudor etc were becoming community darlings of internet savvy millenials, Breitling was seen as a place old men went to wear out of date and weird watches.

Personally I love the new direction of the brand but like I said earlier right now is a tricky time - the old guard has kind of drifted away and the new buyers are, well, new buyers so not necessarily joining online communities.

As for product - I had a quick look and I dont think there is a single watch in the collection that was offered in 2017 (perhaps the emergency - not sure) thats a total turnover of 9 collections and perhaps 300 skus in 8 years - I think new management has had their hands full.

I was in Chicago recently, killing time and stopped at the Breitling boutique. It seems like they have toned down the style and sizes a bit, which in my eye is a good thing. I didn't buy anything, but was a bit tempted.

This forum is, of course, separate from the manufacturer, but I guess still an indication of the popularity of the brand.

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Breitling, Omega, Rolex... what can I say, I like Swiss watches.

There are still a few of us old timers around. i usually only come back when chasing more info on vintage pieces where the old discussions are still pertinent, like today. But, I'm about done too and have been selling most of what I've accumulated. Still a couple that are hard to cut loose.

I had the same query too, where’s everyone? Maybe Facebook?

Atleast I remember you

Wow, I haven't been back here for a few years!

Like 'Vintage' said above I just stopped by looking for some old reference number information from the main site, and just thought I'd drop in here.

It's a real shame this forum diminished so dramatically over time. There was a point when it was probably the most active (and best!) Breitling forum/resource on the internet. Watch forums just aren't as popular as they once were, especially ones dedicated to a single brand like this one. In fact the only single-brand forum that still pulls in the crowds seems to be the Rolexforum.

I kind of drifted away when a lot of the "old guard" here stopped dropping by. That and the fact that with the exception of the latest SOH and SOHC, and one or two other pieces, there's very little in the Kern era that yanks my chain. There's too much fashion type stuff and not enough "Instruments for Professionals" these days for me. I was, and always will be, a Schneider era fan, so it's only really "neo-vintage" pieces (or should that just be ACTUAL vintage now!) from the late 90's to the mid 2010's that interest me these days.

That said it's good to see there's still SOME traffic here after all these years!

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Driver8

Site Moderator